E.W. Scripps Company (The) (NYSE: SSP) and Discovery Communications (NASDAQ:DISCA) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.
Profitability
This table compares E.W. Scripps Company (The) and Discovery Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| E.W. Scripps Company (The) | 6.05% | 5.90% | 3.24% |
| Discovery Communications | 16.88% | 22.74% | 7.59% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
74.9% of E.W. Scripps Company (The) shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.2% of Discovery Communications shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.2% of E.W. Scripps Company (The) shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.8% of Discovery Communications shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings for E.W. Scripps Company (The) and Discovery Communications, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| E.W. Scripps Company (The) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2.50 |
| Discovery Communications | 3 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 2.00 |
E.W. Scripps Company (The) currently has a consensus target price of $23.00, indicating a potential upside of 25.61%. Discovery Communications has a consensus target price of $28.25, indicating a potential upside of 23.36%. Given E.W. Scripps Company (The)’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe E.W. Scripps Company (The) is more favorable than Discovery Communications.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares E.W. Scripps Company (The) and Discovery Communications’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| E.W. Scripps Company (The) | $948.55 million | 1.59 | $169.52 million | $0.69 | 26.54 |
| Discovery Communications | $6.59 billion | 1.98 | $2.48 billion | $1.89 | 12.12 |
Discovery Communications has higher revenue and earnings than E.W. Scripps Company (The). Discovery Communications is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than E.W. Scripps Company (The), indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk & Volatility
E.W. Scripps Company (The) has a beta of 2.01, suggesting that its share price is 101% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Discovery Communications has a beta of 1.59, suggesting that its share price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Discovery Communications beats E.W. Scripps Company (The) on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
E.W. Scripps Company (The) Company Profile
The E. W. Scripps Company is a media enterprise with interests in television and radio broadcasting, as well as local and national digital media brands. The Company’s segments include television, radio, digital, and syndication and other. As of December 31, 2016, the Television segment included approximately 15 American Broadcasting Company (ABC) affiliates, five National Broadcasting Company (NBC) affiliates, two FOX affiliates, two Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) affiliates and four non big-four affiliated stations. As of December 31, 2016, the radio segment owned 34 radio stations in eight markets. As of December 31, 2016, it operated 28 frequency modulation (FM) stations and six Amplitude Modulation (AM) stations. The digital segment includes the digital operations of its local television and radio businesses. Its Syndication and other segment primarily includes the syndication of news features and comics and other features for the newspaper industry.
Discovery Communications Company Profile
Discovery Communications, Inc. (Discovery) is a global media company. The Company provides content across multiple distribution platforms, including pay-television (pay-TV), free-to-air (FTA) and broadcast television, Websites, digital distribution arrangements and content licensing agreements. Its segments include U.S. Networks, which consists principally of domestic television networks and digital content services; International Networks, consisting primarily of international television networks and digital content services, and Education and Other, which consists principally of curriculum-based product and service offerings, and production studios. The Company’s portfolio of networks includes television brands, such as Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, ID, Velocity (known as Turbo outside of the United States) and Eurosport. It is also engaged in extending content distribution across various platforms, including brand-aligned Websites, Web-native networks and online streaming.
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