Stocks · Communication Services · Advertising Agencies
Ziff Davis, Inc. ZD
$55.20 +1.43% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $2.03B
Strong trendInexpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Nov 5, 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
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $17.67, up 1078.0% year over year.
- The diluted share count fell 16.7% in a year, mainly through buybacks.
- The shares trade at 3.1× trailing earnings, lower than 95% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
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)Bottom 11%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 2%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 31%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 37%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 11%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 43%
- Gross marginTop 18%
- Operating marginTop 50%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 12%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 6%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 3%
- Interest coverBottom 49%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 2%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 17%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 16%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 24%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 25%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 18%
- 6-month returnTop 21%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 15%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 10%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 32%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 50%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 34%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 40%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 18%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 22%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 42%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 45%
- 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) | -1.8% | -8.5% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -31.6% | 1078.0% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 82.4% | 77.1% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 8.1% | 6.1% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 16.1% | 23.9% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | -8.5% | -1.8% | ↓ | Bottom 11% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 1078.0% | -31.6% | ↑ | Top 2% |
| Gross margin | 77.1% | 82.4% | ↓ | Top 18% |
| Operating margin | 6.1% | 8.1% | ↓ | Top 50% |
| Net margin | 48.6% | 4.6% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 23.9% | 16.1% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 2.5% | — | Bottom 43% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 1.4% | — | Bottom 37% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 0.70×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- 4.9%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 3.6%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -11.5 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- -3.38×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 1.6×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 13.36%
- Shareholder yield
- 13.36%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -16.7%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -8.1%
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 7, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 2
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 6 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +5.9%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +1.2%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 7 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $61.50
- Target vs current price
- +11.4%
- Analysts with a rating
- 13
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 62%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2026 | +27.6% | -3.4% | +4.2% | +7.5% | — |
| May 7, 2026 | +1.4% | -0.8% | -7.2% | +9.8% | +23.6% |
| Feb 23, 2026 | -5.5% | -5.9% | -13.7% | +34.6% | +31.1% |
| Nov 6, 2025 | +0.0% | -2.2% | -4.0% | +6.5% | +4.3% |
| Aug 6, 2025 | +1.6% | +4.0% | +16.3% | +24.9% | +13.1% |
| May 8, 2025 | +3.6% | +2.4% | +5.8% | +3.7% | -3.6% |
| Feb 24, 2025 | +0.4% | +0.2% | -14.3% | -12.7% | -31.5% |
| Nov 8, 2024 | +8.6% | +15.6% | +17.0% | +19.2% | +7.8% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2026 | $1.03 | $0.81 | +27.6% | $286.7M |
| May 7, 2026 | $0.73 | $0.72 | +1.4% | $267.6M |
| Feb 23, 2026 | $2.56 | $2.71 | -5.5% | $406.7M |
| Nov 6, 2025 | $1.76 | $1.76 | +0.0% | $363.7M |
| Aug 6, 2025 | $1.24 | $1.22 | +1.6% | $352.2M |
| May 8, 2025 | $1.14 | $1.10 | +3.6% | $328.6M |
| Feb 24, 2025 | $2.58 | $2.57 | +0.4% | $412.8M |
| Nov 8, 2024 | $1.64 | $1.51 | +8.6% | $353.6M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 3.1× | 25.6× | 5th | Top 2% |
| P/E (forward) | 10.8× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 5.9× | — | — | Top 16% |
| EV / Sales | 0.98× | — | — | Top 24% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 15.58% | — | — | Top 17% |
| Earnings yield | 32.01% | — | — | Top 2% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 3.0× – 112.9× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +42.2%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +1078.0%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -87.9%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
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
- 149
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +3.3%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +5.4%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -0.4%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +22.0%
- RSI (14)
- 45.4
- Relative volume
- 0.68×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 30.1%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 18th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.99
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.25
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -6.8%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -62.6%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 9, 2021 | Feb 24, 2026 | -80.1% | 1075 days | Not yet recovered |
| Jul 28, 2021 | Aug 18, 2021 | -12.2% | 15 days | 47 days (Oct 25, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $2.03B
- P/E (TTM)
- 3.1
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $17.67
- Revenue (TTM)
- $1.32B
- 52-week range
- $22.45 – $60.48
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.42B | $1.39B | $1.36B | $1.40B | $1.45B |
| Gross profit | $1.23B | $1.21B | $1.18B | $1.20B | $1.02B |
| Operating income | $167.3M | $198.9M | $132.6M | $113.6M | $203.9M |
| Net income | $496.7M | $63.8M | $41.5M | $63.0M | $47.4M |
| EPS (diluted) | $10.33 | $1.36 | $0.89 | $1.42 | $1.15 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $353.6M | $412.8M | $328.6M | $352.2M | $363.7M | $406.7M | $267.6M | $286.7M |
| Net income | -$48.6M | $64.1M | $24.2M | $26.3M | -$3.6M | $370,000 | $22.3M | $624.5M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$1.11 | $1.43 | $0.56 | $0.62 | -$0.09 | $0.01 | $0.59 | $17.16 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $516.5M | $336.4M | $320.0M | $390.3M | $407.1M |
| Capital expenditure | -$113.7M | -$106.2M | -$108.7M | -$106.6M | -$119.2M |
| Free cash flow | $402.8M | $230.3M | $211.2M | $283.7M | $287.9M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$66.2M | -$68.7M | -$108.5M | -$185.2M | -$167.3M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $1.61B
- Total assets
- $4.00B
- Total liabilities
- $1.76B
- Total debt
- $867.6M
- Net debt
- -$738.5M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $2.24B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 7, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| May 17, 2019 | $0.40 | Jun 4, 2019 |
| Feb 22, 2019 | $0.39 | Mar 12, 2019 |
| Nov 16, 2018 | $0.38 | Dec 5, 2018 |
| Aug 17, 2018 | $0.37 | Sep 4, 2018 |
| May 17, 2018 | $0.36 | Jun 1, 2018 |
| Feb 21, 2018 | $0.35 | Mar 9, 2018 |
| Nov 16, 2017 | $0.34 | Dec 5, 2017 |
| Aug 10, 2017 | $0.33 | Sep 1, 2017 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 5,541,576
- Days to cover
- 8.96
- Change vs previous report
- +4.3%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Oct 8, 2021
- 23-for-20
- May 25, 2006
- 2-for-1
- Sep 2, 2003
- 2-for-1
- Feb 8, 2001
- 1-for-4