Head-To-Head Contrast: New York Times (NYSE:NYT) and Educational Development (NASDAQ:EDUC)

New York Times (NYSE:NYT) and Educational Development (NASDAQ:EDUC) are both communication services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Volatility & Risk

New York Times has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Educational Development has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

95.4% of New York Times shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.6% of Educational Development shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of New York Times shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 11.9% of Educational Development 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 New York Times and Educational Development’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
New York Times	13.19%	22.64%	15.58%
Educational Development	9.75%	-18.23%	-12.73%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for New York Times and Educational Development, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
New York Times	0	6	4	1	2.55
Educational Development	1	0	0	0	1.00

New York Times currently has a consensus target price of $82.33, suggesting a potential upside of 23.06%. Given New York Times’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe New York Times is more favorable than Educational Development.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares New York Times and Educational Development”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
New York Times	$2.82 billion	3.82	$343.98 million	$2.40	27.88
Educational Development	$22.91 million	0.49	$2.33 million	$0.23	5.70

New York Times has higher revenue and earnings than Educational Development. Educational Development 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.

Summary

New York Times beats Educational Development on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Educational Development

Educational Development Corporation, a publishing company, operates as a publisher of educational children's books in the United States. It operates through two segments, PaperPie and Publishing. The company offers various books, including touchy-feely board books, activity books and flashcards, adventure and search books, art books, sticker books, and foreign language books, as well as internet-linked books comprising science and math titles, and chapter books and novels. It markets its products to retail accounts, which include book, school supply, toy and gift stores and museums, through commissioned sales representatives, trade and specialty wholesalers, and its internal tele-sales group; and through a network of independent sales consultants through internet sales, direct sales, home shows, and book fairs. Educational Development Corporation was incorporated in 1965 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.