The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI) reported net income above Wall Street’s expectations for the fourth quarter. McClatchy is a newspaper company in the United States.

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Results: Net income for The McClatchy Company rose to $42 million (49 cents per share) vs. $14.9 million (17 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This is a more than twofold rise from the year earlier quarter.

Revenue: Fell 5% to $351.4 million from the year earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: The McClatchy Company beat the mean analyst estimate of 35 cents per share. Analysts were expecting revenue of $347.8 million.

Quoting Management: Gary Pruitt, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “We were pleased to see our advertising revenue results improve in the fourth quarter. For the first three quarters of 2011 ad revenues were consistently down in the 10% range compared to a decline of 5.7% in the fourth quarter. The improving advertising results were led by retail, direct marketing and national advertising, and we also posted strong growth in digital-only advertising.”

Key Stats:

The company has now topped analyst estimates for the last four quarters. It beat the mark by 8 cents in the third quarter, by 8 cents in the second quarter, and by 6 cents in the first quarter.

Revenue has fallen in the past four quarters. Revenue declined 8.4% to $300.2 million in the third quarter. The figure fell 8.1% in the second quarter from the year earlier and dropped 9.5% in the first quarter from the year-ago quarter.

The average estimate for the fiscal year has remained at 49 cents per share.

(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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To contact the reporter on this story: Derek Hoffman at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com

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