Newspaper Mania! Strong Gannett Results Spurs Rally In Dead-Tree Media Sector

Today’s surprisingly strong Q3 guidance from Gannett (GCI), which results more from zealous cost-cutting than from a turnaround in the newspaper advertising market, nonetheless has triggered a buying frenzy in, of all things, newspaper stocks.

Check it out:

• Gannett is up $1.86, or 18.6%, to $11.84.


• New York Times (NYT) is up 47 cents, or 5.9%, to $8.46.


• Washington Post (WPO) is up $14.96, or 3.3%, to $468.04.


• Media General (MEG) is up 85 cents, or 10.8%, to $8.75.


• E.W. Scripps (SSP) is up 72 cents, or 10%, to $7.92.


• Journal Communications (JRN) is up 29 cents, or 7.4%, to $4.19.


• A.H. Belo (AHC) is up 40.5 cents, or 12.7%, to $3.585.


• McClatchy (MNI) is up 23 cents, or 9.2%, to $2.73.


• Lee Enterprises (LEE) is up $1.04, or 48.6% - 48.6%! - to $3.18.

And as for News Corp. (NWS), publisher of this blog…uh…well…it is down 2 cents at $13.97.