New York Times (NYSE: NYT) didn't hit the Street's expectations last quarter, but investors hope that it will rebound this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, July 21. In addition to its flagship paper, New York Times is a media company that owns newspapers and Internet businesses and has investments in paper mills.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on New York Times; the stock is a unanimous hold. Analysts don't like New York Times as much as competitor E.W. Scripps overall. Two out of two analysts rate E.W. Scripps Company a buy compared to zero of six for New York Times.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $577.3 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 2.1% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of 10 cents per share. Estimates range from 9 cents to 12 cents.

What our community says:
Most CAPS All Stars are skeptical of NYT prospects, with 61.6% granting it an "underperform" rating. Like the All Stars, the community at large is also not a fan of the stock -- 60.1% assign it a rating of "underperform." Fools are skeptical of New York Times and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 291 posts in the past 30 days. New York Times also has a bearish CAPS rating of one out of five stars.

Management:
New York Times' income has fallen year over year by an average of 47.5%. Revenues have also fallen for the past three quarters, and the company's gross margin shrank by two percentage points in the last quarter. 

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows gross, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters. 

Quarter Q1 Q4 Q3 Q2
Gross Margin 57% 62.7% 57.2% 59.8%
Operating Margin 5.5% 13.5% 5.7% 10.3%
Net Margin 1% 10.1% -0.8% 5.4%

For all our New York Times-specific analysis, including earnings and beyond, add New York Times to My Watchlist.

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