The New York Times Company NYT continued its decent performance in the fourth quarter of 2024. The company's adjusted earnings per share were 80 cents, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 74 cents. The figure marked an increase from the year-ago adjusted earnings of 70 cents. Total revenues of $726.6 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $725 million and increased 7.5% year over year.
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NYT added approximately 350,000 net digital-only subscribers in the quarter under review compared with the end of the preceding quarter, propelled by multiple products across its portfolio.
The New York Times Company consistently grew its digital-only average revenue per user (ARPU). ARPU increased to an impressive $9.65 in the fourth quarter from $9.24 in the year-ago period. This rise in ARPU can be attributed to subscribers transitioning from promotional pricing to higher rate plans and price hikes for tenured non-bundle subscribers.
NYT Subscription Revenues Show Strong Y/Y Growth
Subscription revenues of $466.6 million grew 8.4% year over year. Subscription revenues from digital-only products jumped 16% to $334.9 million. This reflects an increase in bundle and multi-product revenues and a rise in other single-product subscription revenues, partly offset by a decline in news-only subscription revenues. Print subscription revenues dropped 7.1% to $131.6 million due to decreased domestic home-delivery revenues.
The company ended the quarter with 11.43 million subscribers across its print and digital products, including 10.82 million digital-only subscribers. Of the 10.82 million subscribers, 5.44 million were bundle and multi-product subscribers.
Management envisions first-quarter 2025 total subscription revenue growth of 7-10%, with digital-only subscription revenues anticipated to rise 14-17%.
The New York Times Company Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
The New York Times Company Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
The New York Times Company price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | The New York Times Company Quote
A Look at The New York Times Company’s Advertising Revenues
Total advertising revenues of $165.1 million rose 0.6% from the prior-year period. Digital advertising revenues increased 9.5% to $117.9 million due to higher revenues from direct-sold display advertising and programmatic advertising.
Meanwhile, print advertising revenues fell 16.4% to $47.1 million in the quarter under review. The metric decreased mainly in the luxury, classifieds and entertainment categories.
For the first quarter of 2025, the company expects a low-single-digit decrease to a low-single-digit increase in total advertising revenues. It foresees a high-single-digit increase in digital advertising revenues.
Other Key Highlights From NYT’s Q3 Results
Other revenues jumped 16.3% year over year to $95 million in the quarter under review due to higher licensing and Wirecutter affiliate referral revenues. NYT foresees a mid-single-digit increase in other revenues in the first quarter of 2025.
Adjusted operating costs rose 6.5% to $556.2 million in the quarter. Management anticipates adjusted operating costs to increase 5-6% in the first quarter of 2025.
The total adjusted operating profit grew 10.7% to $170.5 million in the quarter under review, whereas the adjusted operating margin expanded 70 basis points to 23.5%.
NYT’s Segmental Performances
The New York Times Group’s revenues increased 6.1% year over year to $677.5 million. Subscription revenues rose 7.6% to $434.4 million due to growth in subscription revenues from digital-only products, partly offset by a decline in print subscription revenues. Advertising revenues fell 0.4% to $153.5 million due to lower revenues from print advertising, partly mitigated by higher revenues from digital advertising.
Revenues totaled $49.7 million in The Athletic segment, up 29% year over year. Subscription revenues rose to $32.2 million from $26.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 due to increased subscribers with The Athletic. Advertising revenues jumped to $11.5 million from $9.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 due to higher revenues from direct-sold display advertising.
Sneak Peek Into NYT’s Financial Health
The New York Times Company ended the quarter with cash and marketable securities of $911.9 million, reflecting an increase of $202.7 million from $709.2 million as of Dec. 31, 2023.
The company incurred capital expenditures of about $9 million in the quarter. Management envisions capital expenditures of $40 million for 2025.
In the quarter, the company repurchased 453,080 shares of its Class A common stock for an aggregate amount of $24.7 million. As of Jan. 31, 2025, about $155.7 million remained available and authorized for further repurchases.
We note that shares of this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company have fallen 5.6% in the past month compared with the industry’s decline of 7.5%.
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