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NY Times (NYT) Q2 Earnings Top, Subscription Revenues Rise Y/Y

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The New York Times Company (NYT - Free Report) continued its decent performance in the second quarter of 2024. The company's adjusted earnings per share came in at 45 cents, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 40 cents. The figure marked an increase from the year-ago adjusted earnings of 38 cents a share. Total revenues of $625.1 million came ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $623 million and increased 5.8% year over year. 

The company added approximately 300,000 net digital-only subscribers compared with the end of the preceding quarter, propelled by bundle and multi-product subscriber additions along with other single-product subscriber additions.

Furthermore, The New York Times Company consistently grew its digital-only average revenue per user (ARPU). The ARPU increased to an impressive $9.34 in the second quarter from $9.15 in the year-ago period. This increase in ARPU can be attributed to subscribers transitioning from promotional pricing to higher rate plans and price hikes for tenured non-bundle subscribers.

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

Subscription Revenues Rise

Subscription revenues of $439.3 million grew 7.3% year over year. Subscription revenues from digital-only products jumped 12.9% to $304.5 million. This reflects an increase in bundle and multiproduct revenues and a rise in other single-product subscription revenues, partly offset by a decline in news-only subscription revenues. Print subscription revenues dropped 3.6% to $134.8 million due to a decrease in domestic home-delivery revenues.

The company ended the quarter with roughly 10.84 million subscribers across its print and digital products, including roughly 10.21 million digital-only subscribers. Of the 10.21 million subscribers, about 4.83 million were bundle and multiproduct subscribers. 

Management envisions third-quarter 2024 total subscription revenues to increase about 7-9%, with digital-only subscription revenues anticipated to rise approximately 12-15%.

A Look at Advertising Revenues

Total advertising revenues of $119.2 million rose 1.2% from the prior-year period. Digital advertising revenues increased 7.8% to $79.6 million. This can be attributed to higher revenues from display advertising at both The Athletic and The New York Times Group. 

Meanwhile, print advertising revenues fell 10% to $39.6 million in the quarter under review. The metric decreased mainly in the technology and luxury categories.

For the third quarter of 2024, the company foresees flat to a low-single-digit increase in total advertising revenues. It envisions a high-single-digit jump in digital advertising revenues.

Other Highlights

We note that other revenues jumped 4.9% year over year to $66.6 million during the quarter under review due to higher licensing and Wirecutter affiliate referral revenues, partly offset by lower books, television and film revenues.

Adjusted operating costs rose 4.4% to $520.4 million during the quarter. Management anticipates adjusted operating costs to increase 5-6% in the third quarter of 2024.

The total adjusted operating profit increased 13.6% to $104.7 million during the quarter under review, while the adjusted operating margin expanded 110 basis points to 16.7%.

Segment Details

The New York Times Group’s revenues increased 4.4% year over year to $585.2 million. Subscription revenues rose 6.5% to $410 million due to growth in subscription revenues from digital-only products, partly offset by a decline in print subscription revenues. Advertising revenues dropped 0.2% to $112.1 million due to declines in print advertising revenues, partly mitigated by higher revenues from digital advertising.

Revenues totaled $40.5 million in The Athletic segment, up 33.4% year over year. Subscription revenues rose to $29.3 million from $24.6 million in the second quarter of 2023, mainly due to an increase in subscribers with The Athletic. Advertising revenues jumped to $7.1 million from $5.4 million in the second quarter of 2023, principally due to higher revenues from display advertising.

Financial Aspects

The New York Times Company ended the quarter with cash and marketable securities of about $724 million, reflecting an increase of $14.8 million from $709.2 million as of Dec 31, 2023.

The company incurred capital expenditures of about $9 million during the quarter. Management envisions capital expenditures of about $40 million in 2024.

During the quarter, the company repurchased 208,083 shares of its Class A common stock for an aggregate amount of approximately $9.5 million. As of Aug 2, 2024, about $201.5 million remains available and authorized for further repurchases. 

We note that shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have risen 22.9% in the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 19%.

Stocks Worth Looking

Some better-ranked stocks are Datadog, Inc. (DDOG - Free Report) , Twilio Inc. (TWLO - Free Report) and Meta Platforms, Inc. (META - Free Report) .

Datadog, the monitoring and security platform for cloud applications, sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Datadog has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 23.2%, on average. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Datadog’s current financial-year revenues and EPS calls for growth of 22.3% and 16.7%, respectively, from the year-ago period.

Twilio, the customer engagement platform that drives real-time, personalized experiences for today’s leading brands, sports a Zacks Rank #1. The company has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 43.1%, on average. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Meta Platforms’ current financial-year sales and EPS suggests growth of 5.3% and 27.4%, respectively, from the year-ago period.

Meta Platforms builds technologies that help people connect, find communities and grow businesses. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). META has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 12.6%, on average.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Meta Platforms’ current financial-year sales and EPS implies growth of 19.6% and 42.8%, respectively, from the year-ago period.

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