Shares of The New York Times Company (NYT) are down a penny at $7.66 after the company this morning reported Q4 revenue below expectations but beat on the bottom line on growth in digital ads and digital subscribers.
The company said its paid digital subscribers to The New York Times and The Herald Tribune totaled 390,000 at quarter’s end, up 20% from the 324,000 reported at the end of Q3. Boston Globe subs were 16,000.
Revenue in the three months ended in December fell 2.8%, year over year, to $643 million, yielding EPS of 45 cents, excluding some costs.
Analysts had been modeling $646.5 million and 42 cents a share.
Operating costs fell faster than revenue, down 4% in the quarter.
Ad revenue was down 7.1%, consisting of a drop of 7.8% for print and 4.9% for digital, while circulation rose 4.7%.
Most of the digital slippage in ads was the About.com venture, while the other digital ads in Times’s News Media Group saw a 5.3% rise on the back of growth in national and retail display advertising. Digital ads overall rose to 26.7% of total company revenue from 26.1% a year earlier.
Total News Media circulation was up 5%, the company said, which The New York Times Media Group saw an 8% rise.
Although print circulation of most of the company’s papers declined, “the rate of home-delivery circulation declines moderated at The Times due to an increase in new orders and improved retention following the launch of its digital subscriptions.”
The Times said ad revenue trends will be about the same this quarter as last. Circulation revenue is expected to rise by “high single digits” this quarter, including both new digital subs and also a price increase for print subscriptions to the New York Times.
The Times management will host a conference call with analysts at 11 am, Eastern, and you can catch the webcast of it here.
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