Activists are good news for investors

Article Excerpt

TEGNA INC. $17 is still a buy. The company (New York symbol TGNA, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector: Shares o/s: 216.9 million; Market cap: $3.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Divd. yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.tegna.com) owns 62 TV and four radio stations in 51 markets. It also offers online advertising and marketing services. Two activist investment firms—HG Vora Capital Management and Standard General—are now pushing Tegna to explore a sale of the entire company or a merger with a larger media company in order to raise value for investors. The activists control about 14% of the stock. Tegna has so far resisted the proposal, preferring instead to focus on realizing costs savings from its recent acquisitions. As a result, its projected earnings will probably jump from $1.33 a share in 2019 to $2.23 in 2020. The stock is cheap for your new buying at just 7.6 times the 2020 estimate. estimate…