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Ziff Davis
(NASDAQ:ZD)
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Rating:65Neutral
Price Target:
$58.00
▲(12.40% Upside)
Action:Reiterated
Date:08/09/26
ZD scores 65 primarily because financial performance is stable with strong free cash flow and manageable/improving leverage, but growth and profitability consistency are weaker (recent revenue declines and thin net margins/low ROE). Technicals add support with a clear uptrend and positive momentum signals. Offsetting those positives, valuation is the biggest drag given the high P/E, which increases downside risk if the guided revenue pressure persists; the earnings call was mildly supportive due to the divestiture-driven cash strength and buybacks despite ongoing top-line headwinds and near-term tax/fee impacts on cash conversion.
Positive Factors
Strong Free Cash Flow
Sustained operating and free cash flow gives Ziff Davis internal funding for acquisitions, debt repayment, technology investment, and shareholder returns. This financial flexibility can help the company adapt while advertising and search-related revenue models evolve.
Negative Factors
Persistent Revenue Contraction
Ongoing revenue declines indicate that portfolio expansion and cost actions have not yet restored top-line momentum. Continued contraction can limit operating leverage, reduce reinvestment capacity, and make future growth increasingly dependent on acquisitions.
Read all positive and negative factors
Positive Factors
Negative Factors
Strong Free Cash Flow
Sustained operating and free cash flow gives Ziff Davis internal funding for acquisitions, debt repayment, technology investment, and shareholder returns. This financial flexibility can help the company adapt while advertising and search-related revenue models evolve.
Read all positive factors
Ziff Davis (ZD) vs. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
Market Cap
$1.89B
Dividend YieldN/A
Average Volume (3M)665.91K
Price to Earnings (P/E)3.1
Beta (1Y)1.05
Revenue Growth-8.46%
EPS Growth-157.54%
CountryUS
Employees3,900
SectorCommunication Services
Sector Strength97
IndustryAdvertising Agencies
Share Statistics
EPS (TTM)17.67
Shares Outstanding34,287,210
10 Day Avg. Volume544,841
30 Day Avg. Volume665,907
Financial Highlights & Ratios
PEG Ratio-1.65
Price to Book (P/B)0.82
Price to Sales (P/S)0.99
P/FCF Ratio5.00
Enterprise Value/Market Cap<0.01
Enterprise Value/Revenue<0.01
Enterprise Value/Gross Profit<0.01
Enterprise Value/Ebitda<0.01
Forecast
1Y Price Target
$64.40Price Target Upside24.81% Upside
Rating ConsensusModerate Buy
Number of Analyst Covering5
EPS Forecast (FY)5.04
Revenue Forecast (FY)$1.19B
Ziff Davis Business Overview & Revenue Model
Company Description
Ziff Davis, Inc. operates internationally, delivering online information and services to users in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and other global regions. The company's operations are divided into two primary divisions: Digital Media, and Cyb...
How the Company Makes Money
Ziff Davis primarily makes money through a mix of advertising, performance marketing (affiliate/commerce), and subscription and licensing-based services. (1) Advertising and marketing services: ZD sells digital advertising inventory across its own...
Ziff Davis Earnings Call Summary
Earnings Call Date:Aug 06, 2026
(Q2-2026)
| % Change Since: |
Next Earnings Date:Nov 05, 2026
Earnings Call Sentiment Positive
The call communicated a mix of strategic and operational positives — a transformative $1.2B divestiture, a strong cash position, aggressive share repurchases that materially reduced share count and lifted adjusted EPS, doubled free cash flow YoY, pockets of segment growth (Humble Bundle, IPVanish, SMTP.com) and material AI-driven engineering productivity gains — while acknowledging continuing top-line pressure driven by advertising weakness, a 2.7% consolidated revenue decline, segment-specific softness (Health & Wellness and Tech & Shopping), and near-term free cash flow conversion headwinds from taxes and transaction-related fees. Management framed the results as delivering shareholder value and positioned the firm to pursue disciplined M&A and capital return options, suggesting the positives modestly outweigh the negatives in the near term.Positive Updates
Transformative Connectivity Sale
Completed sale of the Connectivity business to Accenture for $1.2 billion at a 14.5x multiple of trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA less CapEx, unlocking material cash and strategic optionality.
Negative Updates
Consolidated Revenue Decline
Consolidated Q2 revenues declined 2.7% YoY to $286.7 million (from $294.8 million), reflecting continuing top-line pressure across parts of the portfolio.
Read all updates
Q2-2026 Updates
Positive
Negative
Transformative Connectivity Sale
Completed sale of the Connectivity business to Accenture for $1.2 billion at a 14.5x multiple of trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA less CapEx, unlocking material cash and strategic optionality.
Read all positive updates
Company Guidance
Management guided that Q3 should see sequential revenue growth but a low- to mid-single‑digit year‑over‑year decline, with adjusted EBITDA margin modestly improving versus Q2’s 26.8% (Q2 revenue $286.7M, -2.7% YoY; Q2 adjusted EBITDA $76.8M vs. $79.8M prior year; Q2 adjusted diluted EPS $1.03, +13.2% YoY), and that Q4 should improve versus Q3 with a lower rate of revenue decline though adjusted EBITDA margin may be slightly down year‑over‑year; adjusted EPS is expected to keep benefiting from share repurchases (>$200M deployed YTD to buy 4.5M shares, $121.5M/2.6M in Q2, ~700k repurchased since July 1, ~13M repurchased since 2024, ~7M shares remaining under authorization). They expect to pay approximately $200M of taxes related to the $1.2B Connectivity sale (sold at a 14.5x trailing‑12m adjusted EBITDA less CapEx), to repay $149M of convertible debt maturing Nov 1, 2026, and to remain in a strong cash position (cash & equivalents $1.6B + $100M long‑term investments; cash exceeds debt by $734M; gross leverage 2.4x TTM adjusted EBITDA). Q2 free cash flow was ~$54M (up 100% YoY); management noted H2 adjusted‑EBITDA‑to‑FCF conversion will be negatively impacted by transaction‑related fees and taxes but, excluding discrete items, they expect continued strong FCF conversion and a non‑GAAP tax rate of ~24–25% annually (excluding transaction taxes).Ziff Davis Financial Statement Overview
Summary
Income Statement
58
Neutral
Balance Sheet
66
Positive
Cash Flow
72
Positive
| Breakdown | TTM | Dec 2025 | Dec 2024 | Dec 2023 | Dec 2022 | Dec 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Income Statement | ||||||
| Total Revenue | 1.32B | 1.45B | 1.40B | 1.36B | 1.39B | 1.42B |
| Gross Profit | 1.02B | 1.02B | 1.20B | 1.18B | 1.21B | 1.23B |
| EBITDA | 218.36M | 327.40M | 319.10M | 331.97M | 398.39M | 681.68M |
| Net Income | 643.49M | 47.35M | 63.05M | 41.50M | 63.76M | 496.71M |
Balance Sheet | ||||||
| Total Assets | 4.00B | 3.66B | 3.70B | 3.47B | 3.53B | 3.77B |
| Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments | 1.61B | 607.01M | 505.88M | 764.72M | 711.21M | 924.04M |
| Total Debt | 867.64M | 891.71M | 894.75M | 1.00B | 999.05M | 1.17B |
| Total Liabilities | 1.76B | 1.91B | 1.89B | 1.58B | 1.64B | 1.80B |
| Stockholders Equity | 2.24B | 1.75B | 1.81B | 1.89B | 1.89B | 1.97B |
Cash Flow | ||||||
| Free Cash Flow | 316.73M | 287.87M | 283.68M | 211.23M | 230.29M | 402.80M |
| Operating Cash Flow | 448.30M | 407.07M | 390.31M | 319.96M | 336.44M | 516.54M |
| Investing Cash Flow | 983.56M | -145.75M | -297.45M | -127.41M | -220.77M | 59.09M |
| Financing Cash Flow | -277.19M | -170.29M | -320.99M | -114.79M | -140.83M | -113.09M |
Ziff Davis Technical Analysis
Positive
51.60
Price Trends
51.33
Positive
47.84
Positive
41.54
Positive
Market Momentum
0.99
Negative
56.85
Neutral
59.09
Neutral
Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For ZD, the sentiment is Positive. The current price of 51.6 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 53.56, above the 50-day MA of 51.33, and above the 200-day MA of 41.54, indicating a bullish trend. The MACD of 0.99 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 56.85 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 59.09 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Positive sentiment for ZD.
Ziff Davis Risk Analysis
Ziff Davis disclosed 53 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. Ziff Davis reported the most risks in the "Finance & Corporate" category.
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
Latest Risks Added 0 New Risks
Ziff Davis Peers Comparison
UnderperformOutperform
Sector (60)
Name | Overall Rating | Market Cap | P/E Ratio | ROE | Dividend Yield | Revenue Growth | EPS Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
81 Outperform | $935.04M | 16.71 | 18.41% | ― | 20.55% | ― | |
70 Outperform | $876.08M | 8.84 | 9.20% | ― | -4.24% | -20.11% | |
65 Neutral | $1.89B | 3.14 | 34.27% | ― | -8.46% | -157.54% | |
60 Neutral | $48.67B | 4.58 | -11.27% | 4.14% | 2.83% | -41.78% | |
60 Neutral | $2.16B | 134.41 | 2.16% | ― | 6.17% | 351.09% | |
58 Neutral | $2.18B | 22.99 | -18.09% | ― | 9.80% | 563.10% |
* Communication Services Sector Average
ZD
Ziff Davis
55.50
19.62
54.68%
STGW
Stagwell
8.71
3.24
59.23%
CMPR
Cimpress
90.13
30.32
50.69%
CRTO
Criteo SA
17.85
-6.26
-25.96%
MNTN
MNTN, Inc Class A
12.82
-9.68
-43.02%
Ziff Davis Corporate Events
Business Operations and StrategyStock BuybackFinancial DisclosuresM&A Transactions
Ziff Davis Reports Q2 2026 Results After Connectivity Sale
Neutral
Aug 7, 2026
Ziff Davis, Inc., the New York-based digital media and internet company with brands in technology, shopping, gaming, entertainment, health, cybersecurity, and martech, reported unaudited financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, on Au...
Business Operations and StrategyM&A TransactionsRegulatory Filings and Compliance
Ziff Davis Completes Sale of Connectivity Division to Accenture
Positive
Jun 17, 2026
On March 2, 2026, Ziff Davis agreed to sell its Connectivity division to Accenture Inc. for $1.2 billion in cash, marking a major divestiture of its communications-focused business. On June 15, 2026, the company secured lender consent under its ex...
Glossary
BuyA stock rated as a "Buy" is expected to perform better than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock is likely to deliver higher returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
HoldA stock rated as a "Hold" is expected to perform in line with the overall market or a specific benchmark. This rating indicates that the stock is neither particularly compelling nor unfavorable for investment. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
SellA stock rated as a "Sell" is expected to perform worse than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock may deliver lower returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Disclaimer
This AI Analyst Stock Report is automatically generated by our AI systems using advanced algorithms and publicly available financial, technical, and market data. While the information provided aims to be accurate and insightful, it is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Any content created by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) system may contain inaccuracies and/or contain errors. Investing in stocks carries inherent risks, and past performance is not indicative of future results. This report does not account for your personal financial circumstances, objectives, or risk tolerance. Always conduct your own research or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The analysis and recommendations provided are based on historical and current data and may not fully reflect future market conditions or unexpected developments. Neither the creators of this report nor its affiliated entities guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented. Use this report at your own discretion and risk.