Why Do We Think The New York Times Will Underperform? <\/p>\n
We\u2019re glad investors have benefited from the price increase, but we’re cautious about The New York Times. Here are three reasons there are better opportunities than NYT and a stock we’d rather own. <\/p>\n
1. Weak Growth in Subscribers Points to Soft Demand<\/p>\n
Revenue growth can be broken down into changes in price and volume (for companies like The New York Times, our preferred volume metric is subscribers). While both are important, the latter is the most critical to analyze because prices have a ceiling. <\/p>\n
The New York Times\u2019s subscribers came in at 12.21 million in the latest quarter, and over the last two years, averaged 11.8% year-on-year growth. This performance was underwhelming and suggests it might have to lower prices or invest in product improvements to accelerate growth, factors that can hinder near-term profitability. ![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/The-New-York-Times-Subscribers_2026-04-02-040327_qgzb.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
2. Weak Operating Margin Could Cause Trouble<\/p>\n
Operating margin is an important measure of profitability as it shows the portion of revenue left after accounting for all core expenses \u2013 everything from the cost of goods sold to advertising and wages. It\u2019s also useful for comparing profitability across companies with different levels of debt and tax rates because it excludes interest and taxes. <\/p>\n
The New York Times\u2019s operating margin has risen over the last 12 months and averaged 14.5% over the last two years. The company\u2019s higher efficiency is a breath of fresh air, but its suboptimal cost structure means it still sports inadequate profitability for a consumer discretionary business. <\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/The-New-York-Times-Trailing-12-Month-Operating-Margin-GAAP_2026-04-02-040331_znml.png\"\/)
3. New Investments Aren\u2019t Moving the Needle<\/p>\n
A company\u2019s ROIC, or return on invested capital, shows how much operating profit it makes compared to the money it has raised (debt and equity). <\/p>\n
We like to invest in businesses with high returns, but the trend in a company\u2019s ROIC is what often surprises the market and moves the stock price. Unfortunately, The New York Times\u2019s ROIC has stayed the same over the last few years. If the company wants to become an investable business, it must improve its returns by generating more profitable growth. <\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/The-New-York-Times-Trailing-12-Month-Return-On-Invested-Capital_2026-04-02-040333_rlau.png\"\/)
Final Judgment<\/p>\n
We cheer for all companies serving everyday consumers, but in the case of The New York Times, we\u2019ll be cheering from the sidelines. After the recent surge, the stock trades at 30.5\u00d7 forward P\/E (or $85.39 per share). This multiple tells us a lot of good news is priced in – you can find more timely opportunities elsewhere. We\u2019d recommend looking at the most entrenched endpoint security platform on the market<\/a>. <\/p>\n Stocks We Would Buy Instead of The New York Times <\/p>\n ONE MORE THING: Top 6 Stocks for This Week. This market is separating quality stocks from expensive ones fast. AI taking down whole sectors with no warning. In a rotation this fast, you need more than a list of good companies.<\/p>\n Our AI system flagged Palantir before it ran 1,662%. AppLovin before it ran 753%. Nvidia before it ran 1,178%. Each week it produces 6 new names that pass the same tests. Get Our Top 6 Stocks for Free HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n Stocks that have made our list include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,326% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Kadant (+351% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The past six months have been a windfall for The New York Times\u2019s shareholders. The company\u2019s stock price…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64513,9,11,10,64512,73755],"class_list":{"0":"post-183227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-financial-analysis","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-news","12":"tag-stock-market-news","13":"tag-undefined-three-reasons"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}