Tegna’s spinoff has high takeover appeal

Article Excerpt

On May 31, 2017, Tegna set up its Cars.com subsidiary as a separate firm. Investors received one share in the new company for every three Tegna shares they held. Since the breakup, Tegna is up about 12%, and its recent acquisitions should let it profit from the 2020 U.S. presidential election and the Olympics. Cars.com, however, has struggled, and is now down 16%. Even so, it has attracted the attention of two activist investors. That could lead to a sale of the company for a big premium. TEGNA INC. $16 (New York symbol TGNA; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 215.8 million; Market cap: $3.5 billion; Dividend yield: 1.8%; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.tegna.com) owns 49 TV stations and two radio stations in 41 markets. It also offers online services, including Premion (advertising) and G/O Digital (website design).   In the fourth quarter of 2018, Tegna’s revenue rose 31.0%, to a record $642.1 million from $490.3 million a year earlier. The gain is partly due to the company’s recent acquisition…