Reviewing MediaCo (NASDAQ:MDIA) and New York Times (NYSE:NYT)

MediaCo (NASDAQ:MDIA) and New York Times (NYSE:NYT) are both communication services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

64.0% of MediaCo shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.4% of New York Times shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.8% of MediaCo shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of New York Times shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

MediaCo has a beta of -0.05, suggesting that its share price is 105% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, New York Times has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for MediaCo and New York Times, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MediaCo	1	0	0	0	1.00
New York Times	0	5	5	1	2.64

New York Times has a consensus target price of $84.20, suggesting a potential upside of 20.43%. Given New York Times’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe New York Times is more favorable than MediaCo.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares MediaCo and New York Times”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MediaCo	$139.42 million	0.68	-$69.74 million	($0.83)	-1.36
New York Times	$2.82 billion	3.99	$343.98 million	$2.40	29.13

New York Times has higher revenue and earnings than MediaCo. MediaCo is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than New York Times, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares MediaCo and New York Times’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MediaCo	N/A	N/A	N/A
New York Times	13.19%	22.64%	15.58%

Summary

New York Times beats MediaCo on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MediaCo

MediaCo Holding Inc. owns and operates radio stations in the United States. The company engages in the operation of WQHT-FM and WBLS-FM radio stations in the New York City area. It also offers digital advertising, and events, which includes sponsorships, ticket sales, licensing, and syndication services. MediaCo Holding Inc. was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About New York Times

The New York Times Company, together with its subsidiaries, creates, collects, and distributes news and information worldwide. The company operates through two segments, The New York Times Group and The Athletic. It offers The New York Times (The Times) through company’s mobile application, website, printed newspaper, and associated content, such as podcast. The company also offers The Athletic, a sports media product; Cooking, a recipe product; Games, a puzzle games product; and Audio, an audio product. In addition, it offers a portfolio of advertising products and services to advertisers, such as luxury goods, technology, and financial companies, to promote products, services or brands on digital platforms in the form of display ads, audio and video, in print in the form of column-inch ads, and at live events; and Wirecutter, a product review and recommendation product. Further, the company licenses content to digital aggregators in the business, professional, academic and library markets, and third-party digital platforms; articles, graphics, and photographs, including newspapers, magazines, and websites; and for use in television, films, and books, as well as provide rights to reprint articles, and create and sell new digests. Additionally, it engages in commercial printing and distribution for third parties; and operates the NYTimes.com website. The company was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in New York, New York.