Newspaper and digital media company The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) reported Q3 CY2025 results beating Wall Street’s revenue expectations, with sales up 9.5% year on year to $700.8 million. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.59 per share was 10.8% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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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.

Revenue Growth

A company’s long-term performance is an indicator of its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul. Regrettably, The New York Times’s sales grew at a tepid 9.1% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This fell short of our benchmark for the consumer discretionary sector and is a tough starting point 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 6.6% over the last two years was below its five-year trend.

We can better understand the company’s revenue dynamics by analyzing its number of subscribers, which reached 11.76 million in the latest quarter. Over the last two years, The New York Times’s subscribers averaged 9.1% 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 reported year-on-year revenue growth of 9.5%, and its $700.8 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 1.2%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 5.9% over the next 12 months, similar to its two-year rate. This projection is underwhelming and indicates its newer products and services will not lead to better 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 14.2% over the last two years. Its solid profitability for a consumer discretionary business shows it’s an efficient company that manages its expenses effectively.

This quarter, The New York Times generated an operating margin profit margin of 15%, up 3 percentage points year on year. This increase was a welcome development and shows it was more efficient.

Earnings Per Share

We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.

The New York Times’s EPS grew at a remarkable 18.9% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, higher than its 9.1% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became more profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.

In Q3, The New York Times reported adjusted EPS of $0.59, up from $0.45 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 $2.38 to grow 3.3%.

Key Takeaways from The New York Times’s Q3 Results

It was good to see The New York Times beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. We were also happy its revenue narrowly outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its number of subscribers missed. Overall, this print had some key positives. The stock traded up 2.2% to $59 immediately following the results.

Is The New York Times an attractive investment opportunity right now? What happened in the latest quarter matters, but not as much as longer-term business quality and valuation, when deciding whether to invest in this stock. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free for active Edge members.