Pearson (PSO) Competitors

News (NASDAQ:NWS) and Pearson (NYSE:PSO) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Does the media refer more to NWS or PSO?

In the previous week, Pearson had 2 more articles in the media than News. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for Pearson and 7 mentions for News. News' average media sentiment score of 1.17 beat Pearson's score of 0.15 indicating that News is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
News	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Pearson	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has more volatility and risk, NWS or PSO?

News has a beta of 1.23, suggesting that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pearson has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of NWS or PSO?

14.6% of News shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.1% of Pearson shares are held by institutional investors. 13.7% of News shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Pearson shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, NWS or PSO?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
News	$10.27B	1.90	$266M	$0.86	39.98
Pearson	$4.54B	2.17	$554.61M	$0.94	15.84

Do analysts rate NWS or PSO?

Pearson has a consensus target price of $18.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.89%. Given Pearson's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Pearson is more favorable than News.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
News	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	4.00
Pearson	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.67

Is NWS or PSO more profitable?

News has a net margin of 5.18% compared to Pearson's net margin of 0.00%. News' return on equity of 5.64% beat Pearson's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
News	5.18%	5.64%	3.09%
Pearson	N/A	N/A	N/A

Is NWS or PSO a better dividend stock?

News pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Pearson pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. News pays out 23.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Pearson pays out 46.8% 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.

Summary

News beats Pearson on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.