Lee Enterprises, Incorporated, a long-standing media organization founded in 1890 and headquartered in Davenport, Iowa, delivers local news, critical information, and diverse ...
Plutux is not an investment adviser. Market data and AI-generated analysis are for information and education only, not investment advice. Disclaimer
Est. EPS $-1.73 · Revenue $587.31M · 1 analysts
EPS $-2.08 · Revenue $137.38M
| Metric | Latest | YoYYoY means Year-over-Year. It compares the latest annual value with the previous annual value to show long-term trend strength. | QoQQoQ means Quarter-over-Quarter. It compares the latest quarter with the immediately previous quarter to show short-term momentum changes. |
|---|---|---|---|
| RevenueThe total money that came through the front door from selling things, before paying a single bill. Think of it as the grand total of every credit card swipe from customers. (YoY compares this year to last year's performance, while QoQ compares the current three months to the previous three). | $562.3M | -8.0% | +3.3% |
| Net IncomeThe absolute bottom line. If the company paid every single supplier, employee, banker, and tax collector, this is the actual money left in their pocket at the end of the day. | $-37.6M | -45.5% | +317.6% |
| Gross MarginThe basic markup. If they sell a $100 pair of sneakers, this percentage tells you how much of that price tag is profit right after paying for the rubber and shoelaces, but before paying for things like store rent or TV commercials. | +97.7% | +0.5% | +0.1% |
| Operating MarginThe 'day job' efficiency score. Out of every dollar a customer spends, this shows how many cents the company keeps after making the product AND paying for all the everyday corporate overhead (like salaries, marketing, and keeping the lights on). | +3.5% | -29.0% | +96.2% |
| Net MarginThe final take-home percentage. When you strip away every conceivable cost, tax, and interest payment, this is the exact number of cents the company truly gets to keep from every dollar in sales. | -6.7% | -58.1% | +310.7% |
| Free Cash FlowThe holy grail of corporate cash. It's the spendable, physical money left over after the business pays for its daily operations AND buys the big, expensive upgrades (like new factories or servers) it needs to survive. This is the 'free' money they can use to pay dividends or buy back stock. | $-7.1M | +12.4% | +200.3% |
| FCF MarginThe ultimate cash conversion rate. It shows how good the company is at turning regular sales directly into cold, hard, spendable cash. A high percentage means the business is an absolute cash-printing machine. | -1.3% | +4.8% | +197.1% |
| Debt / EquityThe financial risk gauge. It compares how much of the company's empire was built using borrowed money (loans) versus the owners' own money (shareholders). A high number means they are heavily leveraged and playing a riskier game; a low number means they are playing it safe. | -1112.0% | +77.3% | -143.3% |
| Current RatioThe 12-month survival check. It simply compares the cash they have right now (plus things they can quickly turn into cash) against the immediate bills they absolutely must pay this year. A score above 1 means they have enough in the wallet to cover the upcoming bills without panicking. | 0.79x | -6.9% | +2.0% |
| Total AssetsThe absolute size of the company's empire. It bundles together absolutely everything of value they own—from the cash in the register and the inventory in the warehouse, to the software patents in the vault and the factories on the ground. | $601.7M | -7.3% | +1.0% |
| Metric | Annual (A vs E) | Annual Surprise | Quarter (A vs E) | Quarter Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS Surprise | -6.15 vs -3.58 | -71.8% | 0.77 vs -0.16 | +581.3% |
| Revenue Surprise | $562.3M vs $587.6M | -4.3% | $126.0M vs $126.0M | 0.0% |
| Date | Executive | Title | Security | Side | Shares | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 31, 2026 | McIntosh Madeline E. | director | Common Stock | A | 5,313 | $8.00 |
| Aug 31, 2026 | McAlmont Shaun | director | Common Stock | A | 5,000 | $8.00 |
| Aug 31, 2026 | KRUSZEWSKI RONALD J | director | Common Stock | A | 5,000 | $8.00 |
| Aug 31, 2026 | Hoffmann David Henry | director, 10 percent owner: | Common Stock | A | 7,813 | $8.00 |
| Aug 31, 2026 | Fletcher Steven C. | director | Common Stock | A | 5,469 | $8.00 |
Operator: Thank you. Welcome to the Lee Enterprises 2026 third quarter webcast and conference call. The call is being recorded and will be available for replay at investors.lee.net. [Operator Instructions] I will now turn the call over to your host, Jared Marks, Vice President, Finance. Jared Marks: Thank you, and good morning everyone. We appreciate you joining us today. With me on this morning's call are Nathan Bekke, President and Chief Executive Officer, Josh Rinehults, Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Joe Battistoni, Chief Revenue Officer, and David Hoffman, Chairman of our Board of Directors. Earlier today, we issued a news release announcing preliminary results of our third fiscal quarter of 2026. The release and accompanying presentation are available at investors.lee.net. As a reminder, this morning's discussion will include forward-looking statements based on current expectations. These statements are subject to certain risks, trends, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ. Such factors are described in this morning's news release and in our SEC filings. We will also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in the tables accompanying the release. With that, I'll turn the call over to our Chairman, David Hoffman. David Hoffmann: Thank you, Jared. Good morning. I'm excited to join you all again today and speak on behalf of the company. Last quarter, I spoke about Lee's next chapter, a company that is more focused, more accountable, and more deeply connected to the communities we serve. This quarter, I'm pleased to say we have continued to make meaningful progress against that vision. We delivered a very strong quarter, generating $5 million in net income and another quarter of adjusted EBITDA growth. I'm highly encouraged by the momentum we're building. Our results reflect disciplined execution across the organization, and they reinforce our belief that Lee is on the right path. Since our last call, we've continued to connect with our communities through our town hall events. Nathan, myself, and various leaders have spent time with readers, advertisers, community leaders, and our own employees, reaffirming that local journalism still matters very deeply. Those conversations have provided valuable insight into how we can better serve our communities while strengthening our relationships with local stakeholders, identifying opportunities to grow readership and advertiser partnerships, and ensuring our newsrooms remain focused on the issue that matter most locally. Those aren't one-time visits, but rather an ongoing commitment to listening, learning, and building stronger community connections that will support both our journalism and long-term success. Another theme I emphasized in our last call was that Lee's transformation is more than just improving our operations. It's about building capabilities that …
| Name | Title | Compensation | Gender | Year Born | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nathan E. Bekke | CEO, President & COO | USD 558,913 | Male | 1969 | Active |
Josh Rinehults | Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer | USD 494,217 | Male | 1981 | Active |
Theodore F. Olt | Secretary & General Counsel | — | Male | — | Active |
Joseph J. Battistoni | Chief Revenue Officer | — | Male | 1983 | Active |
Eric L. Mayberry | President of North Carolina Media Group & Vice President of Sales for Carolina Region | — | Male | — | Active |
Jared Marks | Vice President of Corporate Finance; Assistant Secretary and Assistant Treasurer | — | Male | — | Active |
Astrid J. Garcia | Vice President of Human Resources & Legal and Chief Legal Officer | — | Female | 1950 | Active |
Nicole Henley-Cox | VP of Finance & Corporate Controller | — | Female | — | Active |
Virginia Fletcher | Chief Information Officer | — | Female | — | Active |
DAVENPORT, Iowa, July 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ: LEE), a major subscription and advertising platform and a leading provider of high quality, trusted, local news and information in 114 markets, has scheduled an audio webcast and conference call for Thursday, August 6, 2026, at 9 a.m. Central Time.
New offering empowers organizations to understand how they appear in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Gemini and other AI-powered searches New offering empowers organizations to understand how they appear in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Gemini and other AI-powered searches
DAVENPORT, Iowa, June 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lee Enterprises has been added as a member of the US small-cap Russell 2000® Index, effective at US market open on June 29 as part of the 2026 Russell indexes reconstitution. Membership in the Russell 2000® Index, which remains in place for half a year beginning 2026, is based on membership in the broad-market Russell 3000® Index.
One of the most recognized media brands in America, the company for most of the past decade was a cautionary tale about what happens to newspaper businesses when the internet rewrites the rules.
One of the most recognized media brands in America, the company for most of the past decade was a cautionary tale about what happens to newspaper businesses when the internet rewrites the rules.
