NYT reports second-quarter results on August 5 with short sellers more committed than usual and options traders leaning defensively into the print.
Short interest is the most striking feature of the current setup. At 8.6% of the free float — roughly 13.8 million shares — it reflects a meaningful bear conviction, and that position has grown about 11% over the past month even as it eased slightly week-on-week. Days to cover stand at 9.2, meaning bears would need more than nine trading sessions to unwind at recent average volumes. Borrow remains genuinely cheap at 0.45%, and availability is loose at 780% — so the lending market is not constraining new shorts. That combination of elevated short interest, low borrow cost, and ample availability describes a crowded bear position that faces no squeeze pressure from the lending pool itself.
Options traders are independently expressing caution. The put/call ratio has climbed to 1.29, running about one standard deviation above its 20-day average of 1.18. That is not an extreme reading by historical standards — the 52-week PCR high was 13.4 — but the directional drift upward over recent sessions confirms hedging demand has picked up into the earnings date. The stock itself has recovered 4.5% on the week and 7% over the past month to close at $74.89, clawing back ground after an earlier pullback; the one-day dip of 1.2% on July 31 suggests some positioning nervousness as the date approached.
The Street is divided on what the quarter will show. Bulls point to the durability of NYT's subscription engine: digital ARPU grew 3.6% year-over-year, core news net subscriber additions are tracking toward 490,000 for 2025, and EPS momentum ranks in the 71st percentile over 90 days. JPMorgan lifted its target to $82 from $74 in late May, maintaining Overweight. Bears counter that competition in digital news is intensifying, advertising remains vulnerable to any macro softening, and cost pressures are not resolved. BofA moved in the opposite direction in late June, cutting its target to $80 from $87 while staying at Neutral — a signal that even the sidelines crowd sees the risk/reward as less compelling. The mean target across the analyst community is $83.44, implying roughly 11% upside from current levels, but the range of targets — from Barclays' $66 to Evercore's $92 — reflects genuine disagreement rather than a consensus view.
Berkshire Hathaway holds a notable 9.4% stake, reported as of Q1, after adding more than 10 million shares — a position that anchors the ownership picture. Insider activity, however, has run consistently in one direction: the CEO, CFO, Chairman, and several directors all sold shares between February and June, collectively representing millions of dollars in supply hitting the market as the stock traded near current levels. That pattern does not need to be read as bearish in isolation, but it sits alongside the short interest story as context.
The August 5 print is ultimately a test of whether NYT's subscriber monetization is accelerating fast enough — and its cost structure improving quickly enough — to justify a P/E above 24 at a time when bears have meaningfully raised their bets and the company's own insiders have been consistent sellers.
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