New York Times Posts Q4 Earnings Amidst Stock Decline

On Wednesday, the New York Times Company (NYT) released its fourth-quarter earnings for 2023, revealing an adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.70. This marks an increase from the prior year's $0.59, surpassing Wall Street's anticipated $0.58 figure.

Despite this earnings beat, the company fell short on sales, reporting $676.22 million against a forecasted $679.24 million. Nevertheless, this still signified a modest year-over-year growth of 1.3%.

The New York Times has shown a surge in digital-only subscribers, with about 300,000 net additions since the third quarter of 2023. This influx was largely due to new bundle offerings and an increase in products per subscriber, bringing the total subscriber count to 10.36 million, with 9.7 million being digital-only.

Digital subscription revenue reported a 7.2% year-over-year increase, propelled by a 3.5% growth in the average revenue per user (ARPU), which now stands at $9.24, attributable to subscribers transitioning from introductory to full pricing and hikes in rates for long-standing customers.

Conversely, digital advertising revenues saw a decline of 3.7%, a consequence of five fewer days in this year's fourth quarter and a decrease in earnings from podcasts and creative services. Print subscriptions also experienced a dip, falling from 730,000 to 660,000 in the past year.

The company wasn't shy about rewarding its shareholders, boosting its quarterly dividend payout from $0.11 to $0.13, scheduled for payment in mid-April to shareholders recorded at the start of the month.

In legal developments, The New York Times entered a copyright lawsuit against tech firms OpenAI and Microsoft Corp (MSFT) in December 2023, alleging that its content was illegitimately used to train AI technologies without appropriate authorization.

Looking ahead, the media giant forecasts digital-only subscription revenue growth between 11%-14% for the first quarter of 2024, expecting overall subscription revenues to rise by 7%-9%. While digital advertising revenues are predicted to increase slightly, total advertising revenues are anticipated to witness a mid-single-digit decrease.

Despite the positive growth in the subscription base and ARPU, NYT's shares saw a significant drop of 6.87% on the day, trading at $45.00 at the last check.

NYTimes, Earnings, Stocks