The New York Times Company heads into mid-May with a striking disconnect: short sellers rebuilt positions aggressively this week even as the stock trades near levels where insiders were recently cashing out.
The short interest story is the standout this week. Short interest climbed 22% over seven days to 6.4% of the free float — a sharp acceleration from the ~8.2 million shares that characterised most of April. The move took shorts from a relatively modest position to one of the more elevated readings of the past six weeks, pulling back toward the 10.4–11.3 million share range seen during the tariff-anxiety spike in early April. The borrow market remains loose, however: cost to borrow is running at just 0.43% annualised, down 14% on the week, and availability is wide, which means new shorts are meeting no friction entering the trade. There is no squeeze pressure here — this looks like deliberate, low-cost repositioning rather than a forced unwind.
Options positioning adds a different dimension. Put/call ratio has dropped to 7.37, nearly two standard deviations below its 20-day mean of 9.37 — the lowest reading in weeks and well off the 13.4 peak hit in early April. That shift means the options market is, relative to recent norms, less defensively positioned than it has been. The divergence is notable: short sellers are adding, but options traders are reducing their hedge bias. The two signals are pulling in opposite directions.
The Street is cautiously constructive but not excited. Following the Q1 earnings print on May 6 — which sent the stock up 3.8% on the day before fading to roughly flat over the subsequent week — several analysts lifted targets. Evercore ISI raised its Outperform target from $75 to $92, a significant step-up. Barclays and Guggenheim both nudged targets higher while keeping neutral-equivalent ratings at $66 and $70 respectively. The mean target of $84 sits about 13% above the current $74.48 close, implying the Street sees value here even after the post-earnings fade. The bull case centres on digital ARPU growth and improving core news subscriber trends; bears point to competitive pressure on subscriptions and advertising vulnerability in a softer macro environment. EPS momentum scores rank in the 76th percentile on a 30-day basis, and the earnings surprise score (69th percentile) supports the view that execution has been solid — but the valuation is compressing, with the PE multiple down roughly three points over the past month to 25.4x and EV/EBITDA off nearly a full turn to 16.1x.
The insider picture reinforces the cautious tone. CEO Meredith Kopit Levien sold 9,750 shares at $78 on May 12, raising $760,500. CFO William Bardeen sold 4,121 shares the same day at $77.85. A director sold 9,000 shares at $77 the day before. These sales all came within days of earnings and at prices above the current level — the stock has since pulled back 6.2% on the week to $74.48. Net insider activity over 90 days registers a positive share count because of a large equity award, but the cash transactions tell a different story: senior executives have been consistent sellers near the $77–$80 range. Berkshire Hathaway holding a 3.1% stake (first reported at end of 2025) remains an interesting longer-term holder to watch in the institutional landscape.
Close peer NWSA fell 4.1% on the week, broadly in line with NYT's 6.2% decline. What to watch next is whether the short build — the fastest weekly increase in months — continues to build now that borrowing conditions are easy, or whether the Evercore upgrade and the $84 mean target draw buyers back to a stock that has now retraced most of its post-earnings gain.
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