NMAX vs NWSA: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: NWSA is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. NMAX and NWSA share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined NMAX and NWSA exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Newsmax Inc. owns Newsmax Media, which operates the Newsmax cable news channel plus the Newsmax2 streaming channel, Newsmax.com, Newsmax Radio, Newsmax Magazine, and a set of smaller subsidiaries including the Medix Select nutraceuticals business, Humanix Publishing, and Crown Atlantic Insurance. Management reports in two segments. Broadcasting produced ~$89.5M of the ~$105.8M of first-half 2026 revenue and carries the affiliate fee, television advertising, and content licensing lines; Digital produced ~$16.3M and remains loss-making at the segment level. The channel reaches more than 58 million paid US homes after adding three major cable distributors during 2025, and the company cites Nielsen reach of ~26.9 million viewers in the second quarter, which it describes as the fourth highest-rated cable news network.

Full NMAX guide

News Corporation is a diversified media and information company built out of the 2013 separation from Twenty-First Century Fox, and it now runs four reporting segments. Dow Jones is the largest profit engine, with fiscal 2026 revenue of ~$2.50 billion and segment EBITDA of ~$663 million, 84% of it digital, spanning The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Dow Jones Risk & Compliance (~$392 million, up ~16%) and Dow Jones Energy including OPIS (~$301 million, up ~8%). Digital Real Estate Services holds a 62.0% interest in ASX-listed REA Group (realestate.com.au) and an 80% interest in Move, which operates Realtor.com, together producing ~$2.02 billion of revenue and ~$741 million of segment EBITDA. Book Publishing is HarperCollins at ~$2.29 billion of revenue, and News Media covers News Corp Australia, The Times and Sunday Times, The Sun, the New York Post, the newly launched California Post and News Broadcasting, at ~$2.23 billion of revenue but only ~$139 million of EBITDA. Foxtel left the group in the DAZN sale that closed in fiscal 2025 and sits in discontinued operations, so prior-year comparisons look odd unless you separate continuing operations.

Full NWSA guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• NMAX drivers: Affiliate fees repricing upward; Content licensing, including the Meta AI agreement.
• NWSA drivers: Dow Jones as a professional-information business, not a newspaper; REA Group and Move, the property half of the company.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Advertising, still the largest single revenue line at ~$56.0M in the first half, declined ~4.7% year over year and is exposed to both election-cycle seasonality and the secular contraction of linear cable audiences. For NWSA, news Media is the obvious drag: revenue rose ~3% in fiscal 2026 only because of a ~$81 million currency tailwind, adjusted revenue actually fell ~1%, and segment EBITDA declined ~9% to ~$139 million against ~$2.23 billion of revenue, a margin that leaves no room for further print decline or for the cost of new bets such as the California Post.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick NMAX if you believe its drivers more; NWSA if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the NMAX and NWSA guides.

NMAX. Newsmax reported its first quarterly net income as a public company in the June 2026 quarter, so trailing GAAP earnings remain negative and a price to earnings ratio is not meaningful yet. Backing out ~$128.3M of cash and short-term investments against no debt puts enterprise value near ~$1.21B, or roughly 6.0x trailing revenue and about 5.7x the midpoint of 2026 guidance. For reference, established broadcast and cable owners typically change hands at low single-digit sales multiples, so the gap here is priced on growth in affiliate fees and licensing rather than on the current earnings base.

NWSA. Figures are approximate, tied to August 2026 and drawn from the fiscal 2026 10-K and Q4 earnings release, so check live data before acting on any of them. The multiple looks full at first glance and cheaper on a parts basis: 62.0% of REA Group's ~A$23.2 billion market value is roughly ~A$14.4 billion, or about ~US$9.4 billion at ~0.65 US dollars per Australian dollar, which implies the market is assigning something under ~$6.5 billion to Dow Jones, HarperCollins, 80% of Move and the entire newspaper estate combined. Two caveats keep that arithmetic honest: ~$170 million of fiscal 2026 net income belonged to noncontrolling interests (mostly REA minorities and therefore not News Corp's to spend), and the Class A share class has no mechanism to force the discount closed.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): NMAX shows revenue (ttm) ~$203M, q2 2026 revenue ~$54.1M, up ~16.5% year over year, q2 2026 net income ~$2.9M (~$0.02 per share); TTM net loss ~$(6.4)M, q2 2026 adjusted ebitda ~$5.7M (FY2025 was ~$(6.5)M); NWSA shows revenue (ttm) ~$9.03 billion for fiscal 2026 (year ended June 30, 2026), up ~7% from ~$8.45 billion; Q4 revenue ~$2.34 billion, up ~11%, earnings Net income from continuing operations ~$743 million (up ~15%); diluted EPS from continuing operations attributable to stockholders ~$1.03 versus ~$0.84, adjusted EPS ~$1.18, segment profitability Total Segment EBITDA ~$1.63 billion (up ~15%): Dow Jones ~$663 million, Digital Real Estate ~$741 million, Book Publishing ~$287 million, News Media ~$139 million, Other ~-$203 million, cash generation Operating cash flow ~$1.24 billion (up ~26%), capital expenditure ~$426 million, free cash flow ~$811 million (up ~42%), a free-cash-flow yield near ~5.2% on the current market value.

NMAX and NWSA are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined NMAX and NWSA exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.