Morgan Stanley — The New York Times (NYT.US): Product Evolution
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The New York Times (NYT.US): Product Evolution
Morgan Stanley lowers its New York Times price target from $90.00 to $75.00 and maintains an Equal-weight rating. The company's video push — Watch and Shows features are evolving the app from a reading product into a multimedia platform — should expand the addressable market and lift engagement, but adds near-term cost pressure: 2026 adjusted operating expenses are forecast to rise 8.5% y/y, with Q3 opex growth of 8-9%.
Reflecting softer engagement and slower subscriber growth, EBITDA and EPS estimates are cut by 2-4% over the coming years; Q3 digital net adds are seen slowing to about 200,000 and subscription growth to 9-11% y/y. EPS forecasts stand at $2.87 for 2026, $3.06 for 2027 and $3.41 for 2028. Despite the cost pressure, the bank keeps the 15 million subscriber target for end-2027, and the flagship app was producing thousands of videos per quarter as of Q2 2026, after Watch launched in October 2025.
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