National Research (NRC) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $282.99M
• Dividend Yield: 2.52%
• Average Volume (3M): 102.91K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 24.1
• Beta (1Y): 0.82
• Revenue Growth: -3.50%
• EPS Growth: -37.46%
• Country: US
• Employees: 368
• Sector: Healthcare
• Sector Strength: 45
• Industry: Medical - Healthcare Information Services
• EPS (TTM): 0.08
• Shares Outstanding: 22,657,421
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 100,181
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 102,911
• PEG Ratio: -0.72
• Price to Book (P/B): 30.03
• Price to Sales (P/S): 3.06
• P/FCF Ratio: 26.69
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: 1.30
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: 2.68
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: 4.75
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: 12.17
• 1Y Price Target: N/A
• Price Target Upside: N/A
• Rating Consensus: N/A
• Number of Analyst Covering: 0
• EPS Forecast (FY): N/A
• Revenue Forecast (FY): N/A

• Rating: 46 Neutral
• Price Target: $12.00 ▼(-38.43% Downside)
• Action: Reiterated Date: 02/05/26
• Date: Action: Reiterated 02/05/26

The score is held back primarily by deteriorating financial performance (shrinking revenue, lower net margins) and elevated leverage, which increases risk. Technicals also remain bearish with the price below key moving averages and negative MACD, despite oversold signals. The dividend helps, but a high P/E limits valuation support.

Positive Factors

Gross Margin Strength

A ~56% gross margin is a durable structural advantage in healthcare information services: it supports pricing power and absorbs revenue volatility, enabling the company to sustain unit economics, fund R&D or sales investments, and preserve operating leverage over the medium term.

Positive Free Cash Flow

Consistent positive operating and free cash flow provide financial flexibility: cash generation funds operations, dividends and capex without immediate reliance on new equity, helping service obligations and invest in growth even while revenue trends are weak.

Operating Profitability

Maintained operating profitability indicates the core business can cover fixed costs and generate earnings from operations. That structural profitability supports ongoing cash conversion and makes strategic responses (cost cuts, reinvestment) more feasible through the medium term.

Negative Factors

Revenue Decline

Sustained revenue contraction undermines scale advantages and long-term growth prospects. Continued top-line decline pressures margins, limits market share expansion, and reduces the base for future investment, making long-term recovery harder without strategic change.

Net Margin Compression

A rapid fall in net margin signals structural pressure on profitability—likely from pricing, mix, or rising costs. Lower net margins materially reduce retained earnings and free cash flow, increasing vulnerability to economic swings and limiting capacity to deleverage or reinvest.

Elevated Leverage

Sharp increase in leverage markedly reduces financial flexibility and raises refinancing and interest-rate risk. With shrinking revenue and compressed margins, high debt amplifies earnings volatility and constrains the company’s ability to fund strategic initiatives or weather downturns.

National Research Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

National Research Corporation provides analytics and insights that facilitate measurement and enhancement of the patient and employee experience in the United States and Canada. Its portfolio of subscription-based solutions provides actionable information and analysis to healthcare organizations across a range of mission-critical, constituent-related elements, including patient experience, service recovery, care transitions, health risk assessments, employee engagement, reputation management, and brand loyalty. The company also offers market insights solutions that allow the tracking of awareness, perception, and consistency of healthcare brands; assessment of competitive differentiators; and enhanced segmentation tools to evaluate needs, wants, and behaviors of communities through real-time competitive assessments and enhanced segmentation tools. In addition, it provides experience solutions, such as patient and resident experience, workforce engagement, health risk assessments, transitions, and improvement tools. Further, the company offers health risk assessment solutions that enable clients to segment populations and manage care for those who are most at risk, engage individuals, enhance preventative care, and manage wellness programs; and transitions solutions, which enable organizations to identify and manage high-risk patients to reduce readmissions, enhance patient satisfaction and support safe care transitions. Additionally, it provides transparency solutions that allow healthcare organizations to share picture of their organization and ensure content informs in consumer decision-making; and governance solutions for not-for-profit hospital and health system boards of directors, executives, and physician leadership. The company serves integrated health systems, post-acute providers, and payer organizations. National Research Corporation was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska.

How the Company Makes Money

National Research Corporation generates revenue primarily through subscription-based services and consulting engagements. The company offers various subscription plans for access to its proprietary data and analytics platforms, which provide clients with insights into patient and employee experiences. Key revenue streams include fees from survey administration, data analysis, and reporting services. NRC also earns revenue from custom research projects and consulting services that help healthcare organizations implement strategies based on the data provided. Partnerships with healthcare providers, hospitals, and other organizations enhance its market reach and bolster its credibility, contributing significantly to its earnings.

National Research Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Mixed fundamentals: solid gross margin and positive free cash flow, but revenue has been shrinking and net margin has fallen materially versus prior years. Balance-sheet risk is elevated with sharply higher leverage (debt-to-equity ~5.6x), reducing financial flexibility.

Income Statement

Profitability remains solid in absolute terms, with TTM (Trailing-Twelve-Months) gross margin around 56% and operating profitability still positive. However, results have weakened materially versus prior years: revenue has been shrinking for several periods (TTM revenue down sharply), and net margin in TTM fell to ~8% from ~17% in 2024 and ~21% in 2022–2023. The trajectory shows compression across operating and net profitability, suggesting either pricing pressure, mix shift, or cost headwinds.

Balance Sheet

Leverage has risen significantly. Total debt increased while equity fell, pushing debt-to-equity to ~5.6x in TTM (Trailing-Twelve-Months) versus ~2.1x in 2024 and below 1.0x in 2022–2023. This higher leverage reduces financial flexibility and increases sensitivity to earnings volatility. While returns on equity are high, they are inflated by the much smaller equity base, which also raises balance-sheet risk.

Cash Flow

Cash generation is positive, with TTM (Trailing-Twelve-Months) operating cash flow (~$26.5M) and free cash flow (~$15.7M) both positive, and TTM free cash flow growth strong. That said, cash conversion is weaker than earlier years: operating cash flow covers only ~72% of net income in TTM (down from ~97% in 2024 and >100% in 2020–2023), and free cash flow is ~60% of net income, indicating less efficient conversion of profits into cash.

Breakdown	Dec 2025	Dec 2024	Dec 2023	Dec 2022	Dec 2021
Income Statement
Total Revenue	137.39M	143.06M	148.58M	151.57M	147.95M
Gross Profit	77.39M	86.13M	92.56M	94.52M	95.60M
EBITDA	30.23M	41.31M	45.98M	49.30M	56.66M
Net Income	11.60M	24.78M	30.97M	31.80M	37.47M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets	134.88M	132.54M	122.44M	130.46M	157.54M
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments	4.14M	4.23M	6.65M	25.03M	54.36M
Total Debt	79.03M	64.41M	38.96M	23.39M	28.68M
Total Liabilities	120.89M	101.25M	73.48M	58.43M	72.20M
Stockholders Equity	13.99M	31.28M	48.95M	72.03M	85.34M
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow	15.74M	19.18M	22.33M	26.43M	40.83M
Operating Cash Flow	26.45M	34.63M	38.11M	36.27M	46.34M
Investing Cash Flow	-10.71M	-20.28M	-15.78M	-9.84M	-8.51M
Financing Cash Flow	-15.84M	-16.76M	-40.71M	-55.58M	-18.16M

National Research Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Negative
• Last Price: 19.49
• 50DMA: Negative
• 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 NRC, the sentiment is Negative. The current price of 19.49 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 15.19, above the 50-day MA of 17.87, and above the 200-day MA of 15.33, indicating a bearish trend. The MACD of -1.77 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 35.63 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 31.87 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Negative sentiment for NRC.

National Research Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
SPOK	73 Outperform	$284.46M	17.26	10.88%	9.67%	1.47%	11.33%
OPRX	61 Neutral	$142.41M	-2,996.15	0.03%	―	24.19%	―
TBRG	57 Neutral	$294.48M	108.05	1.57%	―	3.75%	―
SLP	54 Neutral	$233.50M	-3.70	-41.21%	―	13.09%	-745.95%
Sector *	51 Neutral	$7.86B	-0.30	-43.30%	2.27%	22.53%	-2.21%
HCAT	50 Neutral	$122.36M	-1.13	-31.33%	―	4.64%	-17.17%
NRC	46 Neutral	$282.99M	24.11	66.01%	2.52%	-3.50%	-37.46%