Lendingtree (TREE) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $515.93M
• Dividend Yield: N/A
• Average Volume (3M): 431.71K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 37.5
• Beta (1Y): 1.61
• Revenue Growth: 37.01%
• EPS Growth: N/A
• Country: US
• Employees: 927
• Sector: Financial
• Sector Strength: 70
• Industry: Financial - Conglomerates
• EPS (TTM): 10.27
• Shares Outstanding: 13,670,696
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 490,203
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 431,707
• PEG Ratio: -0.01
• Price to Book (P/B): 2.51
• Price to Sales (P/S): 0.65
• P/FCF Ratio: 11.88
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: 1.91
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: 0.88
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: 0.92
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: 7.00
• 1Y Price Target: $68.67
• Price Target Upside: 81.96% Upside
• Rating Consensus: Strong Buy
• Number of Analyst Covering: 3
• EPS Forecast (FY): 2.96
• Revenue Forecast (FY): $1.16B

• Rating: 57 Neutral
• Price Target: $39.00 ▲(3.34% Upside)
• Action: Reiterated Date: 03/03/26
• Date: Action: Reiterated 03/03/26

The score is anchored by improving fundamentals and a positive operating narrative (profitability turnaround, positive/free-cash-flow growth, and strong insurance/AI-driven momentum), but is held back by balance-sheet leverage risk and a clearly bearish technical setup (price below all key moving averages with negative MACD). Valuation is also a restraint given the high P/E and no dividend support.

Positive Factors

Asset-light marketplace model

Operating as an asset-light marketplace reduces credit and interest-rate exposure and supports scalable unit economics. Durable referral and performance-fee streams let LendingTree expand product categories with limited capital intensity, preserving return potential across cycles.

Diversified segment leadership

Broad-based growth across Consumer, Home and Insurance reduces single-market cyclicality. Insurance regained share with higher carrier spend, while home-equity and small-business gains show the company can win in multiple product markets, strengthening long-term revenue resilience.

Profitability and cash generation recovery

A sustained move to positive net margin and meaningful free cash flow improves internal funding for growth and debt reduction. If maintained, higher cash conversion increases strategic optionality for buybacks, M&A or further deleveraging over the medium term.

Negative Factors

Elevated historical leverage

Although leverage has materially improved, a history of high debt and relatively thin equity leaves the firm vulnerable if revenue or margins slip. Elevated leverage can limit investment flexibility and amplify downside in an earnings downturn, constraining durable resilience.

Earnings and cash-flow volatility

Prior losses and swings in cash flow signal execution and demand sensitivity across cycles. This variability weakens predictability of free cash flow and ROE, complicating capital allocation and increasing the chance that improved margins may prove cyclical rather than structural.

Search/AI traffic disruption risk

Core lead-generation depends on stable organic and paid traffic; disruption from AI-driven search can reduce visitor volumes or raise acquisition costs. Structural shifts in search mechanics require sustained investment and product adaptation, stressing long-term marketing economics.

Lendingtree Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

LendingTree, Inc., through its subsidiary, LT Intermediate Company, LLC, operates online consumer platform in the United States. It operates through three segments: Home, Consumer, and Insurance. The Home segment offers purchase mortgage, refinance mortgage, reverse mortgage, and home equity loans; lines of credit; and real estate brokerage services. The Consumer segment provides credit cards; personal, small business, student, and auto loans; deposit accounts; and other credit products, such as credit repair and debt settlement services. The Insurance segment includes information, tools, and access to insurance quote products, including home and automobile, through which consumers are matched with insurance lead aggregators to obtain insurance offers. LendingTree, Inc. also operates Student Loan Hero, a personal finance website dedicated to helping student loan borrowers manage their student debt; QuoteWizard.com, a marketplace for insurance comparison; ValuePenguin, a personal finance website that offers consumers objective analysis on various financial topics from insurance to credit cards; and Stash, a consumer investing and banking platform that offers a suite of personal investment accounts, traditional and Roth IRAs, custodial investment accounts, and banking services, including checking accounts and debit cards with a Stock-Back rewards program. The company was formerly known as Tree.com, Inc. and changed its name to LendingTree, Inc. in January 2015. LendingTree, Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

How the Company Makes Money

LendingTree generates revenue primarily through a performance-based model, where it earns money by charging lenders for the leads generated from its platform. When a consumer uses LendingTree to request loan offers, lenders pay LendingTree for the opportunity to connect with potential borrowers. This is known as lead generation and is a significant revenue stream for the company. Additionally, LendingTree earns revenue from advertising and affiliate partnerships, where it promotes financial products and services from various companies and receives a commission for successful referrals. The company has established partnerships with numerous financial institutions, which enhances its ability to offer a wide range of loan products and increases its earnings potential through diverse revenue streams.

Lendingtree Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Income statement strength (score 70) reflects a meaningful 2025 profitability inflection and stable, very high gross margins, but the multi-year volatility and modest top-line growth reduce confidence in durability. Cash flow is supportive (score 63) with positive and growing free cash flow, though cash conversion/coverage is inconsistent. The balance sheet is the main drag (score 46) due to historically elevated leverage despite improvement in 2025.

Income Statement

Profitability has inflected meaningfully: 2025 revenue grew ~5.5% and the company swung to solid profitability (about a 13.5% net margin) after losses in 2022–2024. Gross margins remain exceptionally high and stable across the period, supporting earnings power. The main offset is volatility in the earnings history (multiple loss years) and only modest recent top-line growth, which makes the improved 2025 result feel less proven through a full cycle.

Balance Sheet

Leverage is the key constraint. Debt relative to equity improved sharply in 2025 (debt-to-equity ~1.5x versus ~5.0x in 2024), and returns on equity rebounded strongly alongside the earnings recovery. However, the balance sheet has shown elevated leverage for several years and equity has been comparatively thin at times, which can amplify risk if profitability softens again.

Cash Flow

Cash generation is generally positive: operating cash flow and free cash flow were positive in 2025 (free cash flow ~61M) and free cash flow grew ~19% year over year. Cash flow quality is decent with free cash flow running at roughly 83% of net income in 2025. The weakness is coverage—operating cash flow covers only about half of net income in 2025—and the longer history includes weaker periods (including negative free cash flow in 2020), indicating variability in cash conversion.

Breakdown	Dec 2025	Dec 2024	Dec 2023	Dec 2022	Dec 2021
Income Statement
Total Revenue	1.12B	900.22M	672.50M	984.99M	1.10B
Gross Profit	1.07B	864.15M	633.74M	927.22M	1.04B
EBITDA	21.65M	73.12M	35.26M	17.05M	60.88M
Net Income	151.31M	-41.70M	-122.40M	-187.95M	69.11M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets	855.69M	767.67M	802.76M	1.20B	1.30B
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments	81.07M	106.59M	112.05M	298.85M	251.23M
Total Debt	431.29M	544.09M	611.15M	912.76M	748.92M
Total Liabilities	568.89M	658.85M	678.63M	991.37M	851.36M
Stockholders Equity	286.80M	108.82M	124.13M	207.94M	447.99M
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow	60.68M	51.04M	55.04M	31.52M	89.81M
Operating Cash Flow	73.10M	62.26M	67.57M	42.97M	124.87M
Investing Cash Flow	-9.93M	-11.22M	-12.48M	-27.88M	13.38M
Financing Cash Flow	-88.70M	-56.50M	-242.01M	32.67M	-56.96M

Lendingtree Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Negative
• Last Price: 37.74
• 50DMA: Negative
• 100DMA: Negative
• 200DMA: Negative
• MACD: Negative
• RSI: Neutral
• STOCH: Neutral

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For TREE, the sentiment is Negative. The current price of 37.74 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 41.02, below the 50-day MA of 51.19, and below the 200-day MA of 52.29, indicating a bearish trend. The MACD of -4.80 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 37.63 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 67.68 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Negative sentiment for TREE.

Lendingtree Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
YRD	73 Outperform	$325.75M	1.95	12.53%	10.37%	10.48%	-30.67%
WDH	71 Outperform	$654.61M	9.35	10.37%	2.12%	18.70%	62.14%
Sector *	68 Neutral	$18.00B	11.42	9.92%	3.81%	9.73%	1.22%
OPRT	64 Neutral	$238.97M	10.14	6.79%	―	-5.29%	―
HIPO	63 Neutral	$718.51M	13.26	25.65%	―	34.48%	―
TREE	57 Neutral	$515.93M	37.46	12.49%	―	37.01%	―
LDI	47 Neutral	$639.81M	-5.21	-25.72%	―	3.91%	27.78%

Lendingtree Corporate Events

LendingTree Approves Bonus Payout to Late Founder’s Estate

LendingTree, Inc.’s Compensation Committee has approved a bonus payment of $932,301 to be paid to the estate of Doug Lebda, the company’s founder and former chairman and chief executive officer. The committee determined that Mr. Lebda’s estate should receive the pro-rata portion of his 2025 bonus earned before his untimely passing, citing his years of devoted service to the company.

The most recent analyst rating on (TREE) stock is a Buy with a $60.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Lendingtree stock, see the TREE Stock Forecast page.

LendingTree appoints new COO and insurance leader

On January 6, 2026, LendingTree’s board appointed Ian Smith, previously Senior Vice President of Insurance at its QuoteWizard subsidiary, as Chief Operating Officer, formalizing his role in overseeing company-wide operations and bringing his track record of operational discipline in the insurance marketplace to LendingTree’s broader lending and financial services platform. The company also promoted Laura Nelson, formerly Senior Vice President of Sales, to Head of Insurance, placing her in charge of strategy and performance for LendingTree’s insurance marketplace; together, these leadership changes, announced publicly on January 9, 2026, signal a consolidation of experienced internal talent to drive disciplined execution, scalable growth and stronger insurer and partner relationships following the recent elevation of former COO Scott Peyree to CEO after the death of founder Doug Lebda.

The most recent analyst rating on (TREE) stock is a Buy with a $80.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Lendingtree stock, see the TREE Stock Forecast page.