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Best Publishing Stocks to Buy Now (2026)

Top publishing stocks in 2026 ranked by overall Zen Rating. "A" Rated stocks have returned an average of +32.52% per year, and are the best publishing stocks to buy now. Learn More.

According to Zen Ratings, our proprietary rating system that evaluates 115 factors proven to drive growth in stocks and assigns each stock in our system an overall letter grade as well as 7 individual Component Grades for Value, Growth, Momentum, Sentiment, Safety, Financials, and proprietary AI algorithms, the 3 best publishing stocks to buy right now are:

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) is the #1 top publishing stock out of 8 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +32.52% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) is: Value: B, Growth: B, Momentum: C, Sentiment: B, Safety: C, Financials: B, and AI: B.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) has a Due Diligence Score of 48, which is 18 points higher than the publishing industry average of 30.

WLY passed 17 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. John Wiley & Sons has seen its stock lose -2.79% over the past year, underperforming other publishing stocks by -43 percentage points.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) is the #2 top publishing stock out of 8 with a Zen Rating of B. Stocks with a rating of B have had an average return of +19.88% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) is: Value: C, Growth: C, Momentum: C, Sentiment: B, Safety: C, Financials: B, and AI: C.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) has a Due Diligence Score of 50, which is 20 points higher than the publishing industry average of 30.

SCHL passed 17 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Scholastic has seen its stock return 138.58% over the past year, overperforming other publishing stocks by 98 percentage points.

Scholastic has an average 1 year price target of $40.00, an upside of 1.55% from Scholastic's current stock price of $39.39.

Scholastic stock has a consensus Hold recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 1 analyst covering Scholastic, 0% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 0% have issued a Buy, 100% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Lee Enterprises (NASDAQ:LEE) is the #3 top publishing stock out of 8 with a Zen Rating of C. Stocks with a rating of C have had an average return of +7.53% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Lee Enterprises (NASDAQ:LEE) is: Value: C, Growth: C, Momentum: C, Sentiment: C, Safety: C, Financials: C, and AI: D.

Lee Enterprises (NASDAQ:LEE) has a Due Diligence Score of 4, which is -26 points lower than the publishing industry average of 30.

LEE passed 1 out of 33 due diligence checks and has weak fundamentals. Lee Enterprises has seen its stock return 2.52% over the past year, underperforming other publishing stocks by -38 percentage points.

Out of 4 publishing stocks that have issued dividends in the past year, the 3 publishing stocks with the highest dividend yields are:

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) has an annual dividend yield of 3.68%, which is 1 percentage points higher than the publishing industry average of 2.27%. John Wiley & Sons's dividend payout is stable, having never dropped by more than 10% in the last 10 years. John Wiley & Sons's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

John Wiley & Sons's dividend payout ratio of 48.9% indicates that its dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Pearson (NYSE:PSO) has an annual dividend yield of 2.45%, which is the same as the publishing industry average of 2.27%. Pearson's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% ten times in the last 10 years. Pearson's dividend has not shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Pearson's dividend payout ratio of 42.9% indicates that its dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) has an annual dividend yield of 2.03%, which is the same as the publishing industry average of 2.27%. Scholastic's dividend payout is stable, having never dropped by more than 10% in the last 10 years. Scholastic's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Scholastic's dividend payout ratio of 31.6% indicates that its dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Publishing stocks were down -0.45% in the last day, and down -0.16% over the last week.

We couldn't find a catalyst for why publishing stocks are down.

Based on the Valuation rating, one of the 7 components of a stocks overall Zen Ratings grade, which evaluates factors including estimated earnings yield, earnings before interest and taxes/enterprise value, cash flow yield, free cash flow to price, and price-to-earnings growth (PEG ratio), the 3 most undervalued publishing stocks right now are:

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) is the most undervalued publishing stock based on its Valuation Rating of B. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

John Wiley & Sons has a valuation score of 57, which is 28 points higher than the publishing industry average of 29. It passed 4 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

John Wiley & Sons's stock has dropped -2.79% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the publishing industry by -43 percentage points.

Pearson (NYSE:PSO) is the second most undervalued publishing stock based on its Valuation Rating of B. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Pearson has a valuation score of 43, which is 14 points higher than the publishing industry average of 29. It passed 3 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Pearson's stock has dropped -9.18% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the publishing industry by -50 percentage points.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) is the third most undervalued publishing stock based on its Valuation Rating of C. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Scholastic has a valuation score of 57, which is 28 points higher than the publishing industry average of 29. It passed 4 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Scholastic's stock has gained 138.58% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the publishing industry by 98 percentage points.

75% of publishing stocks rated by analysts are a buy right now. On average, analysts expect publishing stocks to rise by 1.63% over the next year.

16.67% of publishing stocks have a Zen Rating of A (Strong Buy), 16.67% of publishing stocks are rated B (Buy), 66.67% are rated C (Hold), 0% are rated D (Sell), and 0% are rated F (Strong Sell).