Is It Time To Consider Buying The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ:SSP)?

While The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ:SSP) might not be the most widely known stock at the moment, it saw a decent share price growth in the teens level on the NASDAQGS over the last few months. As a stock with high coverage by analysts, you could assume any recent changes in the company’s outlook is already priced into the stock. However, could the stock still be trading at a relatively cheap price? Let’s examine E.W. Scripps’s valuation and outlook in more detail to determine if there’s still a bargain opportunity.

See our latest analysis for E.W. Scripps

Is E.W. Scripps Still Cheap?

According to my price multiple model, which makes a comparison between the company's price-to-earnings ratio and the industry average, the stock price seems to be justfied. I’ve used the price-to-earnings ratio in this instance because there’s not enough visibility to forecast its cash flows. The stock’s ratio of 8.89x is currently trading slightly below its industry peers’ ratio of 10.79x, which means if you buy E.W. Scripps today, you’d be paying a decent price for it. And if you believe E.W. Scripps should be trading in this range, then there isn’t much room for the share price to grow beyond the levels of other industry peers over the long-term. So, is there another chance to buy low in the future? Given that E.W. Scripps’s share is fairly volatile (i.e. its price movements are magnified relative to the rest of the market) this could mean the price can sink lower, giving us an opportunity to buy later on. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for share price volatility.

Can we expect growth from E.W. Scripps?

Future outlook is an important aspect when you’re looking at buying a stock, especially if you are an investor looking for growth in your portfolio. Although value investors would argue that it’s the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. With profit expected to more than double over the next couple of years, the future seems bright for E.W. Scripps. It looks like higher cash flow is on the cards for the stock, which should feed into a higher share valuation.

What This Means For You

Are you a shareholder? It seems like the market has already priced in SSP’s positive outlook, with shares trading around industry price multiples. However, there are also other important factors which we haven’t considered today, such as the track record of its management team. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at SSP? Will you have enough conviction to buy should the price fluctuate below the industry PE ratio?

Are you a potential investor? If you’ve been keeping an eye on SSP, now may not be the most optimal time to buy, given it is trading around industry price multiples. However, the optimistic forecast is encouraging for SSP, which means it’s worth diving deeper into other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to take advantage of the next price drop.

If you want to dive deeper into E.W. Scripps, you'd also look into what risks it is currently facing. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for E.W. Scripps you should be mindful of and 1 of them is potentially serious.

If you are no longer interested in E.W. Scripps, you can use our free platform to see our list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.