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Over the five years to October 29, 2026, one broadcasting stock outperformed all 12 of its comparable industry peers. That stock is Fox (FOXA) , the parent company of television stations, FOX News Media and the streaming platform Tubi. A stock run like that can come from where a company sits as much as from what it does. So did the gain come from Fox's industry, or from Fox itself?
How Far Fox Is Ahead Of Its Industry
Fox shares climbed 72.8% over those five years, while the typical company in the Broadcasting industry lost 72.0%. Fox and the typical broadcaster moved about the same distance in opposite directions. Fox also finished ahead of every one of its broadcasting peers . Each group in the table below is represented by its median company.
| 1-year |
3-year |
5-year |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Fox (FOXA) |
7.1% |
125.6% |
72.8% |
| Broadcasting industry (median company) |
-14.5% |
-17.5% |
-72.0% |
| Communication Services sector (median company) |
-17.8% |
-0.1% |
-56.0% |
| All stocks in our data (median company) |
2.7% |
34.2% |
-1.6% |
| S&P 500 index |
12.0% |
85.3% |
67.6% |
The larger broadcasters were no closer. Nexstar Media, the next best performer among them, rose 34.1% over the five years.
Was It Fox's Industry?
No, though the broader market provided a lift. The S&P 500 climbed 67.6% on price alone over the same five years, whereas Fox's 72.8% return also includes dividends. The largest companies dominate that index, however, and the typical company of any size in our data fell 1.6% during the period.
Fox's own corner of the market proved even weaker. The typical company in the Communication Services sector lost 56.0%, and Broadcasting ranked last among the nine industries in that sector by typical company return. Fox rose in spite of its industry, not because of it.
What Did Fox's Business Do?
Fox expanded while the typical broadcaster shrank: its revenue grew an average of 5.1% a year over the past three years, compared with a 1.0% yearly decline. The Television segment generated most of that revenue, accounting for 56.4% of fiscal 2026 sales. Management said fiscal 2026 growth came from record advertising and distribution revenue.
Profit per share grew far less. Between fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2026, Fox's revenue increased 32.7%, yet its earnings per share climbed just 6.7%. Net income actually fell 21.6% over those years. Earnings per share rose only because Fox's diluted share count fell by more than a quarter.
Investors now pay a much higher multiple for the stock. They paid 10.8 times Fox's earnings in 2021, and today they pay 16.0 times. That figure remains below the 17.6 times multiple paid for the typical profitable broadcaster. Most of the stock's rise therefore came from that higher multiple, and little came from profit per share. The 72.8% return also counts dividends.
A stock that rises on its multiple rather than its profit rests on what buyers expect next. A recent example: Tesla is valued at about 12 times sales, about $1.3 trillion, though deliveries fell two years in a row. Read Trefis Big Story: How Tesla Blundered .
Is Fox Still Ahead Over The Past Year?
Mostly, but by a narrower margin. Over the year to October 29, 2026, Fox beat about three-quarters of the broadcasters it can be compared with, down from all of them over the five-year stretch.
On the August 6, 2026 call, management said the healthy advertising market of fiscal 2026 had carried into fiscal 2027, with one of the strongest upfronts, the advance sales of ad time, in company history. Management also said the World Cup would help Fox's first quarter of fiscal 2027.
Revenue growth against a year earlier is the figure to watch when Fox reports its fiscal Q1 2027 results, expected in November 2026. Fox is also buying Roku for about $22 billion including debt, paying $96 in cash plus 0.9693 Fox Class A shares per Roku share, in a deal both companies' shareholders approved on October 14, 2026 and that management expects to close in the first half of 2027.
How To Act On FOXA?
Not necessarily on Fox alone, if your goal is long-term wealth. Wealth is built by owning the companies that keep outperforming, the leaders of their industries, wherever they are. Fox is one. Over the five years to October 2026, its stock rose 72.8%, ahead of all 13 other companies in Broadcasting, where the typical company fell 72.0%.
Finding companies like these takes comparison across industries and sectors, and that is what the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio does. It holds 30 quality companies in equal weight and, since its inception in September 2020, has returned more than 105%, ahead of a benchmark that combines the S&P 500, S&P Mid-cap and Russell 2000. See how we find the leaders .
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