Reviewing Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) and New York Times (NYSE:NYT)

Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) and New York Times (NYSE:NYT) are both large-cap communication services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

Charter Communications has a beta of 0.7, suggesting that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, New York Times has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Charter Communications and New York Times, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Charter Communications	7	10	5	0	1.91
New York Times	0	5	5	1	2.64

Charter Communications presently has a consensus target price of $202.53, indicating a potential upside of 84.67%. New York Times has a consensus target price of $84.20, indicating a potential upside of 26.32%. Given Charter Communications’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Charter Communications is more favorable than New York Times.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Charter Communications and New York Times”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Charter Communications	$54.77 billion	0.24	$4.99 billion	$38.51	2.85
New York Times	$2.82 billion	3.81	$343.98 million	$2.40	27.77

Charter Communications has higher revenue and earnings than New York Times. Charter Communications is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than New York Times, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Charter Communications and New York Times’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Charter Communications	9.05%	23.71%	3.19%
New York Times	13.19%	22.64%	15.58%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

81.8% of Charter Communications shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.4% of New York Times shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Charter Communications shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of New York Times shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

New York Times beats Charter Communications on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Charter Communications

Charter Communications, Inc. operates as a broadband connectivity and cable operator company serving residential and commercial customers in the United States. The company offers subscription-based internet, video, and mobile and voice services; a suite of broadband connectivity services, including fixed internet, WiFi, and mobile; Advanced WiFi services; Spectrum Security Shield; in-home WiFi, which provides customers with high performance wireless routers and managed WiFi services to enhance their fixed wireless internet experience; out-of-home WiFi; and Spectrum WiFi services. It also offers voice communications services using voice over internet protocol technology; and broadband communications solutions, such as internet access, data networking, fiber connectivity, video entertainment, and business telephone services to cellular towers and office buildings for business and carrier organizations. In addition, the company provides mobile services; video programming, static IP and business WiFi, voice, and e-mail and security services; sells local advertising across various platforms for networks, such as TBS, CNN, and ESPN; sells advertising inventory to local sports and news channels; and offers Audience App to create data-driven linear TV campaigns for local advertisers. Further, the company offers communications products and managed service solutions; data connectivity services to mobile and wireline carriers on a wholesale basis; and owns and operates regional sports networks and news channels. It serves approximately 32 million customers in 41 states. Charter Communications, Inc.was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

About New York Times

The New York Times Company, together with its subsidiaries, creates, collects, and distributes news and information worldwide. The company operates through two segments, The New York Times Group and The Athletic. It offers The New York Times (The Times) through company’s mobile application, website, printed newspaper, and associated content, such as podcast. The company also offers The Athletic, a sports media product; Cooking, a recipe product; Games, a puzzle games product; and Audio, an audio product. In addition, it offers a portfolio of advertising products and services to advertisers, such as luxury goods, technology, and financial companies, to promote products, services or brands on digital platforms in the form of display ads, audio and video, in print in the form of column-inch ads, and at live events; and Wirecutter, a product review and recommendation product. Further, the company licenses content to digital aggregators in the business, professional, academic and library markets, and third-party digital platforms; articles, graphics, and photographs, including newspapers, magazines, and websites; and for use in television, films, and books, as well as provide rights to reprint articles, and create and sell new digests. Additionally, it engages in commercial printing and distribution for third parties; and operates the NYTimes.com website. The company was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in New York, New York.