Are newspaper stocks cheap?

As most investors are aware, newspaper stocks tend to be very sensitive to domestic economic conditions. This is reflected in the performance of ASX-listed newspaper shares which are down by about 13% so far this year, almost double the fall in the All Ords. Of these, the worst performer has been Fairfax (FXJ) which has dropped over 20% during this period.

But there are signs that the sell-off has perhaps run too far. Based on our weekly job ads index, for example, Fairfax (FXJ) shares are currently undervalued by about 10%.