Pearson (PSO) Competitors

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

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in PSO or NWS?

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

Does the media favor PSO or NWS?

In the previous week, News had 14 more articles in the media than Pearson. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for News and 3 mentions for Pearson. Pearson's average media sentiment score of 0.89 beat News' score of 0.18 indicating that Pearson is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Pearson	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
News	1 Very Positive mention(s)	10 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is PSO or NWS a better dividend stock?

Pearson pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. News pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Pearson pays out 46.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. News pays out 23.3% 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer PSO or NWS?

Pearson received 103 more outperform votes than News when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 60.83% of users gave News an outperform vote while only 48.46% of users gave Pearson an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Pearson	Outperform Votes 409 48.46%	Underperform Votes 435 51.54%
News	Outperform Votes 306 60.83%	Underperform Votes 197 39.17%

Is PSO or NWS more profitable?

News has a net margin of 4.22% compared to Pearson's net margin of 0.00%. News' return on equity of 5.31% beat Pearson's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pearson	N/A	N/A	N/A
News	4.22%	5.31%	2.89%

Which has higher valuation and earnings, PSO or NWS?

Pearson has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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
Pearson	$3.55B	3.10	$470.19M	$0.94	17.59
News	$10.27B	1.78	$266M	$0.86	37.62

Do analysts prefer PSO or NWS?

Pearson currently has a consensus target price of $18.00, indicating a potential upside of 8.86%. Given Pearson's higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Pearson is more favorable than News.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pearson	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.50
News	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	4.00

Which has more volatility and risk, PSO or NWS?

Pearson has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, News has a beta of 1.28, suggesting that its share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

News beats Pearson on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.