Contrasting iHeartMedia (IHRT) and Its Rivals

iHeartMedia (NASDAQ:IHRT) is one of 257 public companies in the “Media” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare iHeartMedia to related businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and risk.

Risk and Volatility

iHeartMedia has a beta of 2.47, suggesting that its share price is 147% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, iHeartMedia’s peers have a beta of 0.96, suggesting that their average share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for iHeartMedia and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
iHeartMedia	4	0	0	0	1.00
iHeartMedia Competitors	2341	6935	10782	490	2.46

iHeartMedia currently has a consensus target price of $2.25, indicating a potential upside of 285.21%. As a group, “Media” companies have a potential upside of 29.60%. Given iHeartMedia’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe iHeartMedia is more favorable than its peers.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.9% of iHeartMedia shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.1% of shares of all “Media” companies are held by institutional investors. 10.2% of iHeartMedia shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.5% of shares of all “Media” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares iHeartMedia and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
iHeartMedia	-5.68%	N/A	-3.30%
iHeartMedia Competitors	-19.17%	-48.96%	-4.96%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares iHeartMedia and its peers revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
iHeartMedia	$3.86 billion	-$472.87 million	-0.40
iHeartMedia Competitors	$2.97 billion	$35.12 million	-1.77

iHeartMedia has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its peers. iHeartMedia is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

iHeartMedia beats its peers on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

About iHeartMedia

iHeartMedia is an audio media company whose businesses include broadcast radio, digital audio, podcasting, live events and advertising services. Its radio programming spans music, news, talk and sports, while its digital offerings include the iHeartRadio platform and a broad selection of podcasts. The company serves audiences and advertisers primarily in the United States. Its services also include audio advertising and marketing solutions that connect brands with listeners across broadcast and digital channels. iHeartMedia traces its roots to radio broadcasting in San Antonio and operated for many years as Clear Channel Communications.