John Wiley & Sons Inc (NYSE:WLY) shares are surging after the company reported better-than expected fourth-quarter FY24 earnings and initiated Fy25 guidance.

The company reported a fourth-quarter FY24 sales decline of 10.9% year-on-year to $468.46 million, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $438.70 million.

Revenue from Research decreased 3% to $271 million, and that of learning jumped 18% to $170 million.

Total costs and expenses decreased 10% Y/Y to $399.8 million.

Operating income for the quarter fell 16.65% to $68.8 million and the operating margin contracted by 100 basis points to 14.7%.

The company held $83.2 million in cash and equivalents as of April 30, 2024.

Operating cash flow for the year totaled $208 million, with a free cash flow of $114 million.

Adjusted EBITDA increased 6.8% to $124.9 million, and the adjusted EBITDA margin was 28.3% versus 27.6% a year ago.

Adjusted EPS of $1.21 beat the consensus of 81 cents.

"We are seeing robust demand to publish and significant output acceleration in Research as well as continued outperformance in Learning. On top of this, we're seeing significant interest in leveraging our authoritative content to train AI and machine learning models," said Interim President and CEO Matthew Kissner.

Outlook: John Wiley sees FY25 sales of $1.65 billion – $1.69 billion, against the consensus of $1.65 billion and adjusted EPS of $3.25 – $3.60 against the estimate of $3.10.

Price Action: WLY shares traded higher by 11.9% at $40.84 at last check Thursday.

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