As the founder of Amazon.com buys the Washington Post for $250 million we turn our focus to trading newspaper company stocks. Jeff Bezos (Amazon founder) is buying the Post with his own money so it will not be an asset of Amazon.com. Washington post stock popped up a five percent on the news briefly surpassing $600 a share. Before doing technical analysis to see if you can perhaps make money on this stock take a look at some of the fundamentals of trading newspaper company stocks.
The description of the stock (WPO) from Google Finance is as follows:
The Washington Post Company is a diversified education and media company. The Company’s Kaplan subsidiary provides a variety of educational services, both domestically and outside the United States. The Company’s media operations consists of the ownership and operation of cable television systems, newspaper publishing, principally The Washington Post and television broadcasting through the ownership and operation of six television broadcast stations. The Company’s operations in geographic areas outside the United States consist of Kaplan’s non-United States operations. In July 2013, the Company’s Kaplan acquired the test prep assets and social learning platform of Grockit, Inc.
The Washington Post newspaper has been run by the Graham family for about eighty years and has been the primary molder of public opinion in the US capital. The sale of the Post leaves the New York Times as the only family run major newspaper in the USA.
Newspaper Companies in the USA
Here is the short list for trading newspaper company stocks in the USA.
- Washington Post
- Gannett
- W. Scripts
- New York Times
- H. Belo
- Media General
- Journal Communications
- McClatchy
- Lee Enterprises
These are arranged by stock price with Gannet trading in the $18 range in 2012 and Lee enterprises trading as a penny stock in the same year, down from $5 a share in 2009.
A Long Slow Trend
When trading newspaper company stocks it is wise to remember that these companies have been fighting a persistent trend. People are increasingly going to electronic media for the news. In addition many are going to so called news sources that provide little more than polemic instead of hard news. Profits have be falling and the end result is that many family owned news organizations have fallen by the wayside. These included the following:
- Chandler: Los Angeles Times
- Copley: San Diego Tribune
- Cowle: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Bancroft: Wall Street Journal
When trading newspaper company stocks it is not, however, long term trends that results in profits but rather the ups and downs that occur within the trend. Stock price ranges for the companies listed previously are as follows:
- Washington Post: $350-$600
- Gannett: $8-$18
- W. Scripts: $2-$12
- New York Times: $7.5-$10.5
- H. Belo: $2-$8.5
- Media General: $2-$8
- Journal Communications:$2-$5.5
- McClatchy: $0.50-$4.5
- Lee Enterprises: $0.30-$3.5
When to short stocks such as newspaper companies is immediately before one expects a steep fall in price and when to buy is obviously before an expected rally. Considering the likelihood of more buyouts, trading newspaper company stocks, going long in the short term may be a more profitable route, providing that your timing is right. For a quick refresher read about trend trading in day trading before trading newspaper company stocks.
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