Industry: media
The company provides pay-TV, broadcast, and online content under brands such as Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet.
| Most recent | Growth rate (CAGR) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| Book value of equity per share | $15.50 | 9.2% | 3.4% | 4.7% |
| BV including aggregate dividends | 9.2% | 3.4% | 4.7% | |
| Most recent | Median | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| ROE | -12.2% | -11.6% | 19.2% | — |
| ROA | -2.6% | -2.4% | 7% | — |
| Most recent | Growth rate (CAGR) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| EPS | -$1.55 | — | — | — |
| Annual dividends | $0 | — | — | — |
| Share price | $29.21 |
| Most recent | Median | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| P/B ratio | 1.88 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 2.0 |
| P/E ratio | — | 10.5 | 20.4 | — |
A company creates wealth for its long-term shareholders in 2 main ways - through dividend payments and through the accumulation of retained earnings. This graph shows the accumulation of per-share equity of long-term shareholders (green bars), which consists of the retained earnings plus all capital invested in the company, and the cumulative dividends the company has paid over time per share of its stock (blue bars).
In the words of Warren Buffett: "We're looking for... businesses earning good returns on equity while employing little or no debt."
Return on equity is a key metric of financial performance, indicating a company's ability to generate earnings using shareholder capital. Over time, ROE is one of the major determinants of the rate at which a company creates shareholder wealth. The average ROE for large U.S. companies is 12%, and many investors use it as a threshold for attractive investments.
Companies can boost ROE by increasing leverage, which reduces the safety of the investment. Therefore, it is useful to look at the return on assets (ROA), which measures a company's earning power regardless of its capital structure. A widening gap between ROE and ROA may be a warning sign that should be thoroughly investigated.
Earnings per share is a popular metric used to value a company (using P/E ratio); growth in EPS is often used to judge company growth potential. However, many investors believe that EPS is an inferior metric to ROE, because it ignores the amount of capital the company used to generate earnings.
Free cash flow shows how much cash a company generates from operations, above and beyond what is required to maintain or expand its productive assets. This cash can be returned to investors, or spent by management on growing the company or paying back its debts.
Balance sheets of many companies contain intangible assets such as goodwill, trademarks, patents, etc. Many investors consider intangibles more difficult to value than physical assets. If intangible assets had been valued incorrectly, they must be impaired, resulting in a loss charged against shareholder equity. This chart demonstrates the potential loss to shareholder equity from such impairments.
Companies often use debt financing to increase their return on equity. However, as the amount of debt financing increases relative to the amount of equity financing, the company becomes more sensitive to down turns and other negative events. As a result, many investors use the ratio of debt to equity as a measure of a company's financial risk, and avoid companies that have this ratio above 1.
This chart shows shareholder equity as a percentage of total assets, allowing investors to judge the overall leverage. Companies with a higher proportion of equity can be viewed as safer investments. This metric is particularly important for highly leveraged institutions, such as banks, where it must be at least 4% according to government regulations.
The ratio of current assets to current liabilities is known as the current ratio. This metric is a quick measure of the company's ability to pay its short-term obligations. A current ratio below 1 is a warning sign that should be investigated, especially for companies that cannot count on adequate cash flow from operations.
This chart shows the cumulative dilution of investor ownership in a company over time. Dilution reduces an investor's participation in the future earnings. Dilution increases when a company issues new shares, and decreases when a company buys its shares back. Many investors avoid companies with large chronic dilution.
DuPont
analysis provides insight into factors affecting the Return On Equity of a company.
The DuPont equation decomposes ROE as follows:
ROE = (Net margin) * (Asset turnover) * (Asset to equity ratio)
Net margin indicates operating efficiency, Asset turnover measures
the total asset use efficiency, and the Asset to equity ratio is a measure of financial leverage.
The dividend payout ratio tells investors what percentage of earnings a company returns to shareholders, and what percentage it retains and reinvests. This ratio represents a major capital allocation decision by the company, and can be used to judge management rationality. Rational management should pay out all earnings that cannot be productively reinvested. Therefore, a low dividend payout ratio for a profitable company with a low growth potential may be a warning sign.
Many investors use the P/B ratio as a quick way of judging company valuation. Value investors - followers of Graham and Dodd - specifically seek out companies with low P/B ratios. However, investors should be careful not to make investment decisions on this metric alone, without considering a company's earning and growth potential, since a low P/B ratio can be a sign of a bleak future for the business.
P/E ratio is a popular way of making a quick judgment of a company valuation. Value investors - followers of Graham and Dodd - often seek solid companies with low P/E ratios as investment opportunities. However, P/E ratio represents an oversimplified approach to business valuation, and can often lead to incorrect investment decisions.
On April 9, 2013, we acquired the general entertainment television and radio business operations ("SBS Nordic") of Prosiebensat.1 Media AG for cash of approximately Euro 1.4 billion ($1.8 billion), including closing purchase price adjustments.
On January 21, 2014, we entered into an agreement with TF1 to acquire a controlling interest in Eurosport International ("Eurosport"), a leading pan-European sports media platform, by increasing our ownership stake from 20% to 51% for cash of approximately Euro 253 million ($343 million) subject to working capital adjustments. Due to regulatory constraints the acquisition initially excludes Eurosport France, a subsidiary of Eurosport. We will retain a 20% equity interest in Eurosport France and a commitment to acquire another 31% ownership interest beginning 2015, contingent upon resolution of all regulatory matters. The flagship Eurosport network focuses on regionally popular sports such as tennis, skiing, cycling and motor sports and reaches 133 million homes across 54 countries in 20 languages. Eurosports brands and platforms also include Eurosport HD (high definition simulcast), Eurosport 2, Eurosport 2 HD (high definition simulcast), Eurosport Asia-Pacific, and Eurosportnews. The acquisition is intended to increase the growth of Eurosport and enhance our pay television offerings in Europe. TF1 will have the right to put the entirety of its remaining 49% non-controlling interest to us for approximately two and a half years after completion of this acquisition. The put has a floor value equal to the fair value at the acquisition date if exercised in the 90 day period beginning on July 1, 2015 and is subsequently priced at fair value if exercised in the 90 day period beginning on July 1, 2016. We expect the acquisition to close in the second quarter of 2014 subject to obtaining necessary regulatory approvals.
On March 6, 2018, Discovery acquired Scripps Networks pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger (the "Merger Agreement") by and among Discovery, Scripps Networks and Skylight Merger Sub, Inc.; dated July 30, 2017 (the "acquisition of Scripps Networks"). The acquisition of Scripps Networks allows the Company to offer complementary brands with an extensive library of original programming to consumers and to create a scale player with the ability to compete for audiences and advertising revenue. The acquisition is intended to extend Scripps Networks' content to a broader international audience through Discovery's global distribution infrastructure. Finally, the acquisition of Scripps Networks is expected to create significant cost synergies for the Company. The consideration paid for the acquisition of Scripps Networks consisted of (i) for Scripps Networks shareholders that did not make an election or elected to receive the mixed consideration, $65.82 in cash and 1.0584 shares of Discovery Series C common stock for each Scripps Networks share, (ii) for Scripps Networks shareholders that elected to receive the cash consideration, $90.00 in cash for each Scripps Networks share, (iii) for Scripps Networks shareholders that elected to receive the stock consideration, 3.9392 shares of Discovery Series C common stock for each Scripps Networks share, subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Merger Agreement and (iv) transaction costs related to amounts reimbursed by Discovery to Scripps Networks for costs incurred in conjunction with the acquisition. The following table summarizes the components of the aggregate consideration paid for the acquisition of Scripps Networks (in millions of dollars and shares, except for per share amounts, share conversion ratio and stock option conversion ratio) as of March 6, 2018. Total consideration paid was $12 billion.