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ZipRecruiter
(NYSE:ZIP)
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Rating:51Neutral
Price Target:
$3.50
▼(-0.28% Downside)
Action:Reiterated
Date:06/26/26
ZIP’s score is held back primarily by weak financial performance—steep revenue contraction, ongoing net losses, and negative equity—despite improving TTM cash flow. Offsetting factors include a more positive earnings outlook (flat 2026 revenue and margin expansion guidance with product traction), a constructive debt-reduction event, and largely neutral technical signals. Valuation remains hard to justify on earnings given the negative P/E.
Positive Factors
Very high gross margins
Sustained gross margins near 89–90% create a durable profitability buffer. High take rates on platform revenue mean incremental demand converts to strong gross profit, enabling investment in product, marketing, and AI while insulating core economics during cyclical hiring weakness.
Negative Factors
Steep revenue decline
A roughly 56% TTM revenue decline and multi‑year decreases erode operating scale and pricing power. Persistent top-line contraction undermines fixed‑cost absorption, limits reinvestment capacity, and makes sustained margin recovery and profitable growth harder to achieve long term.
Read all positive and negative factors
Positive Factors
Negative Factors
Very high gross margins
Sustained gross margins near 89–90% create a durable profitability buffer. High take rates on platform revenue mean incremental demand converts to strong gross profit, enabling investment in product, marketing, and AI while insulating core economics during cyclical hiring weakness.
Read all positive factors
ZipRecruiter (ZIP) vs. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
Market Cap
$317.94M
Dividend YieldN/A
Average Volume (3M)1.04M
Price to Earnings (P/E)―
Beta (1Y)1.98
Revenue Growth-3.33%
EPS Growth-45.12%
CountryUS
Employees1,000
SectorCommunication Services
Sector Strength97
IndustryStaffing & Employment Services
Share Statistics
EPS (TTM)-0.28
Shares Outstanding68,493,065
10 Day Avg. Volume1,176,358
30 Day Avg. Volume1,039,238
Financial Highlights & Ratios
PEG Ratio-0.06
Price to Book (P/B)-4.54
Price to Sales (P/S)0.78
P/FCF Ratio35.47
Enterprise Value/Market Cap1.81
Enterprise Value/Revenue1.29
Enterprise Value/Gross Profit1.44
Enterprise Value/Ebitda8.99
Forecast
1Y Price Target
$3.50Price Target Upside-0.28% Downside
Rating ConsensusHold
Number of Analyst Covering5
EPS Forecast (FY)-0.09
Revenue Forecast (FY)$450.03M
ZipRecruiter Business Overview & Revenue Model
Company Description
ZipRecruiter, Inc., along with its affiliated entities, operates an online platform that serves as a central hub, connecting individuals searching for employment with companies seeking to hire. This sophisticated, dual-sided digital environment em...
How the Company Makes Money
ZipRecruiter primarily generates revenue by selling recruiting services to employers through its online platform. Its core revenue stream is employer paid job advertising and subscription-like plans that allow companies to post job openings and ac...
ZipRecruiter Earnings Call Summary
Earnings Call Date:May 07, 2026
(Q1-2026)
| % Change Since: |
Next Earnings Date:Aug 12, 2026
Earnings Call Sentiment Positive
The call conveys a generally positive tone driven by product-led momentum (notably the next-generation AI engine and Be Seen First), strong operational improvements (adjusted EBITDA margin expansion and cost/marketing efficiency), healthy cash position and constructive guidance. These positives are tempered by a still-muted hiring market — revenue down 2% YoY and revenue per employer down — and a GAAP net loss. Management presented confident guidance for flat full-year revenue and margin expansion, indicating they view product and go-to-market gains as likely to offset macro headwinds.Positive Updates
Revenue Above Guidance
Q1 revenue of $107.5 million beat the midpoint of guidance despite a soft hiring backdrop.
Negative Updates
Year-over-Year and Sequential Revenue Declines
Q1 revenue declined 2% year-over-year and 4% quarter-over-quarter, driven by a soft hiring environment and post-holiday seasonality.
Read all updates
Q1-2026 Updates
Positive
Negative
Revenue Above Guidance
Q1 revenue of $107.5 million beat the midpoint of guidance despite a soft hiring backdrop.
Read all positive updates
Company Guidance
ZipRecruiter's guidance for Q2 2026 calls for revenue of $112.0M at the midpoint (implying roughly flat year‑over‑year and ~4% sequential growth from Q1's $107.5M) and adjusted EBITDA of $13.0M at the midpoint (about a 12% margin); looking beyond Q2 the company expects full‑year 2026 revenue to be flat year‑over‑year (a 5 percentage‑point improvement versus 2025’s -5%) and adjusted EBITDA margin to expand to ~14% (up 5 points from 9% in 2025). In support of that outlook management pointed to Q1 results of $107.5M revenue, $9.7M adjusted EBITDA (9% margin), a $4.7M net loss, $393.5M cash and marketable securities, 63k quarterly paid employers (flat YoY, +7% QoQ), $1,698 revenue per paid employer (-2% YoY, -10% QoQ) and $9.4M of share repurchases (3.5M shares), as well as product and marketplace traction including +37% application volume for users of the next‑gen AI engine, 12% of applicants choosing Be Seen First (nearly 2× employer message rate), +26% YoY growth in engaged job seekers via organic search, and enterprise/performance marketing making up 24% of revenue (performance marketing revenue +5% YoY).ZipRecruiter Financial Statement Overview
Summary
Income Statement
34
Negative
Balance Sheet
18
Very Negative
Cash Flow
56
Neutral
| Breakdown | TTM | Dec 2025 | Dec 2024 | Dec 2023 | Dec 2022 | Dec 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Income Statement | ||||||
| Total Revenue | 446.43M | 448.95M | 474.00M | 645.72M | 904.65M | 741.14M |
| Gross Profit | 397.84M | 400.68M | 423.85M | 581.41M | 818.35M | 661.53M |
| EBITDA | 63.96M | 11.47M | 35.39M | 111.57M | 113.26M | 1.10M |
| Net Income | -24.90M | -32.99M | -12.85M | 49.10M | 61.49M | 3.60M |
Balance Sheet | ||||||
| Total Assets | 551.25M | 569.74M | 664.06M | 659.50M | 714.56M | 398.62M |
| Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments | 393.48M | 409.14M | 505.88M | 520.12M | 570.36M | 254.62M |
| Total Debt | 557.38M | 568.37M | 552.72M | 555.73M | 560.01M | 25.29M |
| Total Liabilities | 635.01M | 646.94M | 650.63M | 651.13M | 685.94M | 163.65M |
| Stockholders Equity | -83.76M | -77.20M | 13.43M | 8.37M | 28.62M | 234.97M |
Cash Flow | ||||||
| Free Cash Flow | 15.43M | 9.88M | 44.81M | 102.27M | 118.26M | 130.80M |
| Operating Cash Flow | 17.39M | 10.96M | 45.73M | 103.19M | 128.81M | 144.14M |
| Investing Cash Flow | 102.77M | 65.09M | -61.98M | 106.74M | -351.13M | -13.34M |
| Financing Cash Flow | -90.26M | -106.45M | -48.36M | -154.26M | 195.09M | 9.28M |
ZipRecruiter Technical Analysis
Positive
3.51
Price Trends
3.39
Positive
2.83
Positive
3.44
Positive
Market Momentum
0.17
Negative
60.25
Neutral
82.77
Negative
Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For ZIP, the sentiment is Positive. The current price of 3.51 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 3.56, above the 50-day MA of 3.39, and above the 200-day MA of 3.44, indicating a bullish trend. The MACD of 0.17 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 60.25 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 82.77 is Negative, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Positive sentiment for ZIP.
ZipRecruiter Risk Analysis
ZipRecruiter disclosed 54 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. ZipRecruiter reported the most risks in the "Finance & Corporate" category.
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
Latest Risks Added 0 New Risks
ZipRecruiter Peers Comparison
UnderperformOutperform
Sector (60)
Name | Overall Rating | Market Cap | P/E Ratio | ROE | Dividend Yield | Revenue Growth | EPS Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
76 Outperform | $3.62B | 13.60 | 13.94% | 2.89% | 6.43% | 13.64% | |
63 Neutral | $1.09B | 10.56 | 17.92% | ― | 2.52% | -52.38% | |
60 Neutral | $48.67B | 4.58 | -11.27% | 4.14% | 2.83% | -41.78% | |
55 Neutral | $3.40B | 26.74 | 10.14% | 8.65% | -6.08% | -35.51% | |
54 Neutral | $1.79B | -112.40 | -0.81% | 4.96% | 4.77% | -115.03% | |
52 Neutral | $1.69B | -67.99 | -32.05% | 6.37% | 3.04% | -140.22% | |
51 Neutral | $317.94M | -14.04 | 32.87% | ― | -3.33% | -45.12% |
* Communication Services Sector Average
ZIP
ZipRecruiter
3.93
-1.31
-25.00%
NSP
Insperity
45.55
-11.49
-20.15%
KFY
Korn Ferry
72.77
1.16
1.63%
MAN
ManpowerGroup
39.34
-2.79
-6.62%
RHI
Robert Half
34.76
-4.31
-11.04%
UPWK
Upwork
8.87
-4.63
-34.30%
ZipRecruiter Corporate Events
Business Operations and StrategyPrivate Placements and Financing
ZipRecruiter Reduces Debt Through Discounted Note Repurchases
Positive
Jun 25, 2026
On June 25, 2026, ZipRecruiter announced that it had entered into privately negotiated agreements to repurchase approximately $295 million of its 5% senior unsecured notes due 2030 for about $230 million in cash, capturing a $65 million discount t...
Executive/Board ChangesShareholder Meetings
ZipRecruiter Shareholders Approve Board, Auditor and Compensation
Positive
Jun 12, 2026
At its Annual Meeting of Stockholders held on June 9, 2026, ZipRecruiter shareholders elected Brie Carere and Mike Gupta as Class II directors to serve three-year terms expiring at the 2029 Annual Meeting, reinforcing the company’s board str...
Business Operations and StrategyFinancial Disclosures
ZipRecruiter Posts Q1 Loss While Advancing AI Matching
Neutral
May 7, 2026
ZipRecruiter, a prominent digital recruitment platform, reported first-quarter 2026 results on May 7, 2026, posting revenue of $107.5 million, a net loss of $4.7 million for a net loss margin of 4%, and Adjusted EBITDA of $9.7 million for a 9% mar...
Glossary
BuyA stock rated as a "Buy" is expected to perform better than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock is likely to deliver higher returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
HoldA stock rated as a "Hold" is expected to perform in line with the overall market or a specific benchmark. This rating indicates that the stock is neither particularly compelling nor unfavorable for investment. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
SellA stock rated as a "Sell" is expected to perform worse than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock may deliver lower returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Disclaimer
This AI Analyst Stock Report is automatically generated by our AI systems using advanced algorithms and publicly available financial, technical, and market data. While the information provided aims to be accurate and insightful, it is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Any content created by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) system may contain inaccuracies and/or contain errors. Investing in stocks carries inherent risks, and past performance is not indicative of future results. This report does not account for your personal financial circumstances, objectives, or risk tolerance. Always conduct your own research or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The analysis and recommendations provided are based on historical and current data and may not fully reflect future market conditions or unexpected developments. Neither the creators of this report nor its affiliated entities guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented. Use this report at your own discretion and risk.