NYT’s digital glow-up is real — but pricey

The paper that learned to swipe right on subscriptions

BofA Securities just kicked off coverage on The New York Times with a Neutral rating and an $84 price target. The vibe? Respect, but also a little side-eye. Analyst David Plaus says NYT has pulled off the rare media-company magic trick: turn a print legacy into a digital-first business people actually pay for.

Why Wall Street likes the homework

The big selling point is the All-Access bundle — news, games, cooking, sports, the whole “we’ve got a little something for everyone” package. That mix has helped subscriptions become nearly 70% of revenue, which is the kind of recurring cash flow investors love because it’s less roller-coaster, more Netflix-with-journalism.

BofA also pointed to a few extra growth knobs:

• a video push to boost engagement and ad inventory
• licensing revenue from Amazon, which adds a high-margin stream
• continued confidence that the company can keep scaling subscribers toward 15 million by the end of 2027

The catch: the stock already did a lot of the work

Here’s the annoying part for fresh money: NYT shares have ripped more than 65% over the past year, and BofA says valuation is starting to do what valuation does best — become a buzzkill. The firm noted the two-year forward EBITDA multiple expanded from 13x to 17x, which is fancy-speak for “the market already paid up.”

Big picture

This is a classic good-company, maybe-not-great-entry-point setup. The business looks sturdier, more diversified, and way less dependent on old-school newspapers than it used to be. But if you’re hoping for another moonshot, BofA is basically telling you: the elevator already went up a few floors.