John Wiley & Sons Inc Class A (NYSE:WLY) stock fell 3.79% (As on June 14, 11:21:19 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company posted better than expected results for the fourth quarter of FY 24. Research Fourth Quarter Revenue of $271 million was down 3% as reported and at constant currency, mainly due to timing and declines in ancillary print and licensing revenue in Research Publishing, and soft market conditions in advertising and recruiting in Research Solutions. Learning fourth Quarter Revenue of $170 million was up 18% as reported and at constant currency driven by a $23 million content rights project for training GenAI large language models and continued growth in Academic content and courseware. Excluding the one-time GenAI project, Q4 Learning revenue rose 2% on a constant currency basis. Net Debt-to-EBITDA Ratio (Trailing Twelve Months) at quarter end was 1.7 compared to 1.5 in the year-ago period. Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities (full year) was $208 million compared to $277 million in the prior year period due to lower cash earnings and higher restructuring payments. Free Cash Flow less Product Development Spending (full year) was $114 million compared to $173 million in the prior year period due to lower cash provided by operating activities and higher restructuring and interest payments partially offset by lower Capex. Capex of $93 million was below prior year by $11 million.
WLY in the fourth quarter of FY 24 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $1.21, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of 81 cents. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 11 percent to $468.46 million in the fourth quarter of FY 24, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $438.7 million. Adjusted Revenue performance driven by outperformance in Learning and strong open access growth in Research offset by impact of Hindawi disruption and market conditions in Solutions.
Additionally, Wiley allocated $122 million toward dividends and share repurchases, up from $112 million in the prior year, with $45 million used to acquire 1.3 million shares at an average cost per share of $34.71. This compares to 832,000 shares repurchased in the prior year period. In June 2023, Wiley raised its dividend for the 30th consecutive year.
The company’s robust performance is attributed to their confident outlook for FY2025, with projected EPS in the range of $3.25 to $3.60, comfortably ahead of the consensus estimate of $3.10. Revenue forecasts for FY2025 are set between $1.65 billion and $1.69 billion, aligning with analysts’ expectations of $1.652 billion.