Stocks · Communication Services · Publishing
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. WLY
$47.50 -2.86% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $2.49B
Next earnings report: Dec 3, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $3.71, up 108.4% year over year.
- The shares trade at 12.8× trailing earnings, lower than 93% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
- Net debt is 5.5× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Communication Services sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 28%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 17%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 20%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 14%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 48%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 19%
- Gross marginTop 19%
- Operating marginTop 26%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 26%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 20%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 18%
- Interest coverTop 26%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 15%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 36%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 50%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 40%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 28%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 26%
- 6-month returnTop 26%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 31%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 28%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 32%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 36%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 19%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 16%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 30%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 32%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 12%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 18%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | -0.1% | -0.3% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 171.9% | 108.4% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 71.1% | 75.4% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 14.9% | 14.8% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 7.5% | 12.7% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | -0.3% | -0.1% | ↓ | Bottom 28% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 108.4% | 171.9% | ↓ | Top 17% |
| Gross margin | 75.4% | 71.1% | ↑ | Top 19% |
| Operating margin | 14.8% | 14.9% | ↓ | Top 26% |
| Net margin | 11.9% | 5.8% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 12.7% | 7.5% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 9.9% | — | Top 19% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -6.0% | — | Bottom 14% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.46×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -2.9%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 1.7%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -4.1 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 5.46×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 5.3×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 2.95%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 4.09%
- Shareholder yield
- 7.04%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -6.0%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -2.8%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jul 31, 2026 (filed Sep 4, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 4
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 7 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +16.3%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +3.0%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
Analysts
- Analysts with a rating
- 3
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 33%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 3, 2026 | +10.0% | -0.8% | -7.5% | -4.2% | — |
| Jun 16, 2026 | +1.2% | +4.1% | +1.4% | +14.3% | +9.0% |
| Mar 5, 2026 | +12.8% | +14.1% | +20.1% | +27.1% | +38.2% |
| Dec 4, 2025 | +41.0% | -8.6% | -16.0% | -22.1% | -19.1% |
| Sep 4, 2025 | -53.8% | -3.8% | +4.3% | +1.0% | -9.5% |
| Jun 17, 2025 | +7.9% | +10.0% | +16.5% | +8.6% | +13.8% |
| Mar 6, 2025 | +29.2% | +15.3% | +16.2% | +20.0% | +3.2% |
| Dec 5, 2024 | +10.2% | -6.3% | -6.0% | -13.2% | -23.4% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 3, 2026 | $0.44 | $0.40 | +10.0% | $386.4M |
| Jun 16, 2026 | $1.67 | $1.65 | +1.2% | $447.9M |
| Mar 5, 2026 | $0.97 | $0.86 | +12.8% | $410.0M |
| Dec 4, 2025 | $1.10 | $0.78 | +41.0% | $421.8M |
| Sep 4, 2025 | $0.49 | $1.06 | -53.8% | $396.8M |
| Jun 17, 2025 | $1.37 | $1.27 | +7.9% | $442.6M |
| Mar 6, 2025 | $0.84 | $0.65 | +29.2% | $404.6M |
| Dec 5, 2024 | $0.97 | $0.88 | +10.2% | $426.6M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 12.8× | 21.2× | 7th | Top 15% |
| P/E (forward) | 9.9× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 16.2× | — | — | Top 50% |
| EV / Sales | 2.26× | — | — | Bottom 40% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 8.49% | — | — | Top 36% |
| Earnings yield | 7.81% | — | — | Top 15% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 10.6× – 108.2× since Jul 31, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +18.3%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +108.4%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -42.0%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 135
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -1.4%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +3.5%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -6.2%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +14.9%
- RSI (14)
- 42.8
- Relative volume
- 0.68×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 34.9%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 64th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.35
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.15
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -14.8%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -45.8%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 8, 2021 | Feb 12, 2026 | -56.1% | 1176 days | Not yet recovered |
| Mar 8, 2021 | Mar 15, 2021 | -10.4% | 5 days | 17 days (Apr 8, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $2.49B
- P/E (TTM)
- 12.8
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $3.71
- Revenue (TTM)
- $1.67B
- Dividend yield
- 3.75%
- 52-week range
- $28.38 – $57.45
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.08B | $2.02B | $1.87B | $1.68B | $1.68B |
| Gross profit | $1.30B | $1.24B | $1.24B | $1.19B | $1.25B |
| Operating income | $217.8M | $205.1M | $223.8M | $247.0M | $276.9M |
| Net income | $148.3M | $17.2M | -$200.3M | $84.2M | $221.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.62 | $0.31 | -$3.65 | $1.53 | $4.16 |
| Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | Q4 2026 | Q1 2027 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $426.6M | $404.6M | $442.6M | $396.8M | $421.8M | $410.0M | $447.9M | $386.4M |
| Net income | $40.5M | -$23.0M | $68.1M | $11.7M | $44.9M | $29.7M | $135.3M | -$11.7M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.74 | -$0.43 | $1.25 | $0.22 | $0.84 | $0.56 | $2.54 | -$0.23 |
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $339.1M | $277.1M | $207.6M | $202.6M | $260.5M |
| Capital expenditure | -$121.7M | -$106.7M | -$101.8M | -$82.8M | -$83.8M |
| Free cash flow | $217.4M | $170.4M | $105.9M | $119.8M | $176.7M |
| Dividends paid | -$77.2M | -$77.3M | -$77.0M | -$76.1M | -$74.4M |
| Net share buybacks | -$30.0M | -$35.0M | -$45.0M | -$60.4M | -$100.1M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $106.4M
- Total assets
- $3.13B
- Total liabilities
- $2.34B
- Total debt
- $1.37B
- Net debt
- $1.27B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $797.0M
As of Jul 31, 2026 (filed Sep 4, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 6, 2026 | $0.36 | Oct 22, 2026 |
| Jul 7, 2026 | $0.36 | Jul 23, 2026 |
| Apr 7, 2026 | $0.36 | Apr 23, 2026 |
| Dec 30, 2025 | $0.36 | Jan 15, 2026 |
| Oct 7, 2025 | $0.36 | Oct 23, 2025 |
| Jul 8, 2025 | $0.36 | Jul 24, 2025 |
| Apr 8, 2025 | $0.35 | Apr 24, 2025 |
| Dec 26, 2024 | $0.35 | Jan 9, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 4,656,258
- Days to cover
- 6.23
- Change vs previous report
- +1.3%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jun 1, 1999
- 2-for-1
- Oct 19, 1998
- 2-for-1
- Oct 19, 1995
- 2-for-1
- Jul 14, 1994
- 2-for-1
- Sep 14, 1982
- 5-for-2