As a financial writer, I spend many hours a week looking through newspapers, online publications and television newscasts for clues about the direction of the markets and the most lucrative means for investors to capitalize on that knowledge.

#-ad_banner-#Early this week, I had an epiphany: a major trend was right in my face — not in what I was finding, but in how I was doing my research. 

Though I try to use all media sources to my advantage, the truth is I do about 90% of my research digitally. And I’m not alone — these days more people rely on the internet than print publications for news and information. 

Media and entertainment companies like Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) and News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWS) have taken notice and are spinning off their publishing businesses. The aim is to keep profits from their broadcasting and digital ventures shielded from declining print sales.  

And as you’ll see, both moves proved to be great opportunities for savvy investors who bought in before the spin-offs. 

In June 2013, News Corp. investors finally convinced  Rupert Murdoch to split the company’s publishing unit from its entertainment business. The publishing holdings, such as the Wall Street Journal (owned by Murdoch), would remain under News Corp., while the company’s entertainment projects, like Fox News, would be included under the new spin-off: 21st Century Fox. 

In six months, both News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) and 21st Century Fox (Nasdaq: FOXA) delivered gains of more than 18% to early investors. 

More recently, Time Warner experienced similar growth after it revealed it was leaving the magazine business. The company’s spin-off, Time, Inc. (NYSE: TIME), became solely responsible for publishing popular news magazines like Time and People. 

The spin-off went public in May 2014 and shot up nearly 13% in four months, while Time Warner bounced 15%. That growth puts Time and Time Warner on track to earn investors 19% and 22%, respectively, by the six-month mark. 

If you missed out on these gains, don’t worry. A new opportunity presents itself as yet another major media company has announced it will split off its print business to avoid watering down profits from faster-growing digital and broadcast ventures. 

Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is an international media and marketing solutions firm operating in three segments — broadcasting, publishing and digital. 

Currently, the company has a market cap of $6.62 billion and shares trade at a price-to-earnings ratio nearly half as much as the industry average. The firm also pays a respectable 2.70% dividend yield and last year, Gannett repurchased more than $127 million of its own shares. 

Although it is a great value now, Gannett has taken steps to ensure its spin-off company will be poised for similar success going forward. And that’s why I think investors have another chance to earn gains of 20% from these two separate investments. 

To be sure, let’s look at what both companies will have to offer when the split occurs. 

Digital & Broadcast 
Gannett Co. owns popular job-website CareerBuilder.com, and last week, it shelled out $1.8 billion to complete its purchase of internet auto-giant Cars.com. 

These two websites generate a combined 54 million monthly visits, which provide Gannett with generous ad revenue. And the company expects automotive online ad spending to rise 90% by 2018 to $7.8 billion annually. 

On the broadcasting front, Gannett owns or services through 46 television stations nationwide. The company is the largest owner of NBC and CBS affiliate groups and the fourth-largest owner of ABC affiliates.

Last year, Gannett Co. doubled its portfolio with the acquisition of Dallas-based Belo Corporation. The media giant’s broadcasting networks now reach nearly 35 million households domestically — roughly one-third of all U.S. households. 

Publishing
Gannett Co. operates 82 daily U.S. publications, including USA Today — the nation’s most circulated daily newspaper, according to statistics firm Statista. 

Between these segments Gannett Co. believes it is able to reach and inform more than 110 million consumers every month.  And due to its recent additions — Belo Corp. and Cars.com — the company is expecting a big boost to 2014 earnings.   

But despite its wide reach and earnings expectations, falling newspaper sales have continued to hurt Gannett’s bottom line —  revenues have dropped for four out of the last five years, which has led to the split.

Gannett, however,  is still aiming to ensure its publishing spin-off will be well-equipped for success when the split occurs. In fact, its newspaper business will continue to operate under the Gannett Co. name, while all of its existing debt will be retained by the digital and broadcast venture. 

According to Gannett’s recent investor presentation, this will allow the publishing firm to remain nearly debt-free and give the new company “flexibility to complete strong accretive acquisitions in a consolidating industry.” 

The best part is current Gannett shareholders will receive shares of the publishing spin-off company through a tax-free distribution. The company hopes to enhance both its financial and regulatory flexibility and create additional value for its shareholders as trading valuations are expected to more “accurately reflect the distinctive characteristics of each business.”

Risks To Consider: Declining print advertising could hinder growth of Gannett’s future spin-off and past trends may not dictate how the market will respond when the company goes public. 

Action To Take –> Buying shares of Gannett Co. now puts investors in a perfect position to receive tax-free shares of the company’s future spin-off and potentially earn 20% gains from both holdings in just 6 months. 

My colleague Nathan Slaughter, chief investment strategist for Total Yield talked about the power of spin-offs before. His unique Total Yield strategy looks at companies that are paying back shareholders in multiple ways — like dividends, share buy backs and debt reduction — much like Gannett Co. is doing now. In fact, last year 24 of Nathan’s top 25 Total Yield stocks doubled the S&P’s returns and some gained 124%, 132%, even 224% — in less than eight months. Learn more about Total Yield investing — and get names and ticker symbols of some of Nathan’s top picks — by reading this report.