Purchase will immediately boost earnings

Article Excerpt

GANNETT CO., INC. $14 (New York symbol GCI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector: Shares outstanding: 115.4 million; Market cap: $1.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 4.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.gannett.com) publishes daily newspapers in 92 U.S. markets, including its flagship paper, USAToday, and 19 dailies in the U.K. The company recently agreed to buy Journal Media Group (New York symbol JMG), which publishes 15 dailies and 18 weeklies in nine states. The purchase price is $280 million, which includes Journal’s cash holdings. Gannett expects to close the deal in the first quarter of 2016. The purchase will add $0.10 to $0.15 a share to Gannett’s earnings in the first year; the company will likely earn $1.66 a share in 2016, and the stock trades at 8.4 times that estimate. Savings from combining printing plants and other operations should increase Gannett’s earnings by $0.20 to $0.25 a share in the second year. The $0.64 dividend seems secure and yields 4.6%. …