Lee Enterprises, Incorporated

LEE

Publishing · Communication Services

Price

$7.86

-0.10 (-1.26%)

Market Cap

$47.9M

Winston Score

Winston is worried

Weak fundamentals across most pillars.

Share count rising — dilution

+4.9% over 4y

The company has issued more shares over this period, which dilutes each existing shareholder’s stake.

Diluted shares outstanding: 5.8M (2021) → 6.1M (2025)

Lee Enterprises is a newspaper and digital news company based in the United States. It owns and operates more than 70 daily newspapers and hundreds of smaller publications across roughly 26 states, serving local communities in small and mid-sized cities. Some of its well-known papers include the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Omaha World-Herald.

The company makes money through digital and print subscriptions, local advertising, and digital marketing services sold to small businesses. Lee has been shifting its focus toward digital subscriptions as print advertising continues to decline across the industry. The company carries a significant debt load, which limits its financial flexibility, and its main challenge is growing digital revenue fast enough to offset the ongoing drop in print circulation and advertising that affects the entire local news industry.

Winston Score History

Growth Profile

For growth stock investors

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

-11.2% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Revenue declining

EPS Growth

+81.1% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

EPS growth accelerating

R&D Spend

$0/ year

0.0% of revenue

Below sector average (12%)

Research and development spending

Insider Activity

33.7%ownership

→ Flat

Insiders holding steady — not selling despite ability to

Cash Runway

~23 months

$53M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

Adequate runway but may need to raise capital within 2 years

Revenue declining

Lee Enterprises, Incorporated's revenue is actually shrinking. In a growth stock, that removes the core investment thesis. The low Winston Score here may be warranted — unless there's a turnaround story.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

Every number that matters to educated investors.

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Quality

Gross Margin

56.7%

Premium pricing power — 56.7% gross margin

Operating Margin

5.3%

Thin — 5.3% operating margin

ROCE

1.4%

Weak — 1.4% return on capital

ROIC between 0% and 5%. They earn a few cents back per dollar invested in the business.

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Growth

Sales YoY

-7.9%

Shrinking sales (-7.9% YoY)

EPS YoY

N/A

Data not available

EPS Consistency

0/8 quarters

Earnings rarely grow — volatile business

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Cash Flow

Cash Conversion

N/A

—

Data not available

FCF Margin

-1.7%

Burning cash (-1.7%)

Free cash flow is negative. They are burning cash, not generating it.

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Stability

Debt / Equity

N/A

Data not available

Interest Cover

0.70x

Dangerous — barely covers interest (0.7x)

Interest coverage below 1. Their profits don't cover the interest bill.

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Valuation

P/E Ratio (TTM)

N/M

Negative earnings — P/E not meaningful

P/E vs Forward

N/A

not available

Data not available

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Dividends

Not applicable for this business.

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