What Happened?
Shares of newspaper and digital media company The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) fell 2.4% in the morning session after President Trump filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against the newspaper and four of its journalists.
The lawsuit, alleges a "decades-long pattern by the New York Times of intentional and malicious defamation against President Trump." According to the legal filing, the suit points to several articles and a book written by the journalists in the lead-up to the 2024 election. The significant financial claim and the high-profile nature of the lawsuit create legal and financial uncertainty for the media company, prompting a negative reaction from investors.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy The New York Times? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
What Is The Market Telling Us
The New York Times’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 6 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was about 1 month ago when the stock gained 15.2% on the news that the company reported strong second-quarter financial results that surpassed Wall Street expectations and provided an optimistic forecast for future growth.
The media company posted revenue of $685.9 million, a nearly 10% jump from the previous year. Adjusted earnings reached $0.58 per share, which beat analysts' projections. This performance stemmed from solid growth in its digital business, where it added approximately 230,000 new digital-only subscribers.
Looking ahead, the publisher also forecasted third-quarter subscription revenue growth above market estimates. Management credited this positive outlook to the strength of its bundled offerings, which combined its core news with popular products like The Athletic and Wordle.
The New York Times is up 10% since the beginning of the year, and at $57.54 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $61.95 from August 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of The New York Times’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,363.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it should be obvious by now that generative AI is going to have a huge impact on how large corporations do business. While Nvidia and AMD are trading close to all-time highs, we prefer a lesser-known (but still profitable) semiconductor stock benefiting from the rise of AI. Click here to access our free report on our favorite semiconductor growth story.
