ITV (OTCMKTS:ITVPY) vs. Saga Communications (NASDAQ:SGA) Critical Review

Saga Communications (NASDAQ:SGA) and ITV (OTCMKTS:ITVPY) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings and profitability.

Risk & Volatility

Saga Communications has a beta of 0.27, meaning that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ITV has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Saga Communications pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.7%. ITV pays an annual dividend of $0.75 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.5%. Saga Communications pays out 181.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Saga Communications and ITV”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Saga Communications	$111.84 million	0.75	$3.46 million	$0.55	23.63
ITV	$4.46 billion	0.97	$521.38 million	N/A	N/A

ITV has higher revenue and earnings than Saga Communications.

Profitability

This table compares Saga Communications and ITV’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Saga Communications	3.15%	2.09%	1.56%
ITV	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Saga Communications and ITV, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Saga Communications	0	0	0	0	0.00
ITV	1	1	0	0	1.50

Institutional and Insider Ownership

74.3% of Saga Communications shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.4% of ITV shares are held by institutional investors. 22.4% of Saga Communications shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of ITV shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

About Saga Communications

Saga Communications, Inc., a media company, engages in acquiring, developing, and operating broadcast properties in the United States. The company's radio stations employ various programming formats, including classic hits, country, classic country, hot/soft/urban adult contemporary, oldies, classic rock, rock, and news/talk. It owns and operates FM and AM radio stations, and metro signals serving various markets. Saga Communications, Inc. was incorporated in 1986 and is headquartered in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan.

About ITV

ITV plc, an integrated production, broadcasting, and streaming company, which creates, owns, and distributes content on various platforms worldwide. It operates through ITV Studios and Media & Entertainment segments. The ITV Studios segment creates and produces programs and formats that include sports, drama, entertainment, factual, and news for its own channels and other broadcasters. The segment also operates as an unscripted independent producer of content in the United States; and produces content for local broadcasters and international OTT platforms in Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark. In addition, this segment engages in licensing its finished programmes, formats, and third-party content internationally, as well as finances productions. The Media & Entertainment segment broadcasts and streams various contents on its family of free-to-air TV channels; and offers television advertising services. The company also delivers content through linear television broadcasting, as well as on the ITV Hub, BritBox UK, ITVX, catch up services on pay platforms, and through direct content deals. In addition, this segment offers online advertising, HD digital channel on pay platform, and ITV Premium subscription services. The company was founded in 1955 is based in London, the United Kingdom.