New York Times adds 308,000 digital subscription in 1Q

The New York Times added a record number of digital subscribers last quarter, exciting investors who pushed the stock to an 11 percent gain in morning trading.

The Times added 308,000 digital subscribers in the first quarter — its best quarter since it began offering digital-only subscriptions in 2011. The additional subscribers helped boost the company to a net income of $13.2 million in the first quarter after reporting a loss of $8.3 million in the same period a year earlier.

Digital-only subscription revenues were up 40 percent over the first quarter of 2016, and advertising revenue for digital jumped 19 percent over the previous year's quarter.

Sales of the Times' print edition continued to decline, taking advertisers with it. Print ad revenue fell about 18 percent from last year's first quarter. The company attributed the decline primarily to lower display ad sales.

On a per-share basis, the Manhattan-based company said it had net income of 8 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 11 cents per share. The company reported a loss of 5 cents per share for the first quarter last year.

The newspaper publisher posted revenue of $398.8 million in the period, beating the $379.5 million for the same period last year.

New York Times shares hit $15.90 in morning trading, an increase of about 28 percent in the past 12 months. Shares are up almost 20 percent since the beginning of the year.

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This story was generated in part by Automated Insights using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on NYT at https://www.zacks.com/ap/NYT

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Keywords: New York Times Co., Earnings Report