New York Times beats estimates as digital subscriptions soar
Federated Investors Chief Equity Market Strategist Phil Orlando on earnings season, the outlook for the tech sector and the U.S. economy.
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)