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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: C, Momentum: D, Sentiment: B, Safety: C, Financials: B, and AI: B.

John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) has a Due Diligence Score of 49, which is 20 points higher than the publishing industry average of 29.

WLY passed 16 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. John Wiley & Sons has seen its stock lose -8.39% over the past year, underperforming other publishing stocks by -14 percentage points.

New York Times Co (NYSE:NYT) is the #2 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 New York Times Co (NYSE:NYT) is: Value: C, Growth: C, Momentum: C, Sentiment: C, Safety: C, Financials: A, and AI: B.

New York Times Co (NYSE:NYT) has a Due Diligence Score of 53, which is 24 points higher than the publishing industry average of 29.

NYT passed 20 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. New York Times Co has seen its stock return 74.66% over the past year, overperforming other publishing stocks by 69 percentage points.

New York Times Co has an average 1 year price target of $69.60, a downside of -15.07% from New York Times Co's current stock price of $81.95.

New York Times Co stock has a consensus Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 5 analysts covering New York Times Co, 40% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 20% have issued a Buy, 40% 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: C.

Lee Enterprises (NASDAQ:LEE) has a Due Diligence Score of 4, which is -25 points lower than the publishing industry average of 29.

LEE passed 1 out of 33 due diligence checks and has weak fundamentals. Lee Enterprises has seen its stock return 7.89% over the past year, overperforming other publishing stocks by 2 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 4.08%, which is 2 percentage points higher than the publishing industry average of 2.38%. 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 74.3% indicates that its high dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Pearson (NYSE:PSO) has an annual dividend yield of 2.28%, which is the same as the publishing industry average of 2.38%. 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 34% indicates that its dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) has an annual dividend yield of 2.26%, which is the same as the publishing industry average of 2.38%. 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 -381% indicates that its dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Publishing stocks were up 3.16% in the last day, and up 4.76% over the last week. John Wiley & Sons was the among the top gainers in the publishing industry, gaining 14.06% yesterday.

John Wiley & Sons shares are trading higher after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 financial results and issued FY26 adjusted EPS guidance with its midpoint above estimates.

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 71, which is 44 points higher than the publishing industry average of 27. It passed 5 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

John Wiley & Sons's stock has dropped -8.39% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the publishing industry by -14 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 16 points higher than the publishing industry average of 27. It passed 3 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Pearson's stock has dropped -24.96% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the publishing industry by -31 percentage points.

Usa Today Co (NYSE:TDAY) 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.

Usa Today Co has a valuation score of 0, which is -27 points higher than the publishing industry average of 27. It passed 0 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Usa Today Co's stock has gained 73.51% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the publishing industry by 68 percentage points.

100% of publishing stocks rated by analysts are a buy right now. On average, analysts expect publishing stocks to rise by 0.1% over the next year.

16.67% of publishing stocks have a Zen Rating of A (Strong Buy), 0% of publishing stocks are rated B (Buy), 83.33% are rated C (Hold), 0% are rated D (Sell), and 0% are rated F (Strong Sell).