Gray Media (GTN) vs. Its Competitors Critical Analysis

Gray Media (NYSE:GTN) is one of 257 public companies in the “Media” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Gray Media to related businesses based on the strength of its risk, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Dividends

Gray Media pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. Gray Media pays out 110.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Media” companies pay a dividend yield of 5.2% and pay out 134.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Gray Media is clearly a better dividend stock than its peers, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Gray Media and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gray Media	1.84%	3.00%	0.62%
Gray Media Competitors	-18.57%	-47.83%	-4.78%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

78.6% of Gray Media shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.7% of shares of all “Media” companies are owned by institutional investors. 8.9% of Gray Media shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.6% of shares of all “Media” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Gray Media has a beta of 1, suggesting that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Gray Media’s peers have a beta of 0.96, suggesting that their average share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Gray Media and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gray Media	$3.10 billion	-$85.00 million	18.50
Gray Media Competitors	$2.94 billion	$35.12 million	-0.06

Gray Media has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its peers. Gray Media is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Gray Media and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gray Media	1	2	3	0	2.33
Gray Media Competitors	2325	6913	10763	489	2.46

Gray Media currently has a consensus target price of $7.88, suggesting a potential upside of 46.78%. As a group, “Media” companies have a potential upside of 26.17%. Given Gray Media’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Gray Media is more favorable than its peers.

Summary

Gray Media beats its peers on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

Gray Media Company Profile

Gray Television, Inc., a television broadcasting company, owns and/or operates television stations and digital assets in the United States. It also broadcasts secondary digital channels affiliated to ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX, as well as various other networks and program services, including CW Plus Network, MY Network, the MeTV Network, Circle, Telemundo, THE365, and Outlaw; and local news/weather channels in various markets. It owns and operates television stations and digital assets that serve television markets in the United States. The company was formerly known as Gray Communications Systems, Inc. and changed its name to Gray Television, Inc. in August 2002. Gray Television, Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.