Financial Comparison: Future (OTCMKTS:FRNWF) versus John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY)

Future (OTCMKTS:FRNWF) and John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Future and John Wiley & Sons’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Future	N/A	N/A	N/A
John Wiley & Sons	-8.14%	18.83%	5.88%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Future and John Wiley & Sons, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Future	0	0	0	0	N/A
John Wiley & Sons	0	0	0	0	N/A

Dividends

Future pays an annual dividend of $0.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. John Wiley & Sons pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Future pays out -2.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. John Wiley & Sons pays out -48.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. John Wiley & Sons has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. John Wiley & Sons is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Future and John Wiley & Sons’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Future	N/A	N/A	N/A	($0.10)	-94.61
John Wiley & Sons	$1.93 billion	1.09	$17.23 million	($2.88)	-13.33

John Wiley & Sons has higher revenue and earnings than Future. Future is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than John Wiley & Sons, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

63.8% of Future shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.9% of John Wiley & Sons shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of John Wiley & Sons shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

John Wiley & Sons beats Future on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Future

Future plc, together with its subsidiaries, publishes and distributes content for games, entertainment, technology, sports, savings and wealth, lifestyle, knowledge and news, and B2B sectors primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom. It operates through Media and Magazine segments. The company offers content through various forms, such as websites, email newsletters, videos, social platforms, magazines, and events, as well as advertising comprising digital advertising, AVOD, newsletters, events, and lead generation; eCommerce, including print and digital subscriptions, and newstrade; and direct consumer monetisation frameworks. It also provides print licensing, endorsement licensing, comparison shopping, video content production, energy auto switching, and digital media publishing services, as well as various sales and distribution services to third party. Future plc was founded in 1985 and is based in Bath, the United Kingdom.

About John Wiley & Sons

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. operates as a research and education company worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Research, Academic, and Talent. The company offers scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, as well as related content and services to learned societies, individual researchers, other professionals, and academic, corporate, and government libraries. It publishes physical sciences and engineering, health sciences, social sciences, and humanities and life sciences journals; and provides a publishing software and service for scholarly and professional societies, and publishers to deliver, host, enhance, market, and manage their content on the web through the Literatum platform. In addition, it sells and distributes its products through various channels, including research libraries and library consortia, and independent subscription agents, as well as directly to professional society members, bookstores, online booksellers, and other customers. Further, it provides education publishing and professional learning products and services, including scientific, professional, and education print and digital books, digital courseware, and test preparation services to libraries, corporations, students, professionals, and researchers. Furthermore, it distributes its products through chain and online booksellers, libraries, colleges and universities, corporations, direct to consumer, websites, distributor networks, and other online applications; and offers talent development for professionals and businesses, assessments, and corporate learning. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. was founded in 1807 and is headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey.