You've probably seen the name Wiley on a dusty textbook or a dense scientific journal. It feels like a company that belongs to the era of wood-paneled libraries. But if you’re looking at John Wiley and Sons stock today, you aren't looking at a "legacy" publisher anymore. You’re looking at a data company in a very expensive mask.
Markets are weird. They tend to pigeonhole old companies. People see WLY and think "printing presses." They missed the fact that this 200-year-old giant just spent the last two years aggressively hacking off its own limbs—selling its university services and "Wiley Edge" talent businesses—to become a lean, mean, research-and-AI machine.
Honestly, the transformation has been brutal but necessary.
The AI Gold Rush Nobody Is Talking About
Everyone is obsessed with Nvidia. Fine. But have you thought about what actually goes into those Large Language Models (LLMs)? They need high-quality, peer-reviewed, factual data. They can't just eat Reddit threads and Wikipedia forever without hallucinating.
Wiley is sitting on a gold mine of scholarly research.
In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, Wiley reported they've already realized about $100 million in AI training revenue in less than two years. They aren't just "exploring" AI; they are selling the pickaxes to the miners. They recently signed a deal with Anthropic. They are licensing their massive library of scientific content to tech giants who are desperate for "clean" data.
This is high-margin stuff. Basically, it's found money.
Why the Research Segment Is the Real Hero
While the "Learning" side of the house (textbooks and professional kits) has been a bit of a headache lately—down about 11% in Q2 2026—the Research segment is carrying the team.
Research revenue grew 6% last quarter.
- Article submissions are up 28%.
- Output is up 12%.
- Open access is growing in the double digits.
People have to publish. It's the "publish or perish" culture of academia, and Wiley owns the toll booths. When you combine that steady academic demand with the new AI licensing revenue, the stock starts to look a lot more like a tech infrastructure play than a book publisher.
The Dividend King Status
If you're into passive income, John Wiley and Sons stock is a bit of a unicorn. They've raised their dividend for 32 consecutive years. That is not a typo. They stayed committed to that payout through the 2008 crash, a global pandemic, and a massive corporate restructuring.
As of early 2026, the dividend yield is hovering around 4.5%.
For a company that is also buying back its own shares—they just increased their repurchase allocation to $100 million in December 2025—that’s a lot of capital being returned to shareholders. Management is essentially screaming at the market that they think the stock is undervalued.
Let's Talk Numbers (The Boring But Important Part)
The stock has had a wild ride lately. After hitting 52-week highs near $47, it took a dip toward the $30-$35 range following some mixed Q2 results.
Why the dip? Revenue missed the mark by a tiny fraction—$422 million vs the $425 million expected.
Wall Street can be incredibly touchy.
But look at the Earnings Per Share (EPS). They beat expectations by 10%, coming in at $1.10. They are getting much better at making money, even if the top-line growth is a slow climb. Their adjusted EBITDA margins are expanding toward a target of 25.5% to 26.5% for the full year.
That's the result of cutting out the "dead wood" businesses that weren't performing.
The Risks You Shouldn't Ignore
It's not all sunshine and AI checks.
The Learning segment is still struggling. Professional publishing and corporate training have been soft. There was a weirdly sharp inventory drop-off at a major online retailer (we can guess who) that hit their numbers recently.
Also, the "open access" model in research is a double-edged sword. While it drives volume, it changes the way the money flows. Instead of libraries paying for subscriptions, authors (or their institutions) pay to publish. Wiley is winning here, but the transition is messy.
And then there's the debt. They’ve used about $120 million from selling off old business units to pay down debt, bringing their leverage ratio down to about 2.0x. It’s manageable, but it's something to watch if interest rates stay stubborn.
What Most People Get Wrong
The biggest misconception is that Wiley is a "dying" media company.
It's actually a highly specialized data provider.
In a world where "truth" is becoming a premium commodity, owning the peer-reviewed research for the world's scientists is a massive moat. You can't just replicate 200 years of academic prestige overnight.
Actionable Insights for Your Portfolio
If you are looking at WLY, you have to decide what kind of investor you are.
- The Income Hunter: The 4.5% yield is safe and growing. It’s a great "bond alternative" with upside.
- The Value Skeptic: If the Learning segment doesn't stabilize by late 2026, the stock might stay stuck in this $30-$40 range for a while.
- The AI Speculator: If they sign another two or three $30M+ licensing deals with LLM developers, the market will finally have to re-rate them as a data company.
Watch the next earnings report in March 2026. Analysts are looking for an EPS of around $0.86. If they beat that and show the Learning segment is finally bottoming out, the "boring" textbook company might start looking very exciting very fast.
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Check the current "short interest" and institutional ownership. When big firms like BlackRock or Vanguard start increasing their stake in a restructuring play like this, it’s usually a signal that the "turnaround" story is moving into its second act.