Start here if you're new
what it is
Semrush sells software that helps companies get found on search engines and social channels.
how it gets paid
Last year Semrush made $444M in revenue. SEO software was the main engine at $0.180B, or 40% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 17.7% last year. Revenue was up 191% vs. prior year, and gross margin held at 80.6%.
what just happened
Revenue hit $326M, but EPS stayed negative at -$0.05.
At a glance
B+ balance sheet — decent shape, but not bulletproof
3.2% return on capital — nothing to write home about
$0.06 fy2024 eps est
$377M fy2024 rev est
5.1% operating margin
xvary composite: 45/100 — below average
What they do
Semrush sells software that helps companies get found on search engines and social channels.
Net revenue retention → how much existing customers keep spending → 104% means they spend 4% more each year. Your customer base is not running away. Add 80.6% gross margin, and every $1 of sales leaves 81 cents before overhead.
How they make money
$444M
annual revenue · their business grew +17.7% last year
SEO software
$0.180B
Content marketing
$0.090B
Competitive research
$0.070B
Social and PPC
$0.040B
AI visibility and add-ons
$0.064B
The products that matter
keyword research and rank tracking
SEO toolkit
inside a $471.4M arr platform
This is the product most people associate with Semrush, but the company does not break out SEO revenue separately. What you can verify is the platform produced $471.4M in annual recurring revenue, so the bet is on the suite, not one hero feature.
core workflow
subscription access for marketing teams
Platform subscription
$443.6M revenue · 104% retention
This is the actual business model: recurring seats, recurring data, recurring spend. It turned into $443.6M of revenue last year, and existing customers spent 4% more than a year ago. That's stable. It is not the kind of expansion that earns a huge standalone premium.
recurring revenue
cash exit value
Adobe merger consideration
$12.00 per share cash
This is not a product in the operating sense, but it is the product that matters to your return from here. At $11.86, the spread to the $12 cash offer is just $0.14. That's the whole near-term story.
deal endpoint
Key numbers
$444M
TTM revenue
Adobe is valuing the company at roughly 4.3x sales on a $1.9B takeout, which is a lot for a business still losing money.
80.6%
gross margin
For every $1 of sales, $0.81 stays after direct costs. That is why software buyers keep showing up.
5.1%
operating margin
The company still spends more than it keeps at the operating line. That is a real cost problem, not a math quirk.
$8M
long-term debt
Debt is tiny at 0% of capital. That makes the balance sheet look calmer than the stock.
Financial health
B+
strength
- balance sheet grade B+ — solid but not elite
- risk rank 4 — safer than 20% of stocks
- price stability 10 / 100
- long-term debt $8M (0% of capital)
B+ — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for SEMR right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
missed estimates
Revenue hit $326M, but EPS stayed negative at -$0.05.
Revenue was up 191% vs. prior year, and gross margin held at 80.6%. The business is still spending enough to keep operating margin at -5.1%.
$326M
revenue
-$0.05
eps
80.6%
gross margin
the number that mattered
The $326M revenue line matters more than the -$0.05 EPS line because Adobe is buying scale, not perfection.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the #1 risk is adobe's $12 per share acquisition failing to close.
med
adobe walks or the deal breaks
The stock trades at $11.86 against a $12.00 cash offer. That 1.2% spread tells you the market assumes a close. If that assumption breaks, the stock loses the one thing currently holding it near the high end of its $7–$12 range.
A failed deal could send the stock back toward the pre-offer area near $7. You're risking dollars to make pennies.
med
closing takes longer than the spread justifies
Even if the deal closes, a 1.2% spread is thin. The longer investors wait, the less attractive that spread looks relative to other places cash can sit while doing absolutely nothing dramatic.
Your return is capped at $0.14 per share if the terms stay fixed, so delay itself becomes a risk.
med
the standalone business is still not self-funding
Semrush posted an 80.9% gross margin and still ended the year with a $22.8M operating loss. That matters because if the deal drags, investors are left owning the actual business again, not just the paperwork around it.
Another stretch of losses would put attention back on the quality of growth, especially with net revenue retention at only 104%.
med
thin upside makes every signal feel louder
President Eugenie Levin sold $4.8M in stock on March 13, 2026. One insider sale does not rewrite the deal, but when the remaining upside is 1.2%, investors start reacting to details they would normally shrug off.
Sentiment can wobble even without new fundamentals when the spread is this small.
The combined risk picture is simple: you are risking a move back toward roughly $7 to capture the last $0.14 of a $12 cash deal.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
deal spread
$0.14 is the number that matters
At $11.86 versus a $12.00 offer, the spread is 1.2%. If that spread widens, the market is telling you perceived closing risk just changed.
risk
any sign the close is slipping
This stock is priced like a deal that should happen. Delays matter more than usual because the upside is so small.
calendar
may 6, 2026 earnings
If the acquisition is still pending, this is your next forced update on the standalone business and any change in operating losses.
metric
104% retention versus $22.8M losses
Stable customers are good. Stable customers plus ongoing operating losses are less comforting if investors suddenly have to value Semrush on its own again.
Analyst rankings
street setup
1.2%
in human-speak, the market thinks most of the value is already spoken for. This is a closing-probability trade now.
operating quality
104%
Existing customers spent 4% more than a year ago. Good enough to keep the story alive, not good enough to make the $22.8M operating loss disappear.
business economics
80.9%
High margin software with no current earnings is the quiet contradiction here. Great gross margin is only half the sentence.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for SEMR is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$12
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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