New York Times (NYSE:NYT) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.03 EPS

New York Times (NYSE:NYT) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.03, FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $768.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $767.21 million. New York Times had a return on equity of 22.64% and a net margin of 13.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share.

Here are the key takeaways from New York Times’ conference call:

• Digital subscriptions remained a major growth engine: the company added 420,000 net digital subscribers, reaching 13.8 million, while digital-only subscription revenue rose 14.6%. Average digital-only ARPU increased 1.4%, supported by pricing step-ups and price increases.
• Q3 revenue increased 10% to $769 million, adjusted operating profit rose 14% to about $150 million, and adjusted diluted EPS grew to $0.68. Year-to-date free cash flow was approximately $436 million, and the company returned $276 million to shareholders.
• Advertising revenue grew 7.8%, with digital advertising up 12%, though digital ads came in slightly below guidance. For Q4, the company expects total advertising growth in the mid-single digits and digital advertising growth in the high-single to low-double digits.
• Q4 guidance calls for digital-only subscription revenue growth of 12%–15% and total subscription revenue growth of 9%–11%; adjusted operating cost growth is expected to moderate to 6%–8%. Management said it will continue investing in journalism and products, particularly video, while emphasizing cost discipline.
• Management said big tech changes are driving less traffic to publishers and that The Times is not immune, although it has not seen a measurable impact from AI agents on churn or cancellations so far. Executives described the effects of agents and evolving consumer behavior as uncertain and said they are monitoring them.

New York Times Stock Down 2.2%

New York Times stock traded down $1.48 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $65.64. 4,457,243 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,243,137. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.59 billion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.89. New York Times has a one year low of $57.53 and a one year high of $87.10.

New York Times Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 7th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 7th. New York Times’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.33%.

Key New York Times News

Here are the key news stories impacting New York Times this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 earnings were $0.68 per share, above the $0.65 consensus estimate and up from $0.59 a year earlier. Revenue of $768.54 million also topped estimates and increased 9.7% year over year. New York Times Q3 Earnings and Revenues Surpass Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Digital subscribers grew at a faster pace, helping lift quarterly revenue—a positive sign for the company’s ongoing shift toward digital. New York Times Revenue Rises on Digital Subscriber Gains
• Neutral Sentiment: Despite the earnings and revenue beats, NYT traded lower. The articles supplied do not identify a specific reason for the decline, so the move may reflect factors beyond the reported headline results.
• Negative Sentiment: Before the results, analysts highlighted rising costs and weakness in print as potential offsets to digital subscription and advertising growth. These remain risks, though the provided Q3 coverage does not quantify their impact. Assessing The New York Times Company Ahead of Q3 Earnings Release

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on NYT. Barclays dropped their price objective on New York Times from $66.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. New Street Research set a $82.00 target price on New York Times in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. Guggenheim raised shares of New York Times from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $70.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. UBS Group set a $82.00 price target on New York Times in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of New York Times from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.70.

New York Times Company Profile

The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) is a media and technology company best known for publishing The New York Times, a daily newspaper founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones. The company produces journalism across national and international news, business, politics, culture, science, sports and other topics through print and digital platforms.

In addition to its core news operation, the company offers a range of subscription products and digital services, including NYT Cooking, Games, Audio and The Athletic, a subscription-based sports media platform.