5 models fit John Wiley & Sons Inc. Common Stock and they disagree: 1 of 5 land within 15% of the average.
Two or more of our models back this value.
Premium(i)Silver68
Valued as a mature, profitable company: Discounted cash flow, P/E comparison, EV/EBITDA comparison, Graham number, and Dividend discount.
ACCE opinionJohn Wiley & Sons Inc. Common Stock (WLYB)
Fair value (5 models)
$41.14
ACCE price target
$47.90
Rating
Overvalued
Horizon
12 months
Fair value published on 17 Oct 2026, 00:00 CEST; previously $40.33 since 12 Oct 2026, 00:00 CEST.
ACCE price target published on 11 Oct 2026, 00:00 CEST.
Price used: $54.46 at the close on 23 Oct 2026, 22:00 CEST.
Models: Discounted cash flow, Dividend discount, EV/EBITDA comparison, Graham number, and P/E comparison.
Fair value: the average of the applicable valuation models (discounted cash flow, multiples, residual income, dividend discount, shareholder yield), each run on the latest financial statements and the market price shown. Opinion columns (fair value, target, rating) are shown apart from the data. Full methodology: acceinvestments.com/data/how-we-value-stocks
Conflicts of interest: The author holds no personal position in this security. General statement
Produced by ACCE Investments (acceinvestments.com)
Data
Price vs fair value
32.4% above
-24.5% to fair value
ACCE score
73
out of 100
P/E
14.6x
forward 15.7x
1-year return
+47.0%
Dividend yield
2.65%
John Wiley & Sons Inc. Common Stock in four questions
Plain answers, details below
Free accounts get 5 full stock pages a month, including the four answers.
Overview
ACCE thesis
John Wiley & Sons publishes academic journals, research databases, and professional and educational texts, with its Research segment (journals like those under the Wiley Online Library) generating the bulk of its high-margin, subscription-style revenue. The core advantage is a deep backlist and long-standing journal relationships that give it pricing power and a 74.6% gross margin, though the 7.3% operating margin shows how much overhead and content amortization sit beneath that. Revenue is shrinking at 2.6%, so the investment case rests on the company converting its existing platform into cash rather than on top-line growth, and the score of 72/100 reflects that tension. At 13.9x trailing and 15.7x forward earnings with a 25.9% return on equity, the stock is priced for a stable business rather than a growing one. That makes it worth a deeper look mainly to test whether margins can recover from their current level without a return to revenue growth.
⚠ Investor warnings · 2 flagsAI-assisted·How I use AI
moderate
Shrinking revenue base
Revenue is down 2.6% YoY and has a 5-year CAGR of -2.9%, with a 13.7% QoQ drop. Earnings growth of 108.4% is off a weak base and doesn't offset the top-line decline.
moderate
Extreme insider ownership
Insiders hold 94.2% of the shares against 2.6% institutional, so float is very thin. Liquidity and price discovery may be limited for outside holders.
AI research notes
AI-assisted·How I use AIWritten Oct 13, 2026 · figures from 2026-10-12 · prices to Oct 23, 2026
Why it could do well
Shares trade at a trailing P/E of 13.9x, below the sector's forward median of 16.6x.
Free cash flow over the last 12 months was $177M, and the stock offers a 7.3% free cash flow yield.
The diluted share count fell 2.9% last fiscal year, and the stock pays a 3.0% dividend yield.
Why it could disappoint
Revenue shrank 2.6% year over year, and its five-year average growth rate is also negative at -2.9% per year.
The latest quarterly earnings per share came in 30.4% below expectations, at $0.56 against $0.81 expected.
Consensus fair value is $40.33, 21.8% below the $51.59 share price, and all five valuation models in the consensus were used.
Each chip shows the exact figure and where it comes from. A claim without a source is not published.
Next results
Dec 3, 2026
We update the fair value about 2 days after the results, once the new figures are filed.Add to calendarGoogle
Walk me through this stock
Plain-English pros, cons, and what to watch. Pro feature.
PRO
Ask ACCE
Valuation
INVESTOR
Where WLYB's valuation models land
Price
$54.46
Model fair value
$41.14
Model range
$20.26 to $59.25
Fair value $41.14
Price $54.46
The price sits inside the model range.
Model
Fair value
Upside
Discounted cash flow
Dividend discount
EV/EBITDA comparison
Graham number
P/E comparison
Create a free account: 5 full stock pages a month, no card.
See what each model says, the assumptions behind it, the bad, normal and good cases, and why the fair value changed.
Quality
INVESTOR
Quality and conviction INVESTOR FEATURE
The full quality picture: a reason under every score, how the scores moved, and the conviction breakdown.
+A plain reason under every score
+Conviction breakdown and growth / value / quality / momentum scores
+Score history: how each score moved over time
Analysts
Wall Street consensus
No analyst coverage yet.
Analyst intelligence INVESTOR FEATURE
The full analyst picture: the price-target distribution against the current price, forward consensus estimates, and how ACCE's own models compare.
+Price-target low / average / high vs the current price, with implied upside
+Forward revenue and EPS consensus by fiscal year
+ACCE fair-value models lined up against the Street
Smart Money
PRO
In one line
Trades are only made public after a delay. We show the delay so you know how old the news is.