One-glance verdict
Undervalued
$16.93 our estimate vs market $2.68
Wall Street consensus: $4.93 (-70.9% lower than our fair-value estimate)
84% below our estimate, below the bear case
Fundamentals snapshot
The E.W. Scripps Company
SSP · NMS · Communication Services · Broadcasting
Current price
$2.68
52-week range
$1.52 - $5.39
Market cap
$248.35M
Balance sheet
Distressed
0.73x Concerning
Net debt $2.61B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
1 Reward
2 Risks
1 rewards · 2 risks
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 9/10 years.
- Risk Return on equity was -174.7% last year — the company lost money on shareholders' equity.
- Risk Operating margin compressed from 17.8% to 2.7% over 3 years.
What this company does
The E.W. Scripps Company
The E.W. Scripps Company is a media business that owns dozens of local TV stations and national networks like ION and Court TV. It makes money primarily by selling advertising time to other companies, which means its revenue (the total money brought in from sales) can get a big boost during election seasons from political ad spending. This business model's success depends on how many people are watching its channels and how much advertisers are willing to spend.
How the company got here
Founded in 1878 by E.W. Scripps as a chain of newspapers, the company has a long history of adapting to new media. It expanded into radio in the 1930s and then television in the 1940s, establishing itself as a major broadcaster. Over time, it shifted its focus entirely away from print, selling off its newspaper holdings in 2015 to concentrate on its television assets. A key turning point was the 2021 acquisition of ION Media, which significantly expanded its national television network presence.
What it actually does
The E.W. Scripps Company is a media company that primarily operates local television stations and national television networks across the United States. You would recognize their work in the local news broadcasts you watch in your city or the national entertainment channels available for free over-the-air with an antenna. The company makes money mainly by selling advertising time to businesses that want to reach the audiences of these stations and networks. They also earn revenue from fees paid by cable and satellite companies to carry their local station signals, a concept known as retransmission consent (the permission and payment required for a cable or satellite provider to carry a broadcaster's signal).
Local Media
This is the company's largest business segment, making up the majority of its revenue. It consists of over 60 local television stations in more than 40 markets across the country. These are the local news stations you might watch, often affiliated with major networks like ABC, NBC, and CBS. This segment earns money primarily from selling advertising to local and national businesses and from retransmission fees (payments from cable and satellite providers to carry the station's signal).
Scripps Networks
This part of the company operates a collection of national television networks that you can watch for free with a digital antenna. These networks include brands like ION, Bounce, Grit, ION Mystery, and Scripps News. Unlike the local stations that focus on specific cities, these networks broadcast the same programming across the entire country. This segment, which is a significant part of the business, makes money almost entirely from selling national advertising.
What management is betting on now
The company is currently focused on a major transformation plan to improve its financial performance by cutting costs and using technology like AI to grow revenue. A big part of their strategy is expanding into live sports, making deals to broadcast games for leagues like the WNBA and the National Women's Soccer League on their ION network and local stations. Management believes that live sports will attract large audiences, which in turn makes their advertising time more valuable. They are also focused on growing their presence on connected TV platforms and capitalizing on political advertising during election years.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Loading price history…
Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q3
$127.44M
FY2024 Q4
$146.89M
FY2025 Q1
$-8.36M
FY2025 Q2
$-22.74M
FY2025 Q3
$6.38M
FY2025 Q4
$31.24M
FY2026 Q1
$350.00K
FY2026 Q2
$-2.94M
Revenue
$490.40M
Net income
$-1.15B
Diluted EPS
-12.68
Operating cash flow
$13.59M
Free cash flow
$-2.94M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$516.87M
Net income
$-1.79M
Diluted EPS
-0.20
Operating cash flow
$3.51M
Free cash flow
$350.00K
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$560.26M
Net income
$-28.50M
Diluted EPS
-0.51
Operating cash flow
$45.13M
Free cash flow
$31.24M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$525.85M
Net income
$-32.96M
Diluted EPS
-0.55
Operating cash flow
$21.83M
Free cash flow
$6.38M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$540.08M
Net income
$-35.96M
Diluted EPS
-0.59
Operating cash flow
$-10.55M
Free cash flow
$-22.74M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$524.39M
Net income
$-3.46M
Diluted EPS
-0.22
Operating cash flow
$-3.31M
Free cash flow
$-8.36M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$728.38M
Net income
$95.39M
Diluted EPS
0.94
Operating cash flow
$153.29M
Free cash flow
$146.89M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$646.30M
Net income
$47.78M
Diluted EPS
0.37
Operating cash flow
$140.59M
Free cash flow
$127.44M
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $16.93 vs current price $2.68
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $4.93 (-70.9% lower than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $16.93 a share — about 531.6% above today's price of $2.68, so the stock currently looks cheap (undervalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Distressed
Net debt $2.6B. Interest coverage 0.7x.
Net debt
$2.61B
Interest coverage
0.73x
The E.W. Scripps Company's profit covers its interest bill about 0.7 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here and 3 peers sit below 1x, which is the danger zone where profit does not fully cover the interest bill.
Distressed
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
SSP
BASELINE
The E.W. Scripps Company
Total debt $2.62B Interest coverage 0.73x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $12.09B Interest coverage 2.28x +210% vs SSP Carries about 3.1x more debt cushion than SSP.
Total debt $4.19B Interest coverage 0.39x -47% vs SSP Carries about 1.9x less debt cushion than SSP.
Total debt $5.89B Interest coverage 0.87x +18% vs SSP Carries about 1.2x more debt cushion than SSP.
Total debt $206.27M Interest coverage 0.04x -95% vs SSP Carries about 20.5x less debt cushion than SSP.
What you should know
The case for and against SSP
1 Reward
2 Risks
Rewards
-
Free cash flow was positive in 9/10 years.
Risks
-
Return on equity was -174.7% last year — the company lost money on shareholders' equity.
-
Operating margin compressed from 17.8% to 2.7% over 3 years.
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
—
Forward P/E
-2.68x
P/B
-0.78x
P/S
0.12x
EV/EBITDA
12.26x
PEG ratio
-6.51x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
40.4%
Operating margin
2.7%
Net margin
-58.0%
ROE
-174.7%
ROA
1.7%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
26.06x
Current ratio
1.34x
Quick ratio
1.22x
Total debt
$2.62B
Total cash
$13.05M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$2.09B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
-1.5%
EPS TTM
-14.10
EPS 5Y CAGR
—
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$84.05M
Free CF TTM
$6.52M
FCF margin
0.3%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
0.0%
Payout ratio
0.0%
Last ex-div date
2020-12-14