Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (LEE) is a Publishing company in the Communication Services sector, currently trading at $8.37. It has a SharesGrow Score of 31/100, indicating a weak investment profile with 1 out of 7 criteria passed.
Valuation: LEE trades at a trailing Price-to-Earnings (P/E) of -2 (S&P 500 average ~25) with a forward Price/Earnings-to-Growth (PEG) of 0.04.
Financials: revenue is $562M, -10.4%/yr average growth. Net income is $38M (loss), growing at -374%/yr. Net profit margin is -6.7% (negative). Gross margin is 55.9% (-40.2 pp trend).
Balance sheet: total debt is $482M with negative equity of -$43M — this means total liabilities exceed total assets. This is a warning sign that may indicate accumulated losses, aggressive share buybacks, heavy debt financing, or aggressive dividend payouts. Companies like McDonald's and Starbucks also carry negative equity due to buybacks and dividends, but investors should assess whether the business generates sufficient cash flow to service its debt and sustain payouts. Current ratio is 0.79 (tight liquidity). Debt-to-assets is 80%. Total assets: $602M.
SharesGrow 7-Criteria breakdown: Value 100/100 (Pass), Growth 15/100 (Fail), Past 25/100 (Fail), Health 0/100 (Fail), Moat 43/100 (Fail), Future ?/100 (Fail), Income 10/100 (Fail).
