New York Times Tops Q4 Consensus; Raises Dividend, Plans Share Buyback

New York Times Co NYT reported fourth-quarter FY21 sales growth of 16.7% year-on-year, to $594.2 million, beating the consensus of $578.9 million.
Subscription revenues increased 11.2% Y/Y to $351.2 million, and advertising revenues increased 26.9% Y/Y to $176.8 million.
Compared with the Q4 of 2019, total revenues increased 16.9%, as subscription revenues increased 27.6%, and advertising revenues increased 3.2%.
The adjusted operating margin contracted by 80 bps to 18.4%.
Adjusted EPS of $0.43 beat the analyst consensus of $0.34.
Dividend & Share Buyback: The board raised the quarterly dividend from $0.07 to $0.09 per share, payable on April 21, 2022, to shareholders of record on April 6, 2022.
The company's board also approved a $150 million share buyback.
Acquisition: On February 1, 2022, NYT completed the acquisition of The Athletic Media Company, a global digital subscription-based sports media business, for an all-cash purchase price of $550 million.
NYT held $1.07 billion in cash and equivalents.
Outlook including Athletic: NYT expects Q1 FY22 total subscription revenue increase of 11% - 15%, and total advertising revenue increase of 17% - 21%.
NYT sees Digital-only subscription revenue growth of 23% - 28%, and Digital advertising revenue growth of 20% - 24%.
Price Action: NYT shares traded lower by 0.02% at $41.25 in the premarket session on the last check Wednesday.