News Corp Stock Buy Recommendation Reiterated (NWSA)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- News (Nasdaq:NWSA) has been reitereated by TheStreet Ratings as a buy with a ratings score of A. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income, revenue growth and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. Although no company is perfect, currently we do not see any significant weaknesses which are likely to detract from the generally positive outlook.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• Looking at where the stock is today compared to one year ago, we find that it is not only higher, but it has also clearly outperformed the rise in the S&P 500 over the same period. Although other factors naturally played a role, the company's strong earnings growth was key. Turning our attention to the future direction of the stock, it goes without saying that even the best stocks can fall in an overall down market. However, in any other environment, this stock still has good upside potential despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year.
• NEWS CORP reported significant earnings per share improvement in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. During the past fiscal year, NEWS CORP increased its bottom line by earning $1.13 versus $0.97 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($1.40 versus $1.13).
• The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Media industry. The net income increased by 46.6% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from $639.00 million to $937.00 million.
• NWSA's revenue growth trails the industry average of 13.4%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 1.8%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
• The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.55, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. To add to this, NWSA has a quick ratio of 1.72, which demonstrates the ability of the company to cover short-term liquidity needs.

News Corporation operates as a diversified media company worldwide. The company has a P/E ratio of 13.7, equal to the average media industry P/E ratioand below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. News has a market cap of $31.97 billion and is part of the services sector and media industry. Shares are up 4.3% year to date as of the close of trading on Wednesday.

You can view the full News Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

--Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff.

TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

For more information on News Corporation click any of the following:

• News Corporation Stock Price

• News Corporation Analyst Ratings

• News Corporation Key Stats & Profile

• News Corporation Earnings

• News Corporation Ratio Comparison

• News Corporation Growth Rates

• News Corporation Balance Sheet

• News Corporation Cash Flow

• News Corporation Income Statement