Comparing Toho (OTCMKTS:TKCOF) and News (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Toho (OTCMKTS:TKCOF) and News (NASDAQ:NWSA) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.

Dividends

Toho pays an annual dividend of $15.97 per share and has a dividend yield of 41.5%. News pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Toho pays out 12.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. News pays out 55.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Toho is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

11.2% of Toho shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.0% of News shares are held by institutional investors. 13.6% of News 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.

Profitability

This table compares Toho and News’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Toho	N/A	N/A	N/A
News	2.64%	4.51%	2.43%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Toho and News, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Toho	0	0	0	0	N/A
News	0	0	3	0	3.00

News has a consensus target price of $38.00, suggesting a potential upside of 43.56%. Given News’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe News is more favorable than Toho.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Toho and News”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Toho	N/A	N/A	N/A	$128.19	0.30
News	$10.09 billion	1.50	$266.00 million	$0.36	73.53

News has higher revenue and earnings than Toho. Toho is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than News, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

News beats Toho on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Toho

Toho Co., Ltd. engages in the motion picture, theatrical production, and real estate businesses in Japan. It is involved in producing, buying/selling, and renting movies; producing and selling television programs, movie pamphlets, and video software; and business related to merchandising rights, and other activities. The company engages in the planning, production, and performance of stage productions; and leasing of land/buildings, and others. Toho Co., Ltd. was incorporated in 1932 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

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.