Billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch is a household name and for many years his company News Corp (ASX: NWS) was an often talked about business amongst Australian investors.
The corporate reorganisation which occurred over eighteen months ago and led to the separation of the company's filmed entertainment assets into the separately US-listed Twenty-First Century Fox Inc seems to have resulted in less focus on the ASX-listed business.
So what's left?
As it stands today, the remaining media assets housed within News Corp are still appealing. The company owns a swag of news titles including The Australian, The Sun and The New York Post. Other major brands include Dow Jones and HarperCollins. The firm isn't just home to 'old world' media assets either, with the group holding a 61.6% interest in leading global online property classifieds business REA Group Limited (ASX: REA). This holding currently has a market value of approximately $3.8 billion.
News Corp also owns a 50% share of Australia's leading pay-television business Foxtel in partnership with Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS). Foxtel has a commanding share of the pay-tv market and there is speculation that Foxtel could be lining up to try and buy the ailing free-to-air television broadcaster Ten Network Holdings Limited (ASX: TEN), which would have synergies and boost its growth profile.
Tallied up, these media assets of the ASX-listed Murdoch media empire are still very significant and at the right price the stock could make a good addition to a diversified portfolio. The shares have performed poorly since the demerger having gained just 5.8%, compared with a gain of 14.2% in the S&P/ASX 300 (Index: ^AXKO) (ASX: XKO).
Based on analyst consensus data provided by Morningstar, the stock is trading on a financial year 2015 price-to-earnings ratio of 33.3x. This is certainly a lot higher than the index which is trading on around 17x forward earnings. However, the profit growth expectations of Newscorp are also well above the market average too.
Brokers Deutsche Bank and Commsec both have 'buy' recommendations on the stock of $23 and $23.89 respectively, which compares favourably with the current share price of $17.85.
