Newspaper and digital media company The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) met Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2025, with sales up 7.1% year on year to $635.9 million. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.41 per share was 19.9% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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The New York Times (NYT) Q1 CY2025 Highlights:
- Revenue: $635.9 million vs analyst estimates of $634.2 million (7.1% year-on-year growth, in line)
- Adjusted EPS: $0.41 vs analyst estimates of $0.34 (19.9% beat)
- 2025 Guidance: company slightly raised total subscription revenue growth and advertising revenue growth
- Operating Margin: 9.2%, up from 8.1% in the same quarter last year
- Free Cash Flow Margin: 14.1%, up from 7.9% in the same quarter last year
- Subscribers: 11.06 million, up 510,000 year on year
- Market Capitalization: $8.61 billion
Company Overview
Founded in 1851, The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) is an American media organization known for its influential newspaper and expansive digital journalism platforms.
Sales Growth
Examining a company’s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Any business can experience short-term success, but top-performing ones enjoy sustained growth for years. Unfortunately, The New York Times’s 7.7% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was sluggish. This was below our standard for the consumer discretionary sector and is a poor baseline for our analysis.
We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within consumer discretionary, a stretched historical view may miss a company riding a successful new product or trend. The New York Times’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 6.2% over the last two years was below its five-year trend. 
The New York Times also discloses its number of subscribers, which reached 11.06 million in the latest quarter. Over the last two years, The New York Times’s subscribers averaged 8.4% year-on-year growth. Because this number is higher than its revenue growth during the same period, we can see the company’s monetization has fallen. 
This quarter, The New York Times grew its revenue by 7.1% year on year, and its $635.9 million of revenue was in line with Wall Street’s estimates.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 5.7% over the next 12 months, similar to its two-year rate. This projection doesn't excite us and implies its newer products and services will not accelerate its top-line performance yet.
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Operating Margin
The New York Times’s operating margin has been trending up over the last 12 months and averaged 12.9% over the last two years. Its profitability was higher than the broader consumer discretionary sector, showing it did a decent job managing its expenses.
This quarter, The New York Times generated an operating profit margin of 9.2%, up 1.1 percentage points year on year. This increase was a welcome development and shows it was more efficient.
Earnings Per Share
Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.
The New York Times’s EPS grew at a remarkable 18.9% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, higher than its 7.7% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became more profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.
In Q1, The New York Times reported EPS at $0.41, up from $0.31 in the same quarter last year. This print easily cleared analysts’ estimates, and shareholders should be content with the results. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects The New York Times’s full-year EPS of $2.11 to grow 1.8%.
Key Takeaways from The New York Times’s Q1 Results
We enjoyed seeing The New York Times beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter despite in line revenue. Looking ahead, the company slightly raised full-year guidance for total subscription revenue growth and advertising revenue growth. Overall, this print had some key positives. The stock remained flat at $52.75 immediately following the results.
Is The New York Times an attractive investment opportunity right now? When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free.
