Stocks · Industrials · Specialty Business Services
Acacia Research Corporation ACTG
$4.34 -0.46% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $419.2M
Strong growthLow risk
Next earnings report: Nov 4, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Operating margin narrowed to -7.0% from -0.1% a year earlier.
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 4 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +100.0%).
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $278.4M, up 12.3% from a year earlier, accelerating from -3.3% a quarter earlier.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Industrials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 35%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 20%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 2%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 6%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 21%
- Gross marginTop 4%
- Operating marginBottom 15%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 36%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 3%
- Interest coverBottom 17%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 23%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 44%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 1%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 13%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 22%
- 6-month returnBottom 26%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 30%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 33%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 40%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 4%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 28%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 26%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 8%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 49%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 12%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 3%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | -3.3% | 12.3% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 61.4% | 61.2% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | -0.1% | -7.0% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 12.5% | 5.7% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 12.3% | -3.3% | ↑ | Top 35% |
| Gross margin | 61.2% | 61.4% | ↓ | Top 4% |
| Operating margin | -7.0% | -0.1% | ↓ | Bottom 15% |
| Net margin | -5.4% | -2.6% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 5.7% | 12.5% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | -2.4% | — | Bottom 21% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 68.9% | — | Top 2% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -5.7%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 2.2%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +292.0 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- -3.88×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- -2.4×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.00%
- Shareholder yield
- 0.00%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +1.2%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +1.4%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 4
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 5 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +100.0%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +0.6%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 3 of 8
Analysts
- Analysts with a rating
- 7
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 71%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 2026 | +244.4% | -1.5% | +0.2% | -2.0% | — |
| May 7, 2026 | +22.2% | -7.1% | -6.9% | -7.3% | -8.7% |
| Mar 11, 2026 | +121.4% | +20.5% | +21.4% | +20.5% | +13.3% |
| Nov 5, 2025 | +92.9% | +10.4% | +13.1% | +20.7% | +24.1% |
| Aug 6, 2025 | -20.0% | -9.2% | -7.0% | -9.7% | -7.5% |
| May 8, 2025 | +780.0% | +15.3% | +21.5% | +22.1% | +16.0% |
| Mar 13, 2025 | +0.0% | -14.5% | -17.5% | -29.1% | -9.2% |
| Nov 12, 2024 | -1400.0% | -8.9% | -4.7% | -6.1% | -10.1% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 2026 | $0.13 | -$0.09 | +244.4% | $114.6M |
| May 7, 2026 | -$0.07 | -$0.09 | +22.2% | $54.2M |
| Mar 11, 2026 | $0.03 | -$0.14 | +121.4% | $50.1M |
| Nov 5, 2025 | -$0.01 | -$0.14 | +92.9% | $59.4M |
| Aug 6, 2025 | -$0.06 | -$0.05 | -20.0% | $51.2M |
| May 8, 2025 | $0.34 | -$0.05 | +780.0% | $124.4M |
| Mar 13, 2025 | -$0.07 | -$0.07 | +0.0% | $48.8M |
| Nov 12, 2024 | -$0.13 | $0.01 | -1400.0% | $23.3M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EV / EBITDA | 4.0× | — | — | Top 1% |
| EV / Sales | 0.77× | — | — | Top 13% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 3.80% | — | — | Top 44% |
| Earnings yield | -6.07% | — | — | Bottom 23% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 6.1× – 75.4× since Mar 31, 2022. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -0.9%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +1.6%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -4.0%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -2.9%
- RSI (14)
- 41.0
- Relative volume
- 0.66×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 23.5%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 2th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.58
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.26
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -15.9%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -50.0%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 19, 2021 | Apr 10, 2025 | -66.6% | 1040 days | Not yet recovered |
| Oct 1, 2020 | Oct 30, 2020 | -10.5% | 21 days | 4 days (Nov 5, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $419.2M
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- -$0.26
- Revenue (TTM)
- $278.4M
- 52-week range
- $3.18 – $5.27
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $88.0M | $59.2M | $125.1M | $122.3M | $285.2M |
| Gross profit | $51.9M | $21.8M | $72.3M | $29.7M | $235.2M |
| Operating income | $14.5M | -$40.1M | $20.9M | -$32.9M | $6.4M |
| Net income | $149.2M | -$125.1M | $67.1M | -$36.1M | $21.7M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.91 | -$1.21 | $0.58 | -$0.36 | $0.22 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $23.3M | $48.8M | $124.4M | $51.2M | $59.4M | $50.1M | $54.2M | $114.6M |
| Net income | -$14.0M | -$13.4M | $24.3M | -$3.3M | -$2.7M | $3.4M | -$15.7M | $47,000 |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.14 | -$0.14 | $0.25 | -$0.03 | -$0.03 | $0.04 | -$0.16 | -$0.11 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $13.3M | -$37.3M | -$22.5M | $50.1M | $75.2M |
| Capital expenditure | -$21.1M | -$5.7M | -$6.2M | -$162.7M | -$16.7M |
| Free cash flow | -$7.8M | -$43.1M | -$28.7M | -$112.5M | $58.5M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$4.0M | -$51.0M | $79.1M | -$20.3M | $30,000 |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $332.6M
- Total assets
- $791.5M
- Total liabilities
- $234.5M
- Total debt
- $102.0M
- Net debt
- -$205.6M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $526.8M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 4, 2015 | $0.13 | Nov 30, 2015 |
| Aug 3, 2015 | $0.13 | Aug 31, 2015 |
| Apr 30, 2015 | $0.13 | May 29, 2015 |
| Feb 26, 2015 | $0.13 | Mar 30, 2015 |
| Oct 30, 2014 | $0.13 | Nov 28, 2014 |
| Jul 31, 2014 | $0.13 | Aug 31, 2014 |
| Apr 29, 2014 | $0.13 | May 30, 2014 |
| Feb 27, 2014 | $0.13 | Mar 31, 2014 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 2,047,000
- Days to cover
- 11.79
- Change vs previous report
- +0.9%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Nov 19, 2001
- 11-for-10
- Jun 15, 1998
- 2-for-1