Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (LEE) AI Stock Analysis

Lee Enterprises, Incorporated provides local news, information, and advertising services throughout the United States. Founded in 1890 and headquartered in Davenport, Iowa, it publishes daily, weekly, and monthly print and digital newspapers alongside web hosting and content management services. The company delivers digital advertising and marketing solutions such as audience extension, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), web and mobile production, social media management, and reputation monitoring. It also offers integrated digital publishing systems to universities, television stations, and niche media, and operates commercial printing, third-party distribution, and a digital marketing agency.

Revenue fell from $794.6M in FY2021 to $562.3M in FY2025, reflecting a 5-year revenue CAGR of -1.9% from FY2020 to FY2025. Annual net income deteriorated over this span, moving from $22.7M in FY2021 to -$37.6M in FY2025, while operating margin contracted from 7.1% to 3.5%. Free cash flow was negative in four of the past five fiscal years, reaching -$7.1M in FY2025 on operating cash flow of -$5.5M. For the trailing twelve months, revenue totaled $517.1M with a net profit margin of -1.8% and diluted EPS of -$1.26. In the latest quarter ended June 30, 2026, quarterly revenue fell 10.8% year-over-year and quarterly earnings declined 38.3%.

As of June 30, 2026, Lee Enterprises held $59.4M in cash and short-term investments against $475.3M in total debt, resulting in net debt of $415.9M. Total assets stood at $624.6M, while shareholders' equity was -$2.2M. The company maintains a current ratio of 1.17. In FY2025, capital expenditures totaled $1.5M, while its share count increased by 4.4% over five years.

At a last close of $6.42, Lee Enterprises carries a market capitalization of $143.1M and an enterprise value of $566.8M. The stock trades at a forward P/E of 15.1x, higher than the 14.1x median of its US-listed Communication Services peers. Its EV/EBITDA of 14.0x is also above the peer median of 10.0x, though its price-to-sales of 0.3x is below the peer median of 0.8x. Over the past year, LEE returned 62.9% compared to 16.8% for the S&P 500 (SPY), but its 5-year return of -70.3% lagged the index's 83.0% gain.

Analysts have a mean price target of $20.00 for LEE, which sits 211.5% above its last close of $6.42. For the next fiscal year, consensus models revenue of $587.3M, representing a projected revenue decline of 0.1%, with an EPS estimate of $0.00. Over the last four quarters, the company beat EPS estimates twice. The next earnings date is November 25, 2026.

This page is an AI-written research summary of Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (LEE). The text was generated on October 30, 2026 from Quotelinks data as of October 16, 2026 (company profile, annual results, latest balance sheet, valuation, price performance and analyst estimates). An automatic check rejects any draft that contains a figure not found in that data. It is not investment advice; verify figures on the linked tabs before making decisions.

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