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NY Times (NYT) Q4 Earnings: What Factors Are at Play?

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The New York Times Company (NYT - Free Report) , a diversified media conglomerate, is slated to report fourth-quarter 2016 results on Feb 2. The question lingering in investors’ minds now is, whether the company will be able to post a positive earnings surprise in the quarter to be reported. In the trailing four quarters, it outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by an average of 12.6%. Let’s see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Zacks Model Shows Unlikely Earnings Beat

Our proven model does not conclusively show that The New York Times Company is likely to beat earnings estimates this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) and a positive Earnings ESP for this to happen. You may uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

The New York Times Company has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% as both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are pegged at 23 cents. The company’s Zacks Rank #3 increases the predictive power of ESP. However, we need to have a positive ESP to be confident about an earnings surprise.

New York Times Company (The) Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

New York Times Company (The) Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | New York Times Company (The) Quote

Factors Influencing this Quarter

The New York Times Company is diversifying its business, adding new revenue streams, strengthening its balance sheet along with restructuring its portfolio. It has offloaded assets in order to re-focus on its core newspapers and pay more attention to its online activities. We believe these moves will have a favorable impact on the quarter to be reported.

However, advertising revenue remains an area of concern for the company. Total advertising revenue dropped 7.7% during third-quarter 2016. Print advertising revenue fell 18.5% in the third quarter, following a decline of 14.1% in the preceding quarter. Management expects total advertising revenue in the fourth quarter to decline at a rate equivalent to that of the third quarter.

Nevertheless, we noted that The New York Times Company has outperformed the Zacks categorized Publishing-Newspapers industry in the past three months. In the said time frame, the stock has increased 22.4%, while the industry has advanced 19.6%.

Stocks Poised to Beat Earnings Estimates

Here are some companies you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat:

S&P Global, Inc. (SPGI - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +1.67% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Walt Disney Company (DIS - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +2.00% and a Zacks Rank #3.

Time Warner Inc. has an Earnings ESP of +2.52% and a Zacks Rank #3.

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