Start here if you're new
what it is
It matches insurance carriers with online shoppers and gets paid when buyers want those customer leads.
how it gets paid
Last year Mediaalpha made $1.1B in revenue.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 28.8% last year. EDGAR shows Revenue up 168% vs. prior year to $822M.
what just happened
Revenue hit $822M, but MAX still posted a loss of -$0.11 per share.
At a glance
B balance sheet — gets the job done, barely
25/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
92.0x trailing p/e — you're paying up for this one
15.3% return on capital — nothing to write home about
$0.31 fy2024 eps est
xvary composite: 47/100 — below average
What they do
It matches insurance carriers with online shoppers and gets paid when buyers want those customer leads.
More than 1,200 active partners and 1,290 buyers already sit on the platform. Network effect → more buyers attract more sellers → so what: your leads get priced where the most demand already is. In 2024, MediaAlpha handled 119 million consumer referrals and $1.5 billion of ad spend.
How they make money
$1.1B
annual revenue · their business grew +28.8% last year
total revenue
$1.1B
+28.8%
The products that matter
insurance customer acquisition
Property & Casualty Marketplace
$589M · main engine
This is the biggest business in the snapshot at $589M, and it grew 30% from a year ago.
core driver
medicare advantage leads
Health Insurance Channel
~$55M · shrinking
This business is now only ~5% of the revenue mix here and management says it should remain a mid-single-digit contributor in 2026.
key risk
adjacent marketplace volume
Other & Travel
$456M · still material
At $456M, this segment is too large to ignore. It matters because the company needs more than one healthy lane while health stays weak.
supporting base
Key numbers
$1.5B
ad spend handled
This is the deadpan fact bomb. A $640M company processed $1.5B of ad spend in 2024.
5.7%
operating margin
Operating margin → money left after running the business → so what: MAX kept $5.70 per $100 of sales before financing costs.
15.3%
return on capital
Return on capital → profit earned on the money invested in the business → so what: the engine is decent, even if earnings are messy.
92.0x
trailing p/e
Trailing P/E → stock price divided by the last year's earnings → so what: you are paying a rich multiple for a company with low predictability and a 5/100 stability score.
Financial health
B
strength
- balance sheet grade B — adequate — nothing special
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 5 / 100
- long-term debt $134M (17% of capital)
B — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for MAX right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
missed estimates
Revenue hit $822M, but MAX still posted a loss of -$0.11 per share.
EDGAR shows quarterly revenue up 168% vs. prior year to $822M, while EPS fell to -$0.11. That contrast is the whole story: lots more volume, still no clean profit signal.
$275M
revenue
-$0.11
eps
+168%
vs. last year revenue growth
the number that mattered
The number that mattered was -$0.11 EPS, because rapid revenue growth means less if each share still loses money.
source: company earnings report, 2026
Get this snapshot in your inbox
This page, delivered free — plus weekly updates when the numbers change. plain english, no spam.
weekly updates
earnings alerts
plain english
no spam
What could go wrong
the #1 risk is the collapse of medicare advantage lead volume inside the health insurance channel.
high
health insurance is no longer carrying the story
Management now expects health to be only a mid-single-digit percentage of total transaction value in 2026. A business line that used to matter a lot now barely moves the needle.
high-impact
med
thin margins leave almost no cushion
A 2.3% net margin means even a modest drop in advertiser demand or a rise in acquisition costs can hit profit much harder than revenue.
margin risk
med
customer concentration is part of the model
This marketplace depends on a relatively concentrated set of large insurance advertisers. If one major buyer pulls back, the revenue line feels it immediately.
partner risk
med
the multiple is doing a lot of work
At 92.0x trailing earnings, the stock already assumes better growth ahead. If Property & Casualty slows before health stabilizes, valuation becomes the risk, not the reward.
multiple risk
With a 2.3% net margin and health down to roughly 5% of the mix, MAX needs the rest of the marketplace to keep growing just to hold the narrative together.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
calendar
Q1 2026 earnings report
Scheduled for April 29, 2026. The clean question is whether revenue actually reaches the $295M guide.
trend
health staying stuck in the mid-single digits
If health remains only a small slice in 2026, MAX has officially become a different company than the one many investors first bought.
metric
Property & Casualty growth holding near 30%
This segment grew 30% in the latest snapshot. It has to keep carrying the load while health is weak.
risk
whether the buyback is support or a signal
A $100M authorization is meaningful against a $640M market cap. If execution is slow, investors may question how aggressive management really feels.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
25 / 100
In human-speak, the numbers can swing around more than you want from a 92.0x earnings stock.
risk rank
3
Middle of the pack on overall stock risk. Not a bunker stock. Not pure chaos either.
balance sheet grade
B
The balance sheet gets the job done, but it is not strong enough to rescue weak execution.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for MAX is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$13
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
Want the deeper analysis?
The full deep dive: dcf model, scenario analysis, competitive moat breakdown, and quarterly tracking — everything on this page, taken further.
see plans from $5/moThe deep dive