New York Times beats estimates as digital subscriptions soar

May 3 (Reuters) - The New York Times Co reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue as the newspaper publisher saw strong growth in digital subscription revenue.

The company's shares were up nearly 5 percent at $24.10 in premarket trading.

Subscription revenue from the company's digital-only subscription products, which include online news as well crossword and recipes, rose 25.8 percent to $95.4 million.

The New York Times has been investing heavily to boost digital subscriptions in the face of declining print sales.

Digital advertising revenue, which accounts for more than a third of the company's total advertising revenue, however, fell 6 percent to $46.7 million, hurt by a fall in display advertising on its websites.

The Times added 139,000 digital subscribers in the quarter compared with 348,000 a year earlier.

Net income rose to $21.9 million, or 13 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2018, from $13.2 million, or 8 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned 17 cents per share from continuing operations.

Total revenue rose to $413.9 million from $398.8 million.

Analysts on average estimated a profit of 15 cents per share on revenue of $409.1 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Laharee Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)