Critical Survey: LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORP /CN/ (NYSE:LGF.A) and Starz Entertainment (NASDAQ:STRZ)

LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORP /CN/ (NYSE:LGF.A) and Starz Entertainment (NASDAQ:STRZ) are both mid-cap services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORP /CN/ and Starz Entertainment’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORP /CN/	N/A	N/A	N/A
Starz Entertainment	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORP /CN/ and Starz Entertainment, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORP /CN/	0	0	0	0	0.00
Starz Entertainment	0	6	2	1	2.44

Starz Entertainment has a consensus target price of $22.00, suggesting a potential upside of 50.89%. Given Starz Entertainment’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Starz Entertainment is more favorable than LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORP /CN/.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

34.0% of LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORP /CN/ shares are held by institutional investors. 25.0% of LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORP /CN/ shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 53.6% of Starz Entertainment shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORP /CN/ and Starz Entertainment”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORP /CN/	$3.87 billion	0.53	-$298.20 million	($1.24)	-6.93
Starz Entertainment	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Starz Entertainment has lower revenue, but higher earnings than LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORP /CN/.

Summary

Starz Entertainment beats LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORP /CN/ on 5 of the 7 factors compared between the two stocks.

About LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORP /CN/

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. engages in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, family entertainment, digital distribution, new channel platforms, and international distribution and sales. It operates through the following business segments: Motion Picture, Media Networks, and Television Production. The Motion Picture segment focuses on the development and production of feature films, acquisition of North American and worldwide distribution rights, North American theatrical, home entertainment and television distribution of feature films produced and acquired, and worldwide licensing of distribution rights to feature films produced and acquired. The Television Production segment includes development, production, and worldwide distribution of television productions, including television series, television movies and mini-series, and non-fiction programming. The Media Networks segment refers to the Starz Networks and STARZPLAY International product lines. The company was founded by Frank Giustra in 1987 and is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA.

About Starz Entertainment

Starz is a premium cable and streaming network owned by Starz Entertainment, which was formerly a part of Lionsgate. Starz had about 20 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada as of Dec. 31, 2024. The company’s franchises include “Outlander” and “Power.”