Critical Analysis: News (NASDAQ:NWS) versus American Community Newspapers (OTCMKTS:ACNI)

News (NASDAQ:NWS) and American Community Newspapers (OTCMKTS:ACNI) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

14.6% of News shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.7% of News shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares News and American Community Newspapers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
News	3.49%	4.76%	2.58%
American Community Newspapers	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for News and American Community Newspapers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
News	0	0	0	1	4.00
American Community Newspapers	0	0	0	0	0.00

Given American Community Newspapers’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe American Community Newspapers is more favorable than News.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares News and American Community Newspapers”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
News	$10.09 billion	1.81	$266.00 million	$0.62	51.71
American Community Newspapers	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

News has higher revenue and earnings than American Community Newspapers.

Summary

News beats American Community Newspapers on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About News

News Corporation, a media and information services company, creates and distributes authoritative and engaging content, and other products and services for consumers and businesses worldwide. It operates through six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other. The company distributes content and data products, including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, MarketWatch, Investor’s Business Daily, Factiva, Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, Dow Jones Newswires, and Dow Jones Energy through various media channels, such as newspapers, newswires, websites, mobile apps, newsletters, magazines, proprietary databases, live journalism, video, and podcasts. It also owns and operates Monday to Friday, Saturday and Sunday, weekly, and bi-weekly newspapers comprising The Australian, The Weekend Australian, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, Herald Sun, Sunday Herald Sun, The Courier Mail, The Sunday Mail, The Advertiser, Sunday Mail, The Sun, The Sun on Sunday, The Times, The Sunday Times, and New York Post, as well as digital mastheads and other websites. In addition, the company publishes general fiction, nonfiction, children’s, and religious books; provides sports, entertainment, and news services to pay-TV and streaming subscribers, and other commercial licensees through satellite and internet distribution; and broadcasts rights to live sporting events. Further, it offers property and property-related advertising and services on its websites and mobile applications; digital real estate services; and financial services. News Corporation was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About American Community Newspapers

American Community Newspapers Inc. publishes community newspapers. The company was formerly known as Lionheart Newspapers, LLC and changed its name to American Community Newspapers Inc. in November 2002. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in Addison, Texas.