Start here if you're new
what it is
QuinStreet sells your clicks, calls, and leads to lenders, insurers, schools, and home-services companies.
how it gets paid
Last year Quinstreet made $614M in revenue. Financial Services was the main engine at $338M, or 55% of sales.
what just happened
The quarter worked because revenue hit $287.8M and adjusted EPS reached $0.24, ahead of expectations.
At a glance
B+ balance sheet — decent shape, but not bulletproof
25/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
77.3x trailing p/e — you're paying up for this one
2.0% return on capital — nothing to write home about
$0.08 fy2025 eps est
xvary composite: 48/100 — below average
What they do
QuinStreet sells your clicks, calls, and leads to lenders, insurers, schools, and home-services companies.
QuinStreet wins by owning the digital paths where people shop for expensive decisions like insurance and loans. Performance marketing → clients pay for leads and clicks, not vague brand ads → so what: when budgets get tight, measurable channels keep a seat at the table. The company ran $614 million of trailing revenue with just $7 million of long-term debt, so the balance sheet gives you time even when profits do not.
How they make money
$614M
annual revenue
Financial Services
$338M
+18.0%
Home Services
$154M
+20.0%
Education
$61M
8.0%
B2B Technology
$37M
+2.0%
Medical & Other
$24M
0.0%
The products that matter
insurance and lending lead generation
Financial Services Marketplace
$338M · ~55% of revenue (matches bridge)
It is the center of gravity on the revenue table above. At $338M, Financial Services is the largest slice— any slowdown in insurance or lending demand hits hard.
core engine
home contractor lead generation
Home Services Marketplace
$154M · +20% growth (matches bridge)
Home Services at $154M is the faster-growing lane on this page, but it is still smaller than Financial Services.
smaller, faster
home services expansion platform
HomeBuddy Platform
extends the ~$154M home-services segment
HomeBuddy widens the company’s push into home services, but management already told you near-term revenue contribution will be minimal. For now, it matters more as a strategy signal than a number.
early bet
Key numbers
77.3x
trailing p/e
P/E → price-to-earnings → so what: ~77x trailing means the multiple is rich versus a ~2.8% operating margin— sanity-check against forward estimates.
2.8%
operating margin
Operating margin → profit after running the business → so what: QuinStreet keeps less than 3 cents from each sales dollar.
$7M
long-term debt
Long-term debt → money owed over years → so what: debt is only 1% of capital, so leverage is not the fire here.
2.0%
return on capital
Return on capital → profit earned on money invested in the business → so what: the current engine is barely clearing idle speed.
Financial health
B+
strength
- balance sheet grade B+ — solid but not elite
- risk rank 4 — safer than 20% of stocks
- price stability 20 / 100
- long-term debt $7M (1% of capital)
B+ — light debt load for a marketing model; earnings volatility is the bigger swing factor.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for QNST right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
beat estimates
The quarter worked because revenue hit $287.8M and adjusted EPS reached $0.24, ahead of expectations.
Gross profit was $27.7M, implying roughly a 9% to 9.5% gross margin. Quiet part out loud: sales rebounded faster than profitability did.
$287.8M
quarter revenue
$0.24
adjusted EPS
9.5%
gross margin
the number that mattered
$287.8M matters most because this stock needs scale; with only a 2.8% operating margin, more volume is the whole story.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
The #1 risk is traffic-cost inflation in a 9.5% gross margin model. QuinStreet buys attention for a living. When those costs rise faster than advertiser demand, your spread disappears fast.
med
traffic-cost inflation
Gross margin was 9.5%, and management described Q2 at roughly 9%. In a traffic-buying model, that is very little cushion. If paid media costs rise or conversion weakens, profit gets squeezed first.
A business keeping less than 10 cents of each revenue dollar does not need a dramatic shock to disappoint you.
med
vertical concentration
Financial Services accounts for $542.3M of the $614M segment revenue detail shown here, or 88.3%. That makes the company heavily exposed to advertiser budgets in insurance and lending.
If those categories cool, the faster-growing $71.7M Home Services business is still too small to fully offset the gap.
med
execution risk on the margin story
The valuation assumes today’s revenue scale turns into a better earnings profile. But expected fiscal 2025 EPS is still just $0.08, and earnings predictability is only 25/100.
If cumulative profit does not return by fiscal year-end, investors may stop giving the company a premium multiple for future operating leverage.
At 77.3x trailing earnings, you do not need revenue to collapse for the stock to de-rate. You just need the margin story to stay ordinary.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
margin
gross margin needs to move off the 9–9.5% floor
This is the number that matters. If traffic acquisition costs keep eating nearly all of the spread, the revenue scale story stays cosmetic.
calendar
Q3 2026 earnings and guidance
Watch whether another revenue beat actually comes with better profitability. One good quarter is helpful. Two starts to look like a pattern.
mix shift
Home Services has to become more than a side lane
The segment grew 20% to $71.7M. Good. Financial Services still sits at $542.3M. Better diversification would make the story less dependent on one advertiser bucket.
profit test
the cumulative profit target matters more than it sounds
Management says the business should return to cumulative profit by fiscal year-end. Miss that, and the argument for paying a premium multiple gets a lot weaker.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
25 / 100
In human-speak: analysts do not think this business produces clean, steady quarterly numbers. Expect volatility around estimates.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for QNST is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$15
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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