How to buy ViacomCBS stock | 27.94

ViacomCBS Inc is an entertainment business based in the US. ViacomCBS shares (VIAC) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. ViacomCBS employs 23,990 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$26.5 billion.

How to buy shares in ViacomCBS

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for ViacomCBS. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: VIAC. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until ViacomCBS reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$27.94, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of ViacomCBS, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of ViacomCBS. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

How has coronavirus impacted ViacomCBS's share price?

Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, ViacomCBS's share price has had significant negative movement.

Its last market close was USD$27.94, which is 1.13% down on its pre-crash value of USD$28.26 and 176.63% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as USD$10.1.

If you had bought USD$1,000 worth of ViacomCBS shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth USD$340.99 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth USD$844.63.

ViacomCBS share price

Use our graph to track the performance of VIAC stocks over time.

ViacomCBS shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-10-20.

Latest market close	USD$27.94
52-week range	USD$10.1 - USD$43.04
50-day moving average	USD$28.7549
200-day moving average	USD$23.6127
Wall St. target price	USD$27.91
PE ratio	12.8249
Dividend yield	USD$0.96 (3.54%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$6.9496

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Is it a good time to buy ViacomCBS stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of ViacomCBS Inc by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

ViacomCBS price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $27.94 from 2020-10-16

1 week (2020-11-22)	N/A
1 month (2020-11-03)	-7.27%
3 months (2020-09-03)	-1.10%
6 months (2020-05-30)	N/A

1 year (2019-11-29)	N/A
2 years (2018-11-29)	N/A
3 years (2017-11-29)	N/A
5 years (2015-11-29)	N/A

Is ViacomCBS under- or over-valued?

Valuing ViacomCBS stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of ViacomCBS's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

ViacomCBS's P/E ratio

ViacomCBS's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 13x. In other words, ViacomCBS shares trade at around 13x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

ViacomCBS's PEG ratio

ViacomCBS's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 0.7921. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into ViacomCBS's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

ViacomCBS's EBITDA

ViacomCBS's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$4.6 billion.

The EBITDA is a measure of a ViacomCBS's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

ViacomCBS financials

Revenue TTM	USD$26.5 billion
Operating margin TTM	15.75%
Gross profit TTM	USD$10.6 billion
Return on assets TTM	6.96%
Return on equity TTM	16.42%
Profit margin	5.16%
Book value	N/A
Market capitalisation	USD$17 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting ViacomCBS shares

There are currently 102.0 million ViacomCBS shares held short by investors – that's known as ViacomCBS's "short interest". This figure is 7.6% up from 94.8 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting ViacomCBS shares can be evaluated.

ViacomCBS's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

ViacomCBS's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of ViacomCBS shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of ViacomCBS shares traded daily (recently around 9.8 million). ViacomCBS's SIR currently stands at 10.36. In other words for every 100,000 ViacomCBS shares traded daily on the market, roughly 10360 shares are currently held short.

However ViacomCBS's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of ViacomCBS shares, or, against the total number of tradable ViacomCBS shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case ViacomCBS's short interest could be expressed as 0.17% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 ViacomCBS shares in existence, roughly 170 shares are currently held short) or 0.1943% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable ViacomCBS shares, roughly 194 shares are currently held short).

A SIR above 10% would generally be considered pretty high, pointing to a potentially pessimistic outlook for the share price and a discouraging interest in betting against ViacomCBS.

Find out more about how you can short ViacomCBS stock.

ViacomCBS's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like ViacomCBS.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

ViacomCBS's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 21.4

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and ViacomCBS's overall score of 21.4 (as at 03/01/2020) is pretty good – landing it in it in the 22nd percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like ViacomCBS is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

ViacomCBS's environmental score

Environmental score: 5.63/100

ViacomCBS's environmental score of 5.63 puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that ViacomCBS is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

ViacomCBS's social score

Social score: 13.08/100

ViacomCBS's social score of 13.08 puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that ViacomCBS is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

ViacomCBS's governance score

Governance score: 11.19/100

ViacomCBS's governance score puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that ViacomCBS is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

ViacomCBS's controversy score

Controversy score: 3/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. ViacomCBS scored a 3 out of 5 for controversy – a middle-of-the-table result reflecting that ViacomCBS hasn't always managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

ViacomCBS Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2020-03-01.

Total ESG score	21.4
Total ESG percentile	21.82
Environmental score	5.63
Environmental score percentile	7
Social score	13.08
Social score percentile	7
Governance score	11.19
Governance score percentile	7
Level of controversy	3

ViacomCBS share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 22.33% of net profits

Recently ViacomCBS has paid out, on average, around 22.33% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 3.54% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), ViacomCBS shareholders could enjoy a 3.54% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In ViacomCBS's case, that would currently equate to about $0.96 per share.

While ViacomCBS's payout ratio might seem low, this can signify that ViacomCBS is investing more in its future growth.

ViacomCBS's most recent dividend payout was on 1 October 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 14 September 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

ViacomCBS share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, ViacomCBS's shares have ranged in value from as little as $10.1 up to $43.04. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while ViacomCBS's is 1.8031. This would suggest that ViacomCBS's shares are more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

ViacomCBS overview

ViacomCBS Inc. operates as a media and entertainment company worldwide. The company operates in four segments: TV Entertainment, Cable Networks, Filmed Entertainment, and Publishing. The TV Entertainment segment distributes a schedule of news and public affairs broadcasts, and sports and entertainment programming; produces, acquires, and/or distributes programming, including series, specials, news, and public affairs; operates online content networks for information and entertainment; and streaming subscription services. This segment also operates CBS Sports Network, a 24/7 cable program service that provides college sports and related content, as well as broadcast television stations. The Cable Networks segment creates and acquires programming for distribution and viewing on various media platforms, including subscription cable networks, subscription streaming, basic cable networks, international broadcast networks, and free streaming TV platform, as well as for licensing to third parties. The Filmed Entertainment segment develops, produces, finances, acquires, and distributes films, television programming, and other entertainment content. The Publishing segment publishes and distributes adult and children's consumer books in printed, digital, and audio formats; develops special imprints and publishes titles based on the products of the company, as well as of third parties; and distributes products for other publishers. This segment also delivers content; and promotes its products on its Websites, social media, and general Internet sites, as well as those related to individual titles. The company was formerly known as CBS Corporation and changed its name to ViacomCBS Inc. in December 2019. ViacomCBS Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of ViacomCBS is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 4.359% of ViacomCBS shares are held by insiders and 82.695% by institutions.

• How many people work for ViacomCBS?

  Latest data suggests 23,990 work at ViacomCBS.

• When does the fiscal year end for ViacomCBS?

  ViacomCBS's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is ViacomCBS based?

  ViacomCBS's address is: 1515 Broadway, New York, NY, United States, 10036

• What is ViacomCBS's CUSIP number?

  ViacomCBS's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 124857202