The New York Times Company (NYT): This Hedge Fund Takes a Big Position

Featured ticker:  The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT)

JHL Capital was founded in 2006 and has approximately $1.5 billion in assets under management. It is managed by James Litinsk. A highlight of the fund’s performance was in 2008, when JH Capital returned 18% compared with a 37% loss on the S&P 500 index.

Recently the fund filed a 13G form with the SEC, disclosing a substantial purchase in The New York Times Company (NYT). The fund bought 7,600,000 shares of NYT, worth over $370 million. We will now take a quick look at The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT).

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A quick look at The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT)

Although best known for its flagship newspaper, The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) is a diversified company with holdings including newspapers, digital businesses and even investments in paper mills. The company’s holdings include The New York Times (The Times), the International Herald Tribune (renamed as the International New York Times), and related online and offline businesses.

The company has recently divested itself of a number of assets in order to concentrate on the New York Times brand. These divested assets include the New England Media Group division, which managed the Boston Globe; some regional newspapers; the About Group, operator of the About.com website; as well as an ownership stake in the Boston Red Sox. These divestitures negatively impacted 2013 first-quarter earnings; NYT reported a profit of $3.2 million, or 2 cents a share, compared with $42.1 million, or 28 cents a share, a year earlier.

In spite of the fall in profits, analysts noted favourably the increase in circulation via the digital paywall plan, which more than offset falls in print circulation, seeing overall circulation revenue rise by 6.5%, by comparison with the corresponding quarter of the prior year. The company also announced it was developing some new product offerings, including a tiered structure to various levels of digital access, as well as innovations to its online advertising and a strategic focus on growing international customers. The market has viewed these announcements positively, with NYT stock currently trading at $10.80, very close to its 52-week high.

Disclosure: none