Can News Corp. Perform Well the Rest Of the Year?

With shares of News Corp. (NYSE:NWSA) trading around $17, is NWSA an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

News Corp. is a diversified media and information services company. The company now operates in five segments: News and Information Services, Cable Network Programming, Digital Real Estate Services, Book Publishing, and Other. News Corp.'s business consists of news and information services, sports programming in Australia, digital real estate services, book publishing, and pay-TV distribution in Australia. Its products and services are distributed under the following brands: The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, Herald Sun, The Sun, The Times, HarperCollins Publishers, Fox Sports Australia, and realestate.com.au. Lastly, News Corp. is a developing provider of digital education content, assessment, and delivery services.

News Corp. reported its first quarterly financial results after splitting from 21st Century Fox (NASDAQ:FOX). News Corp's revenue fell 3 percent, more than analysts had been expecting, to $2.26 billion. Earnings per share of 3 cents also came in below estimates, but the company posted a profit of $27 million versus a loss of $92 million last year. News Corp. was most hurt by a large drop in sales of its Australian newspapers, and many have questioned whether Rupert Murdoch's beloved print titles will be able to adapt to changes in the newspaper industry.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Mixed

News Corp. stock has been seeing positive progress after announcing a spin-off of its entertainment segment. The stock is currently pulling back so it may need time to consolidate. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, News Corp. is trading between its rising key averages, which signal neutral price action in the near-term.

(Source: Thinkorswim)

Taking a look at the implied volatility (red) and implied volatility skew levels of News Corp. options may help determine if investors are bullish, neutral, or bearish.

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
News Corp. Options	24.10%	0%	0%

What does this mean? This means that investors or traders are buying a small amount of call and put options contracts as compared to the last 30 and 90 trading days.

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
December Options	Average	Average
January Options	Average	Average

As of today, there is an average demand from call and put buyers or sellers, all neutral to bullish over the next two months. To summarize, investors are buying a small amount of call and put option contracts and are leaning neutral over the next two months.

On the next page, let’s take a look at the earnings and revenue growth rates and the conclusion.

E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter

Rising stock prices are often strongly correlated with rising earnings and revenue growth rates. Also, the last four quarterly earnings announcement reactions help gauge investor sentiment on News Corp.’s stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for News Corp. look like and more importantly, how did the markets like these numbers?

	2013 Q3	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	N/A	221.05%	140.48%	235.71%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	-3.00%	13.54%	5.01%	2.22%
Earnings Reaction	-0.95%*	4.48%	-2.33%	1.60%

News Corp. has seen increasing earnings and revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have been optimistic about News Corp.’s recent earnings announcements.

* As of this writing

P = Weak Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has News Corp. stock done relative to its peers, Gannett (NYSE:GCI), The New York Times Co. (NYSE:NYT), Pearson (NYSE:PSO), and sector?

	News Corp.	Gannett	The New York Times Co.	Pearson	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	9.30%	12.03%	26.58%	12.85%	16.19%

News Corp. has been a poor relative performer, year-to-date.

Conclusion

News Corp. is a media and information services company that has recently spun-off of its very profitable entertainment segment. The company reported its first quarterly financial results after splitting from 21st Century Fox. The stock has seen progress but is now pulling back as investors book gains. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenues have been on the rise, which has left investors optimistic about the company. Relative to its peers and sector, News Corp. has been a weak year-to-date performer. WAIT AND SEE what News Corp. does this quarter.