LEE ENTERPRISES, Inc (LEE) Operating Margin (2010 - 2026)
Lee Enterprises' Operating Margin was 6.85% in fiscal Q3 2026 (quarter ended Jun 28, 2026), up 3.55 percentage points from 3.30% a year earlier but down 0.15 percentage points from the prior quarter.
LEE ENTERPRISES, Inc (LEE) Operating Margin (2010 - 2026) Analysis & Trends
On a trailing twelve-month basis, Lee Enterprises' Operating Margin was 4.05% through Jun 28, 2026, up 5.22 percentage points year-over-year; for FY2025 (ended Sep 28, 2025), it was -0.83%, down 1.57 percentage points from FY2024.
- Operating Margin shows a five-year change of -8.96 percentage points (FY2020 to FY2025).
- In earlier fiscal years, Operating Margin was 0.74% in FY2024 (-4.63 pp), 5.38% in FY2023 (+2.20 pp), 3.18% in FY2022 (-3.94 pp) and 7.12% in FY2021 (-1.02 pp).
- Quarterly Operating Margin has moved between -3.28% (fiscal Q2 2025) and 12.42% (fiscal Q1 2022) over five years.
- Compared with a year earlier, Operating Margin has increased for five straight quarters, with an average year-over-year change of +0.62 percentage points over the last eight quarters.
- The best year-over-year quarter for Operating Margin over five years was fiscal Q2 2026 (a gain of 10.28 percentage points); the worst was fiscal Q4 2024 (a drop of 8.97 percentage points).
- Per Business Quant data, LEE's Operating Margin in the three fiscal quarters before Q3 2026 was 7.00% (Q2 2026), 4.00% (Q1 2026) and -1.05% (Q4 2025).
Peer Comparison
Historic Data
| Date | Value |
|---|---|
| Jun 28, 2026 | 6.85% |
| Mar 29, 2026 | 7.00% |
| Dec 28, 2025 | 4.00% |
| Sep 28, 2025 | -1.05% |
| Jun 29, 2025 | 3.30% |
| Mar 30, 2025 | -3.28% |
| Dec 29, 2024 | -2.32% |
| Sep 29, 2024 | -2.31% |
| Jun 23, 2024 | 3.27% |
| Mar 24, 2024 | -3.11% |
| Dec 24, 2023 | 5.03% |
| Sep 24, 2023 | 6.66% |
| Jun 25, 2023 | 7.13% |
| Mar 26, 2023 | 1.67% |
| Dec 25, 2022 | 6.04% |
| Sep 25, 2022 | -1.79% |
| Jun 26, 2022 | 3.30% |
| Mar 27, 2022 | -1.70% |
| Dec 26, 2021 | 12.42% |
| Sep 26, 2021 | 6.99% |
LEE ENTERPRISES, Inc Operating Margin API
Pull this series into your own models, spreadsheets and apps with the Business Quant
Historical Metrics API. The request below matches the chart above — change the
frequency, period or values and it follows. Swap YOUR_API_KEY for your own key.
https://data.businessquant.com/historic?slug=operating-margin&ticker=LEE&period=max&api_key=YOUR_API_KEYimport requests
url = "https://data.businessquant.com/historic"
params = {"slug": "operating-margin", "ticker": "LEE", "period": "max", "api_key": "YOUR_API_KEY"}
data = requests.get(url, params=params).json()const res = await fetch("https://data.businessquant.com/historic?slug=operating-margin&ticker=LEE&period=max&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY");
const data = await res.json();