Stocks · Communication Services · Internet Content & Information
MediaAlpha, Inc. MAX
$9.62 -0.62% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $509.6M
Inexpensive vs sector
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 widened to 11.5% from 1.3% a year earlier.
- The diluted share count rose 12.4% in a year.
- Net debt is 156.6× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Communication Services 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 26%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 32%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 10%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 27%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 1%
- Gross marginBottom 8%
- Operating marginTop 36%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 9%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 3%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 1%
- Interest coverTop 11%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 4%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 29%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 24%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 6%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 40%
- 6-month returnTop 48%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 43%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 44%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 45%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 18%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 47%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 48%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 36%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 49%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 33%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 44%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 1%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 15.7% | 13.8% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 15.6% | 14.7% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 1.3% | 11.5% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 6.6% | 4.6% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 13.8% | 15.7% | ↓ | Top 26% |
| Gross margin | 14.7% | 15.6% | ↓ | Bottom 8% |
| Operating margin | 11.5% | 1.3% | ↑ | Top 36% |
| Net margin | 7.9% | -0.6% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 4.6% | 6.6% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | -596.3% | — | Bottom 1% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 34.4% | — | Top 10% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 0.59×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- 11.1%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 2.5%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +23.9 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 156.57×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 13.2×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 1.02%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 10.84%
- Shareholder yield
- 11.86%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +12.4%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +11.8%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 29, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 1
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 5 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +72.9%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +0.2%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 4 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $14.33
- Target vs current price
- +49.0%
- Analysts with a rating
- 9
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 56%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 29, 2026 | +183.7% | +0.1% | -10.2% | -6.8% | — |
| Apr 29, 2026 | -16.0% | -0.1% | -5.6% | -13.7% | +31.2% |
| Feb 23, 2026 | +100.0% | -0.9% | +26.8% | +22.3% | +5.7% |
| Oct 29, 2025 | +23.8% | -1.4% | +18.4% | +10.7% | -3.0% |
| Aug 6, 2025 | +6.3% | +2.1% | -3.1% | +7.2% | +9.7% |
| Apr 30, 2025 | -11.8% | -4.0% | +13.5% | +18.7% | +24.3% |
| Feb 24, 2025 | -66.7% | +0.0% | -18.6% | -14.8% | -9.5% |
| Oct 30, 2024 | +30.8% | +5.8% | -40.7% | -35.0% | -42.5% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 29, 2026 | $0.65 | $0.23 | +183.7% | $316.9M |
| Apr 29, 2026 | $0.21 | $0.25 | -16.0% | $310.0M |
| Feb 23, 2026 | $0.50 | $0.25 | +100.0% | $291.2M |
| Oct 29, 2025 | $0.26 | $0.21 | +23.8% | $306.5M |
| Aug 6, 2025 | $0.17 | $0.16 | +6.3% | $251.6M |
| Apr 30, 2025 | $0.15 | $0.17 | -11.8% | $264.3M |
| Feb 24, 2025 | $0.08 | $0.24 | -66.7% | $300.6M |
| Oct 30, 2024 | $0.17 | $0.13 | +30.8% | $259.1M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 5.9× | — | — | Top 4% |
| P/E (forward) | 6.9× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 678.2× | — | — | Bottom 24% |
| EV / Sales | 0.54× | — | — | Top 6% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 11.04% | — | — | Top 29% |
| Earnings yield | 16.84% | — | — | Top 4% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 7.0× – 97.8× since Jun 30, 2021. 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)
- -8.7%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -2.0%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -19.6%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -10.3%
- RSI (14)
- 31.4
- Relative volume
- 1.09×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 45.8%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 6th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.00
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.26
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -32.6%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -67.7%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 15, 2021 | May 16, 2023 | -91.6% | 547 days | Not yet recovered |
| Nov 9, 2020 | Dec 16, 2020 | -30.9% | 26 days | 26 days (Jan 26, 2021) |
| Feb 19, 2021 | Feb 25, 2021 | -17.0% | 4 days | 10 days (Mar 11, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $509.6M
- P/E (TTM)
- 5.9
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $1.62
- Revenue (TTM)
- $1.22B
- 52-week range
- $7.09 – $14.70
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $645.3M | $459.1M | $388.1M | $864.7M | $1.11B |
| Gross profit | $101.5M | $70.1M | $66.7M | $143.6M | $164.6M |
| Operating income | $2.1M | -$35.4M | -$39.9M | $42.7M | $78.2M |
| Net income | -$5.3M | -$57.7M | -$40.4M | $16.6M | $25.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.19 | -$1.37 | -$0.89 | $0.31 | $0.39 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $259.1M | $300.6M | $264.3M | $251.6M | $306.5M | $291.2M | $310.0M | $316.9M |
| Net income | $9.5M | $4.6M | -$1.9M | -$18.7M | $14.9M | $31.4M | $11.5M | $39.4M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.17 | $0.08 | -$0.04 | -$0.33 | $0.26 | $0.50 | $0.21 | $0.65 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $28.6M | $28.3M | $20.2M | $45.9M | $65.6M |
| Capital expenditure | -$650,000 | -$98,000 | -$73,000 | -$254,000 | -$340,000 |
| Free cash flow | $28.0M | $28.2M | $20.2M | $45.6M | $65.3M |
| Dividends paid | -$338,000 | -$2.1M | -$2.9M | -$1.2M | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | $0 | -$5.0M | $0 | -$6.3M | -$47.3M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $23.7M
- Total assets
- $359.8M
- Total liabilities
- $364.8M
- Total debt
- $176.7M
- Net debt
- $153.0M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $28.4M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 29, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 8, 2004 | $5.70 | — |
| Jul 11, 1997 | $0.03 | Aug 1, 1997 |
| Apr 12, 1997 | $0.02 | May 1, 1997 |
| Jan 14, 1997 | $0.02 | Feb 3, 1997 |
| Oct 16, 1996 | $0.02 | Nov 1, 1996 |
| Jul 17, 1996 | $0.02 | Aug 1, 1996 |
| Apr 13, 1996 | $0.02 | May 1, 1996 |
| Jan 12, 1996 | $0.01 | Feb 1, 1996 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 3,047,075
- Days to cover
- 4.94
- Change vs previous report
- -3.4%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.