Fluent (FLNT) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $49.61M
• Dividend Yield: N/A
• Average Volume (3M): 17.15K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): ―
• Beta (1Y): 1.02
• Revenue Growth: -15.07%
• EPS Growth: 33.40%
• Country: US
• Employees: 208
• Sector: Communication Services
• Sector Strength: 84
• Industry: Advertising Agencies
• EPS (TTM): -0.31
• Shares Outstanding: 20,669,188
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 29,961
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 17,150
• PEG Ratio: -0.51
• Price to Book (P/B): 2.31
• Price to Sales (P/S): 0.00
• P/FCF Ratio: -3.05
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: 1.45
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: 0.07
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: 1.34
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: -0.72
• 1Y Price Target: $3.00
• Price Target Upside: 25.00% Upside
• Rating Consensus: Hold
• Number of Analyst Covering: 2

Fluent's overall stock score reflects significant financial challenges, with declining revenues and high leverage posing risks. While the earnings call highlighted potential growth areas, these are outweighed by persistent losses and valuation issues. Mixed technical indicators provide little immediate optimism.

Positive Factors

Growth Potential

Commerce Media Solutions revenue was up nearly 100% to $12.9 million, indicating strong growth potential.

Strategic Partnerships

Fluent announced a partnership with eCommerce platform Rebuy to bring post-purchase ads to Rebuy's thousands of active brand partners, representing a complementary sales vector to the traditional enterprise channel.

Negative Factors

Regulatory Challenges

The impact to revenue as it seeks to mitigate regulatory headwinds has been a challenge, and efforts to diversify to other revenue categories have taken time to develop.

Revenue Decline

Fluent’s first quarter revenues fell to $55.7 million, 16% below a year ago, with traffic costs continuing to be above the company’s target range, limiting monetization opportunities.

Fluent Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

Fluent, Inc. provides data-driven digital marketing services primarily in the United States. The company operates through Fluent and All Other segments. It offers customer acquisition services by operating digital marketing campaigns, through which the company connects its advertiser clients with consumers. The company also delivers data and performance-based marketing executions to approximately 500 consumer brands, direct marketers, and agencies across a range of industries, including financial products and services, media and entertainment, health and wellness, retail and consumer, and staffing and recruitment. Fluent, Inc. is headquartered in New York, New York.

How the Company Makes Money

Fluent makes money primarily through its performance marketing solutions, where it generates revenue by delivering customer leads, sales, or other desired actions to its clients. The company's key revenue streams include cost-per-action (CPA) and cost-per-lead (CPL) models, where clients pay Fluent based on the performance of delivered marketing campaigns. Additionally, Fluent collaborates with strategic partners to enhance its data capabilities and reach, further contributing to its revenue. The company's ability to analyze consumer data and optimize marketing strategies is crucial to maintaining its competitive edge and driving earnings.

Fluent Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Fluent's financial position is challenged with declining revenues, persistent losses, and negative cash flow. High leverage and limited equity pose significant financial risks, despite some relief from gross profit margins.

Income Statement

The income statement shows declining revenue with a negative revenue growth rate of -4.23% TTM. Gross profit margin stands at 22% TTM, which indicates some profitability at the gross level, but the company struggles with operational efficiency as reflected by negative EBIT and EBITDA margins of -11% and -10% respectively. The net profit margin is -12.82% TTM, highlighting consistent losses.

Balance Sheet

The balance sheet indicates a moderate level of leverage with a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22 TTM. The equity ratio is relatively low at 28%, suggesting limited financial stability. Return on equity is negative at -141.90% TTM, driven by consistent net losses.

Cash Flow

The cash flow statement reveals difficulties in generating positive cash flows, with a negative free cash flow and operating cash flow. The operating cash flow to net income ratio is 0.38 TTM, suggesting inefficiencies in converting income to cash. Free cash flow growth rate remains negative at -19.83% TTM.

Breakdown
TTM	Dec 2024	Dec 2023	Dec 2022	Dec 2021	Dec 2020
Income Statement		Total Revenue
243.85M	254.62M	298.40M	361.13M	329.25M	310.72M
	Gross Profit
53.60M	60.80M	78.52M	93.65M	85.53M	95.58M
	EBIT
-26.78M	-23.66M	-60.13M	-8.32M	-4.31M	8.38M
	EBITDA
-24.44M	-16.41M	-49.25M	-106.38M	5.54M	23.68M
	Net Income Common Stockholders
-31.27M	-29.28M	-63.22M	-123.33M	-10.06M	2.21M
Balance Sheet		Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments
4.83M	9.44M	15.80M	25.55M	34.47M	21.09M
	Total Assets
77.49M	93.62M	111.87M	183.97M	318.18M	310.22M
	Total Debt
26.91M	37.42M	34.48M	46.73M	53.25M	50.16M
	Net Debt
22.08M	27.98M	18.68M	21.18M	18.78M	29.07M
	Total Liabilities
55.46M	68.66M	77.46M	90.01M	104.77M	93.33M
	Stockholders Equity
22.04M	24.95M	34.40M	93.95M	213.41M	216.88M
Cash Flow		Free Cash Flow
-16.27M	-20.32M	2.27M	-2.44M	9.43M	17.45M
	Operating Cash Flow
-11.86M	-14.10M	8.14M	1.96M	12.42M	20.30M
	Investing Cash Flow
-5.99M	-6.21M	-7.11M	-5.44M	-2.99M	-4.27M
	Financing Cash Flow
12.27M	15.21M	-10.77M	-5.45M	2.47M	-13.62M

Fluent Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Neutral
• Last Price: 2.40
• 50DMA: Positive
• 100DMA: Negative
• 200DMA: Negative
• MACD: Positive
• RSI: Neutral
• STOCH: Neutral

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For FLNT, the sentiment is Neutral. The current price of 2.4 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 2.41, above the 50-day MA of 2.31, and below the 200-day MA of 2.74, indicating a neutral trend. The MACD of 0.01 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 51.23 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 42.48 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Neutral sentiment for FLNT.

Fluent Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
Sector *	60 Neutral	$14.07B	6.89	-3.35%	3.68%	2.42%	-36.25%
SWAG	56 Neutral	$23.63M	―	-12.15%	―	17.04%	-2188.42%
MCHX	55 Neutral	$71.12M	―	-16.55%	―	-2.67%	21.65%
INUV	52 Neutral	$66.49M	―	-34.39%	―	18.20%	50.14%
CDLX	45 Neutral	$108.15M	―	-135.48%	―	-12.77%	19.71%
HHS	44 Neutral	$33.29M	―	-147.49%	―	-4.46%	-3053.30%
FLNT	41 Neutral	$49.61M	―	-123.16%	―	-15.07%	33.40%

Fluent Corporate Events

Fluent Expands Board, Appoints James P. Geygan

On January 17, 2025, Fluent, Inc. expanded its Board of Directors from six to seven members by appointing James P. Geygan as an independent director. Mr. Geygan brings experience from his roles at Global Value Investment Corporation, where he has been Interim CEO and President since May 2024. His appointment is expected to enhance Fluent’s corporate governance and capital markets expertise. As a director, Geygan will receive quarterly compensation and restricted stock units, with additional eligibility for further grants. Fluent has also entered an indemnification agreement with him, ensuring protection under Delaware law.