- Net income fell 10% to $96.3 million, while revenue rose 11.2% to $762.5 million
- Shares fell 9% in premarket trading following the earnings release after forecasting slowing subscription revenue in the third quarter
- The company posted 57 cents a share. Adjusted EPS was 69 cents, compared with the 67 cents expected by analysts surveyed by Yahoo Finance.
The New York Times topped Wall Street expectations for revenue and earnings in the second quarter, fueled by continued growth in digital subscriptions and advertising. Shares, however, fell about 8.7% in premarket trading after the company warned subscription revenue would slow in the current period.
The publisher said it expects total subscription revenue to grow 9% to 11% in the third quarter, below the 11.2% growth it reported during the second quarter.
The outlook suggests that subscription revenue growth would moderate despite another quarter of subscriber gains. Digital-only subscription revenue increased 16.4% to $409.7 million, driven by growth in both digital-only subscribers and average revenue per user. Digital advertising revenue climbed 20.7% to $111.4 million, while affiliate, licensing and other revenue also increased during the quarter.
The company added 280,000 digital-only subscribers during the quarter, bringing its total subscriber base to approximately 13.4 million. Digital-only subscribers accounted for roughly 12.8 million of that total, underscoring the continued strength of the company’s subscription business.
Overall, the company reported net income of $96.3 million, or 57 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $82.9 million, or 51 cents a share. Excluding one-time items, per-share earnings were 69 cents.
Revenue rose 11.2% to $762.5 million.
Wall Street was looking for revenue of $751,9 million on EPS of 69 cents.
Looking ahead, it said it expects digital advertising revenue to continue growing year over year, while digital-only subscription revenue would grow 12% to 15% in the third quarter. Digital-only subscription revenue grew 16.4% in the second quarter.
“Q2 was another strong quarter for The Times, driven by the consistent execution of our strategy. Our results reflect the increasingly rare and valuable nature of our products, and the durability of our business model,” President and CEO Meredith Kopit Levien said in a statement.
“By continuing to invest in independent, high-quality journalism and market-leading lifestyle products — and leaning into our opportunity in video — we’re becoming even more essential to even more people. In a rapidly changing media landscape, we believe we are well positioned to continue building a larger, more profitable company,” she added.