ZD

Ziff Davis screens expensive on the surface — a 45x P/E, net income down 24.9% to $47.4M, EPS down 19% to $1.15, and a feeble 2.7% ROE. But that GAAP picture is distorted by the amortization load of a digital-media roll-up: D&A of $229M against operating income of $183M (itself up 61.1%). On a cash basis the company is genuinely cheap. Operating cash flow of $407M less $119M capex leaves roughly $288M of free cash flow against a $1.97B market cap — a mid-teens FCF yield — and adding back D&A to operating income implies EV/EBITDA in the mid-single digits even after netting the modest debt. P/S of 1.4x and an 84.7% gross margin reinforce that this is a high-margin cash machine the market is pricing for stagnation.

The filing shows a portfolio that is growing, slowly and unevenly. FY2025 revenue rose 3.5% to $1.451B, but the segment detail in the 10-K reveals the mix matters: Health & Wellness grew ~11% to $402M and Connectivity grew ~8% to $231M (driven by Ookla-style subscription/licensing), while Cybersecurity & Martech slipped to $278M from $283.5M and Technology & Shopping eased to $356.6M from $361.9M. So roughly half the business is compounding and half is flat-to-declining — a mediocre top line, not a broken one.