Nexstar Media Group
NXST on Nasdaq. Nexstar sells advertising time on local television stations to advertisers. Market value $4.8bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Should I look at this?
Not a fit for our list right now
Why it could be worth it
See Media & telecom stocks that passed both tests
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $15.39 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 15.7 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 9 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 59 of 100. Price score: 81 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$156.66 a share, 2% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $153.17 to $254.30.
Dividend: 4.7% a year
Paid every year for at least 5 years
Prices from Monday’s close (5 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $4.6bn | $5.2bn | $4.9bn | $5.4bn | $4.9bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 25.3% | 25.2% | 14.4% | 23.5% | 17.2% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 2.60 | 2.54 | 2.97 | 2.89 | 3.07 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.04bn | 0.03bn | 0.03bn | 0.03bn | 0.03bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive5 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Not enough data
- Financial strength (Piotroski)7 of 8 checks we could run
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt3.07× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsSlow, 1.9% a year
- Buying back its own sharesYes, 18% fewer since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $2 billion last quarter, up 62% on a year ago.
- Profit: $120 million, up 24% on a year ago.
- It keeps 18 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, down from 22 cents a year earlier.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $743 million, down from $1.3 billion.
- 1% more shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit less of the company.
- Debt is $11.5 billion more than cash, up from $6.1 billion a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in 2 of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $1.4bn |
| December 2024 | $1.5bn |
| March 2025 | $1.2bn |
| June 2025 | $1.2bn |
| September 2025 | $1.2bn |
| December 2025 | $1.3bn |
| March 2026 | $1.4bn |
| June 2026 | $2.0bn |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $187m |
| December 2024 | $242m |
| March 2025 | $108m |
| June 2025 | $97m |
| September 2025 | $70m |
| December 2025 | -$166m |
| March 2026 | $164m |
| June 2026 | $120m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 27 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 6 November 2026
Who owns it
6 long-term investors we follow own it, unchanged from 6 last quarter. 490 funds in all.
- Engine CapitalArnaud Ajdler
- Value
- $36m
- Share of fund
- 3.5%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| LSV Asset ManagementJosef Lakonishok | $167m | 0.3% | Cut |
| Engine CapitalArnaud Ajdler | $36m | 3.5% | |
| GAMCO InvestorsMario Gabelli | $21m | 0.2% | Added |
| Gotham Asset ManagementJoel Greenblatt | $15m | <0.1% | Cut |
| Boston PartnersBoston Partners team | $5m | <0.1% | Added |
| Delphi ManagementScott Black | $1m | 1.4% | Added |
Largest holders overall
- BlackRock$600mAdded
- Dimensional Fund Advisors LP$256mAdded
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$255m
- Vanguard Capital Management$233m
- Charles Schwab Investment Management$193mAdded
- State Street$169mAdded
- LSV Asset Management$167mCut
- FMR$167mAdded
- Geode Capital Management$154mAdded
- Massachusetts Financial Services$150mAdded
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
1 investor owns more than 5%.
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor10.5%Since 31 March 2025
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 10.5% | 31 March 2025 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
In the last 12 months, 1 insider bought $2m of shares on the open market. 16 sold $11m.
- ALFORD ANDREWPresident, BroadcastingSold
- Date
- 23 September 2026
- Shares
- 2,823
- Price
- $165.69
- Value
- $467,743
- Aulestia Bernadette S.DirectorSold
- Date
- 24 August 2026
- Shares
- 300
- Price
- $186.80
- Value
- $56,040
- Biard MichaelPresident & COOSold
- Date
- 24 August 2026
- Shares
- 2,465
- Price
- $185.82
- Value
- $458,047
- ZIMMER DANASee RemarksSold
- Date
- 14 August 2026
- Shares
- 4,008
- Price
- $187.46
- Value
- $751,352
- SOOK PERRY AChief Executive Officer, DirectorBought
- Date
- 26 June 2026
- Shares
- 12,235
- Price
- $162.26
- Value
- $2m
- WEITMAN GARYSee RemarksSold
- Date
- 16 June 2026
- Shares
- 261
- Price
- $170.81
- Value
- $44,581
- Russell BlakeEVP, OperationsSold
- Date
- 16 June 2026
- Shares
- 261
- Price
- $170.81
- Value
- $44,581
- Knapp LindseyEVP, Human ResourcesSold
- Date
- 16 June 2026
- Shares
- 93
- Price
- $170.81
- Value
- $15,885
- Jenkins BrettSee RemarksSold
- Date
- 16 June 2026
- Shares
- 301
- Price
- $170.81
- Value
- $51,414
- ZIMMER DANASee RemarksSold
- Date
- 16 June 2026
- Shares
- 876
- Price
- $170.81
- Value
- $149,630
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 September 2026 | ALFORD ANDREW President, Broadcasting | Sold | 2,823 | $165.69 | $467,743 |
| 24 August 2026 | Aulestia Bernadette S. Director | Sold | 300 | $186.80 | $56,040 |
| 24 August 2026 | Biard Michael President & COO | Sold | 2,465 | $185.82 | $458,047 |
| 14 August 2026 | ZIMMER DANA See Remarks | Sold | 4,008 | $187.46 | $751,352 |
| 26 June 2026 | SOOK PERRY A Chief Executive Officer, Director | Bought | 12,235 | $162.26 | $2m |
| 16 June 2026 | WEITMAN GARY See Remarks | Sold | 261 | $170.81 | $44,581 |
| 16 June 2026 | Russell Blake EVP, Operations | Sold | 261 | $170.81 | $44,581 |
| 16 June 2026 | Knapp Lindsey EVP, Human Resources | Sold | 93 | $170.81 | $15,885 |
| 16 June 2026 | Jenkins Brett See Remarks | Sold | 301 | $170.81 | $51,414 |
| 16 June 2026 | ZIMMER DANA See Remarks | Sold | 876 | $170.81 | $149,630 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
None of the warning signs we check for were found.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 27 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 7 Aug 2026 and 9 later 8-Ks.
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
- It carries a lot of debt: 3.1× its equity.
- Sales have barely grown: 1.9% a year.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.