Since October 2024, TEGNA has been in a holding pattern, floating around $16.22. However, the stock is beating the S&P 500’s 5.3% decline during that period.

Is now the time to buy TEGNA, or should you be careful about including it in your portfolio? Dive into our full research report to see our analyst team’s opinion, it’s free.

Even with the strong relative performance, we're sitting this one out for now. Here are three reasons why there are better opportunities than TGNA and a stock we'd rather own.

Why Is TEGNA Not Exciting?

Spun out of Gannett in 2015, TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA) is a media company operating a network of television stations and digital platforms, focusing on local news and community content.

1. Long-Term Revenue Growth Disappoints

Examining a company’s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Even a bad business can shine for one or two quarters, but a top-tier one grows for years. Unfortunately, TEGNA’s 6.2% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was sluggish. This was below our standard for the consumer discretionary sector.

2. Revenue Projections Show Stormy Skies Ahead

Forecasted revenues by Wall Street analysts signal a company’s potential. Predictions may not always be accurate, but accelerating growth typically boosts valuation multiples and stock prices while slowing growth does the opposite.

Over the next 12 months, sell-side analysts expect TEGNA’s revenue to drop by 10.9%, a decrease from its 2.7% annualized declines for the past two years. This projection is underwhelming and implies its products and services will face some demand challenges.

3. Cash Flow Margin Set to Decline

If you’ve followed StockStory for a while, you know we emphasize free cash flow. Why, you ask? We believe that in the end, cash is king, and you can’t use accounting profits to pay the bills.

Over the next year, analysts predict TEGNA’s cash conversion will fall. Their consensus estimates imply its free cash flow margin of 20.4% for the last 12 months will decrease to 11%.

Final Judgment

TEGNA isn’t a terrible business, but it doesn’t pass our bar. Following its recent outperformance amid a softer market environment, the stock trades at 8.6× forward price-to-earnings (or $16.22 per share). While this valuation is optically cheap, the potential downside is big given its shaky fundamentals. We're pretty confident there are superior stocks to buy right now. Let us point you toward one of our all-time favorite software stocks.

Stocks We Would Buy Instead of TEGNA

Market indices reached historic highs following Donald Trump’s presidential victory in November 2024, but the outlook for 2025 is clouded by new trade policies that could impact business confidence and growth.

While this has caused many investors to adopt a "fearful" wait-and-see approach, we’re leaning into our best ideas that can grow regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate. Take advantage of Mr. Market by checking out our Top 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 175% over the last five years.

Stocks that made our list in 2019 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+2,183% between December 2019 and December 2024) as well as under-the-radar businesses like Comfort Systems (+751% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free.