Shares of New York Times Co. were up as much as eight percent in early trading Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings.

Excluding a $30 million gain on the sale of its regional media group and other items, the newspaper publisher earned eight cents a share, topping the consensus analyst estimate compiled by Thomson Reuters of two cents a share. Revenue was about flat at $499.4 million as advertising revenue dropped 8.1 percent, hampered by a 7.2 percent decline in print ad sales.

Digital advertising fell 10 percent on weakness at the company’s About Group.

In one of the closely-watched stories at the company, paid digital subscribers to The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune rose 16 percent from the fourth quarter, to 454,000.

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