Financial Review: Cumulus Media (CMLS) and Entercom Communications Corporation (NYSE:ETM)

Entercom Communications Corporation (NYSE: ETM) and Cumulus Media (NASDAQ:CMLS) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitabiliy, institutional ownership and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Entercom Communications Corporation and Cumulus Media’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Entercom Communications Corporation	4.27%	8.50%	3.19%
Cumulus Media	-44.30%	N/A	-0.45%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Entercom Communications Corporation and Cumulus Media, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Entercom Communications Corporation	0	0	1	0	3.00
Cumulus Media	0	1	0	0	2.00

Volatility & Risk

Entercom Communications Corporation has a beta of 1.17, suggesting that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cumulus Media has a beta of 3.54, suggesting that its share price is 254% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

49.6% of Entercom Communications Corporation shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.0% of Cumulus Media shares are owned by institutional investors. 32.6% of Entercom Communications Corporation shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Cumulus Media 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Entercom Communications Corporation and Cumulus Media’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Entercom Communications Corporation	$465.64 million	0.72	$97.10 million	$0.45	22.11
Cumulus Media	$1.14 billion	0.01	$202.03 million	($17.24)	-0.02

Cumulus Media has higher revenue and earnings than Entercom Communications Corporation. Cumulus Media is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Entercom Communications Corporation, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Entercom Communications Corporation pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Cumulus Media does not pay a dividend. Entercom Communications Corporation pays out 66.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

Entercom Communications Corporation beats Cumulus Media on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Entercom Communications Corporation

Entercom Communications Corp. is a radio broadcasting company. The Company sells advertising time to local, regional and national advertisers and national network advertisers, purchasing spot commercials in varying lengths. It focuses on station-related digital platforms, which allow for audience interaction and participation, and integrated local digital marketing solutions and station events. Its stations are classified by their format, such as news, sports, talk, classic rock, urban, adult contemporary, alternative and country, among others. As of December 31, 2016, it had a portfolio of radio stations in 28 markets across the United States. It operates in various markets, which include Boston, Buffalo, Denver, Kansas City, Miami, Sacramento, San Francisco and Seattle. Its radio stations include KSWD Frequency Modulation (FM), KOSI FM, KYGO FM, KEPN AM, KKFN FM, KQKS FM, KRWZ Amplitude Modulation (AM), WSTR FM, WAXY AM/FM, WLYF FM, WMXJ FM, KBZT FM, KSON FM/KSOQ FM and KIFM FM.

About Cumulus Media

Cumulus Media Inc. (Cumulus) is a radio broadcasting company. The Company is also a provider of country music and lifestyle content through its NASH brand, which serves through radio programming, NASH Country Weekly magazine and live events. Its product lines include broadcast advertising, digital advertising, political advertising and non-advertising based license fees. Its broadcast advertising includes the sale of commercial advertising time to local, national and network clients. Its digital advertising includes the sale of advertising and promotional opportunities across its Websites and mobile applications. Its across the nation platform generates content distributable through both broadcast and digital platforms. Its categories of advertisers consist of amusement and recreation; banking and mortgage; furniture and home furnishings; arts and entertainment; food and beverage services; healthcare services; automotive dealers; food and beverage stores, and telecommunications.