Nexstar Media Group
NXST Nasdaq· Broadcasting
Last close · Oct 26, 2026
$164.75
KIRA · Stoqly’s AI analyst, in plain words
- Nexstar Media Group had $4.9B of revenue in fiscal 2025, down 8.5% on the year before. Over five years, revenue changed +1.9% a year on average.
- Its operating margin was 17.2%, down 6.3 pts: of every 100 in sales, about 17 is left after running the business.
- Nexstar Media Group made $109M of net profit in fiscal 2025. From fiscal 2016 to 2025, diluted EPS grew 0.4% a year.
- Free cash flow was $743M in fiscal 2025, 15.0% of revenue.
- Nexstar Media Group returned $351M to shareholders in fiscal 2025, 47% of free cash flow. The diluted share count fell 6.4%.
- Nexstar Media Group owes $6.1B more than it holds in cash, about 4.6 years of operating profit.
Market cap
$5.1B
P/E
31.3x
Revenue
$4.9B
Net income
$109M
Free cash flow
$743M
Operating margin
17.2%
Nexstar Media Group in 30 seconds · fiscal 2025
Are sales growing?
−8.5%
No. Sales fell 8.5% last year.
Does it make a profit?
2.2%
A little. It keeps 2.2% of every sale as profit.
Does profit turn into cash?
15.0%
Yes. 15.0% of sales ends up as free cash.
Is debt under control?
4.6x
Heavy. Repaying its debt would take 4.6 years of operating profit.
How healthy are the accounts?
5 / 8
Mixed. It passes 5 of 8 health tests.
How is the share priced?
31.3x
One share costs 31.3 times its yearly profit per share. Typical for its sector: 17.1x.
What Nexstar Media Group does
Nexstar owns and operates local television stations and national networks, and produces news, sports and entertainment programming. It says it is the largest local television broadcasting company in the United States, with over 200 owned or partner stations in 116 local markets. Its stations are affiliates of CBS, FOX, NBC and ABC, and also of The CW and MyNetworkTV. It owns 80.8% of The CW and runs NewsNation, a national news network, plus the Antenna TV and REWIND TV channels. It also has a stake in TV Food Network. Nexstar earns money mainly from distribution revenue and advertising revenue. Distribution revenue is the fees that cable, satellite and online TV distributors pay, generally per subscriber, to carry its stations' signals and its networks. Advertising revenue comes from selling airtime and digital ads to local and national businesses and, in election years, to political candidates and groups. It generated $4.9 billion of revenue in 2025.
Biggest risks, in its own words
- The planned TEGNA merger may not close on time, or its benefits may take longer to arrive than expected.
- Fewer cable and satellite subscribers, or failing to renew deals with distributors on good terms.
- Failing to renew its network affiliation agreements with the major networks.
- Advertising pressure from big technology companies and economic downturns, and loss of its largest advertisers.
- Fiscal year ends
- December 31, 2025
- Latest annual report
- 10-K · Feb 27, 2026
- Legal name
- NEXSTAR MEDIA GROUP, INC.
- CIK
- 0001142417
Nexstar Media Group · NXST
Results and finances
The last 5 fiscal years. Amounts in USD.
| Fiscal year | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales and profit | |||||
| Revenue | $4.6B | $5.2B | $4.9B | $5.4B | $4.9B |
| Revenue growth | 3.3% | 12.1% | −5.3% | 9.6% | −8.5% |
| Operating margin | 25.3% | 25.2% | 14.4% | 23.5% | 17.2% |
| Net income | $834M | $971M | $346M | $722M | $109M |
| Net margin | 17.9% | 18.6% | 7.0% | 13.4% | 2.2% |
| Diluted EPS | $18.98 | $24.16 | $9.64 | $21.41 | $3.00 |
| Cash | |||||
| Cash from operations | $1.2B | $1.4B | $999M | $1.3B | $891M |
| Capital expenditure | $151M | $157M | $149M | $145M | $148M |
| Free cash flow | $1.1B | $1.2B | $850M | $1.1B | $743M |
| FCF margin | 22.9% | 23.9% | 17.2% | 20.4% | 15.0% |
| Dividends paid | $118M | $142M | $191M | $219M | $226M |
| Share buybacks | $537M | $881M | $605M | $601M | $125M |
| Share count change | −5.9% | −8.6% | −10.8% | −8.5% | −6.4% |
| Debt and strength | |||||
| Cash and short-term investments | $191M | $204M | $135M | $144M | $280M |
| Debt incl. finance leases | $7.4B | $7.0B | $6.8B | $6.5B | $6.3B |
| Shareholders' equity | $2.9B | $2.7B | $2.3B | $2.3B | $2.1B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 4.1x | 3.4x | 5.6x | 3.6x | 4.6x |
| Current ratio | 1.8x | 1.8x | 1.5x | 1.7x | 2.1x |
| Interest coverage | 4.3x | 4.0x | 1.6x | 2.9x | 2.3x |
| Returns and quality | |||||
| Return on capital | 8.9% | 10.4% | 5.1% | 10.2% | 5.6% |
| Return on equity | 31.1% | 34.7% | 13.7% | 31.7% | 5.1% |
| Piotroski F-score | 8 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 5 |
| Altman Z'' | 1.7 | 2.1 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 2.3 |
Insiders bought, 12 months
$2.0M
1 insider
Insiders sold, 12 months
$11.2M
16 insiders
Of sales under plans
0%
$0.0M
How to read these numbers
- Revenue:
- Total sales reported in the income statement.
- Operating margin:
- Operating income as a share of revenue.
- Net income:
- Profit after all expenses, interest and tax.
- Free cash flow:
- Cash from operations minus capital spending.
- Net debt / EBITDA:
- Years of EBITDA needed to pay off net debt. Below zero means more cash than debt.
- Return on capital:
- After-tax operating income as a share of the money invested in the business: debt plus equity, minus cash.
Nexstar Media Group · NXST
Charts and comparison
Ten years at a glance, and how it stacks up against similar companies.
Revenue
Net income
Margins, % of revenue
Cash vs debt (incl. leases)
Free cash flow
Dividends and buybacks
Similar companies
Each company’s latest fiscal year. Fiscal years end in different months, so periods don’t line up exactly.
| Company | Market cap | Growth | Op. margin | FCF margin | ROIC | P/E | F-score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nexstar Media Group NXST | $5.1B | −8.5% | 17.2% | 15.0% | 5.6% | 31.3x | 5 |
| SiriusXM SIRI | $9.4B | −1.6% | 17.2% | 14.6% | 5.3% | 11.0x | 6 |
| Fox FOXA | $28.7B | 5.1% | — | 8.6% | 14.8% | — | 6 |
| Warner Bros. Discovery WBD | $79.7B | −5.2% | 2.0% | 8.3% | 0.6% | — | 7 |
| Roblox RBLX | $39.0B | 35.8% | −25.2% | 27.7% | — | — | 6 |
Price compared with profit (P/E)
How many times its yearly profit per share one share costs. Higher means investors pay more for each unit of profit.
KIRA
At $164.75 a share, the company is worth $5.1B: 31.3 times its earnings of the last four quarters.
Nexstar Media Group grew sales faster than 0 of its 4 similar companies. Its P/E is higher than 1 of 1.
Source: SEC EDGAR XBRL filings (CIK 0001142417). Data updated October 9, 2026. For information only — not investment advice. Check the original filings before relying on any figure.