Hour Loop Inc
🔔 Watch stock
Assessment
Our Rating
A journalistic assessment by our editorial team at the time of the deep dive — it rates the company, not the entry point. Not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell.
We found at least one documented issue that threatens the company itself — regardless of how the stock is currently valued.
Why this colour
This red is not about the price of the stock — not the share price, not the multiple, not the narrow free float — but about the one finding that can strike the business itself: existential dependence on a single counterparty. The annual report itself calls Amazon a "key vendor" through which 98 percent of revenue runs and which simultaneously supplies platform, logistics, warehousing, invoicing and collection; Hour Loop's receivables are owed almost entirely by Amazon, which the filing also names as its most important competitor. The report says the company depends entirely on that relationship for growth — and a change to the payout schedule was enough in April 2026 to hit working capital. On top of that comes the company's own risk factor, which explicitly ties its ability to continue as a going concern to improved profitability, future funding and cost cuts, against a cash balance of $992,886 at March 31, 2026. Against that stands genuine positive evidence, and more of it than the color suggests: the company has been profitable since 2024, operating cash flow was positive in fiscal 2025 at $2,581,256 (2024: $313,140) — so there is no sustained cash burn, and the $2,201,403 outflow in the first quarter of 2026 went mainly into inventory ($3,198,284) and the unwind of accrued liabilities ($2,612,327). Interest coverage is roughly 13 times, equity is positive, the 2025 audit carried no going-concern qualification, and the owners put in their own money. Without the Amazon dependence this would be yellow; with it, the more cautious grade applies. The decision is yours.
What the thesis turns on
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
Hour Loop is the revenue anchor in its purest form: a genuine merchant with $142,440,236 of revenue and 6,588,014 orders in 2025 — of which $1,704,849 was left at the end, 1.2 cents on every dollar. Behind that margin sits near-total dependence on Amazon (98 percent of revenue), which turned concrete in April 2026: because Amazon now pays seven days later, the founding couple advanced $1,601,000, with no formal contract according to the quarterly report, against a cash balance of $992,886. That same couple holds 94.8 percent of the votes and was paid more in 2025 than the company earned. The company's own 2026 guidance of $0.75 million to $1.5 million of profit points down. Not investment advice.
Business model and dependency
98 percent of 2025 revenue ran through Amazon, down from 99 percent in 2024 — and according to the annual report Amazon is simultaneously the sales platform, the logistics provider, the warehouse, the invoicer, the collector and the most important competitor. In April 2026 a single change to the disbursement policy (seven days later) was enough to open a liquidity hole of more than $1.6 million.
Profitability
Profitable again since 2024 ($657,447), more than two and a half times that in 2025 at $1,704,849, and up 25.8 percent to $823,482 in the first quarter of 2026 — but the net margin is 1.2 percent, and 43.8 percent of revenue goes into selling and marketing including the Amazon fees. The 2021 profit of $4,783,773 has not been matched on more than double the revenue.
Balance sheet and liquidity
Cash fell from $3,792,033 (December 31, 2025) to $992,886 (March 31, 2026) — roughly five days of merchandise buying, measured against fiscal 2025 cost of revenues — after a $2,201,403 operating outflow in the quarter. The credit line was stated in the latest report to mature on May 18, 2026 and no extension is documented in any later SEC filing (as of July 30, 2026); the subordinated shareholder loan ($4,170,418 principal, $2,060,418 outstanding at March 31, 2026) runs out on December 31, 2026. The founders' $1,601,000 advance still has no contract. Against that: operating cash flow was positive in fiscal 2025 at $2,581,256.
Ownership and governance
The Lai/Yu couple held roughly 94.8 percent of the voting power as of May 15, 2026 (33,360,142 of 35,191,890 shares); about 1.8 million shares trade freely, with roughly five holders of record. Their 2025 compensation of $2,137,992 exceeded annual net income by a quarter, and each is guaranteed $100,000 on December 22, 2026. On top of that, 9,152,213 shares were available under the equity plan as of March 24, 2026.
Growth and guidance
The first quarter of 2026 grew 15.8 percent to $29,930,342, and international revenue rose from $951,439 to $1,560,528. At the same time, on May 12, 2026 the company reaffirmed full-year guidance of $0.75 million to $1.5 million of net income — the top of that range is 12 percent below 2025. After 38 percent revenue growth in 2023 came 5 percent in 2024 and 3 percent in 2025.
Valuation
At roughly $64 million of market value (as of July 30, 2026) the price-to-sales ratio is 0.45 on fiscal 2025 revenue (0.43 on the trailing four quarters), which says nothing about cheapness at a 1.2 percent net margin; on earnings it is about 37 times the 2025 result and 43 to 85 times the company's own 2026 guidance, plus about 8 times book value. One analyst covers the stock, rating hold, with a price target of $1.75.
Worth Noting
Hour Loop reached our research desk through the daily sweep of small caps heavily discussed in U.S. retail investor forums (as of July 30, 2026) — an attention signal, not a quality verdict. The scanner result lists on TickerGuard are recalculated every day; this analysis rests exclusively on SEC filings and fundamental data.
Currency of the record: we worked through the annual report 10-K for 2025 (March 24, 2026) and every document filed from that day onward — the current report 8-K of March 24, 2026 (fiscal 2025 results and first 2026 guidance), five insider filings (Form 4) of April 7, 2026 (grants of 1,600 shares each on April 6, 2026), the quarterly report 10-Q as of March 31, 2026 (May 12, 2026), the 8-K of May 12, 2026 (quarterly results and reaffirmed 2026 guidance), the 8-K of May 18, 2026 (2026 bonus targets), the proxy statement (DEF 14A) of June 25, 2026 together with the additional proxy material (DEFA14A) of the same day, and five further insider filings (Form 4) of July 2, 2026 covering routine grants of 1,586 shares each.
Two cautionary notes on metrics: the Altman Z-score of 8.97 (as of July 30, 2026) looks reassuring but mainly rewards the extremely high asset turnover ($142.4 million of 2025 revenue on a $23.8 million balance sheet at December 31, 2025) and says nothing about the cash balance. And the 27.5 percent return on equity is calculated on the trailing four quarters; for fiscal 2025 alone it is roughly 24 percent ($1,704,849 of profit on $6,993,859 of equity at December 31, 2025). Both are high only because of the small equity base, not because of a high margin.
Stock Watch
This analysis is as of August 26, 2026. Stock Watch will tell you what's changed at HOUR since then.
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Price history
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
52-week range: 1.70 $ to 3.30 $ · Last price: 1.70 $ (As of: September 17, 2026)
Key figures
Key figures at a glance
Every figure we hold for this stock, grouped by topic. The question mark next to a label explains what the number means.
Basics
Performance
Technical Indicators
Calculated from the price history · as of 09/18/2026
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
This stock currently pays no dividend.
Quality & Screener
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Comparison
Industry comparison
The stock alongside the largest companies in the same group. The median row is the middle value of the companies shown above — not of the whole industry.
Industry: Internet Retail
| Company | Market cap ($B) | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross Margin % | EBIT Margin % | Sales Growth (Year) % | Perf. 1Y % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour Loop Inc HOUR | 0.1 | 34.8 | 26.0 | 51.5 | 3.8 | 3.0 | -44.6 |
| Amazon.com Inc AMZN | 2,687.0 | 35.6 | 11.3 | 50.8 | 13.1 | 12.4 | 8.5 |
| Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA | 260.0 | 17.2 | 14.8 | 38.2 | 1.0 | 2.7 | -33.3 |
| PDD Holdings Inc. PDD | 110.6 | 8.1 | 2.6 | 56.3 | 18.4 | 9.7 | -39.0 |
| MercadoLibre Inc. MELI | 92.5 | 46.8 | 28.6 | 47.8 | 6.7 | 39.1 | -23.0 |
| DoorDash, Inc. DASH | 85.1 | 91.3 | 48.5 | 52.2 | 5.3 | 27.9 | -25.0 |
| Sea Ltd SE | 50.4 | 34.8 | 24.9 | 44.3 | 8.4 | 36.4 | -45.3 |
| eBay Inc EBAY | 48.3 | 26.5 | 16.3 | 72.1 | 23.2 | 8.0 | 24.4 |
| Coupang LLC CPNG | 25.7 | – | 833.9 | 28.3 | -2.9 | 14.1 | -56.9 |
| Median of companies shown | 85.1 | 34.8 | 24.9 | 50.8 | 6.7 | 12.4 | -33.3 |
Based on the most recently reported figures. Only stocks from the same trading venue are lined up, so the market caps are counted in one currency. Compare in a chart →
Fiscal years
Annual Figures
Fiscal years from the audited annual reports, oldest first. EBIT is the operating profit before interest and taxes; total assets are everything the company owns.
Revenue, operating income and net income per fiscal year $M
Revenue Operating income Net income
| Fiscal Year | Revenue ($M) | EBIT ($M) | Net Income ($M) | EPS ($) | Operating Cash Flow ($M) | Equity ($M) | Total Assets ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 27 | 0 | 0 | -0.01 | -1 | 0 | 5 |
| 2020 | 39 | 4 | 4 | 0.11 | 4 | 4 | 10 |
| 2021 | 63 | 5 | 5 | 0.14 | 8 | 3 | 19 |
| 2022 | 96 | -2 | -1 | -0.04 | -12 | 7 | 26 |
| 2023 | 132 | -3 | -2 | -0.07 | -2 | 4 | 20 |
| 2024 | 138 | 1 | 1 | 0.02 | 0 | 5 | 20 |
| 2025 | 142 | 2 | 2 | 0.05 | 3 | 7 | 24 |
Quarters
Quarterly Figures
Each bar is one quarter, the last one is the most recent. Use the switch to step through the individual figures.
Revenue & Profit
Cash Flow
Balance Sheet
Margins
Per Share
Click the chart or tab into it, then use ← and → to step through the periods.
None of the selected stocks reports this metric. Pick another metric or switch between annual and quarterly.
· Total · per year
These companies report in different currencies — switch on “Indexed” or pick a margin for a fair comparison.
The figures could not be loaded right now.
Source: fundamental data
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q2 | 0.02 | 200.00 | 28 | 25.20 | 2.30 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024: Q3 | 0.01 | 2,600.00 | 31 | 6.60 | 1.50 | -4 | -4 |
| 2024: Q4 | -0.04 | -241.90 | 54 | -8.50 | -2.80 | 2 | 2 |
| 2025: Q1 | 0.02 | -34.20 | 26 | 4.70 | 2.50 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025: Q2 | 0.03 | 50.00 | 27 | -3.40 | 4.30 | -2 | -2 |
| 2025: Q3 | 0.01 | 0.00 | 33 | 7.60 | 1.60 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025: Q4 | -0.02 | 53.30 | 56 | 3.00 | -1.20 | 3 | 3 |
| 2026: Q1 | 0.02 | 17.00 | 30 | 15.80 | 2.80 | -2 | -2 |
| 2026: Q2 | 0.03 | 0.00 | 34 | 25.10 | 3.20 | -1 | -1 |
What Do These Terms Mean?
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Screening
Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 5 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Backtested Scanners
Quality & Balance Sheet
Breakout & Setup
Research
Only genuine hits from verified scanners count; pure ranking metrics (P/E, P/S, and similar, which just sort the whole universe) don't count as a hit. View all scanners
Outlook
Analysts & Price Target
Combined picture of the price targets and recommendations of every analyst covering the stock. Price targets are expectations for the next 12 months, not promises — and they often follow the price rather than predict it.
Distribution of Recommendations
Valuation
What is priced in?
Free cash flow over the past twelve months is negative, which rules out a serious reverse calculation. Any growth rate only makes a negative cash flow more negative; no present value comes out of it. What the price reflects here is therefore not a stream of cash flows, but the expectation that there will be one at all.
A simplified model calculation — not a forecast and not a recommendation.
AI classification
AI Rating
Hour Loop bezeichnet sich in Note 1 seiner SEC-Berichte selbst als Unternehmen, das maschinelles Lernen und Datenanalyse einsetzt, und steuert damit Preise und Nachfrageprognosen im eigenen Amazon-Handel — KI ist Werkzeug im Betrieb, aber keine Umsatzquelle.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„Hour Loop, Inc. (“Hour Loop” or the “Company”) is a technology-enabled consumer products company that uses machine learning and data analytics to design, develop, market and sell products."
Hour Loop, Inc. („Hour Loop“ oder „das Unternehmen“) ist ein technologiegestütztes Konsumgüterunternehmen, das maschinelles Lernen und Datenanalyse einsetzt, um Produkte zu gestalten, zu entwickeln, zu vermarkten und zu verkaufen.
10-K · 2026-03-24 · View SEC filing
„Our proprietary repricing tool analyzes sales trends, projected sales, inventory age, inventory cost, potential profits, Fulfillment by Amazon (“FBA”) fees, competing offers, and seasonality and determines an urgency level, then depending on the level of urgency, it automatically adjusts prices accordingly."
Unser eigenentwickeltes Preisanpassungswerkzeug analysiert Absatztrends, Absatzprognosen, Lageralter, Lagerkosten, mögliche Gewinne, Gebühren für den Versand durch Amazon („FBA“), Konkurrenzangebote und Saisonalität, bestimmt daraus eine Dringlichkeitsstufe und passt die Preise abhängig von dieser Dringlichkeit automatisch an.
10-K · 2026-03-24 · View SEC filing
„Hour Loop, Inc. (“Hour Loop” or the “Company”) is a technology-enabled consumer products company that uses machine learning and data analytics to design, develop, market and sell products."
Hour Loop, Inc. („Hour Loop“ oder „das Unternehmen“) ist ein technologiegestütztes Konsumgüterunternehmen, das maschinelles Lernen und Datenanalyse einsetzt, um Produkte zu gestalten, zu entwickeln, zu vermarkten und zu verkaufen.
10-Q · 2026-05-12 · View SEC filing
Filings Reviewed: 10-Q 2026-05-12 · 10-K 2026-03-24 · 10-Q 2025-11-12 · 10-Q 2025-08-12 · 10-Q 2025-05-12 · 10-K 2025-03-27
Rated on July 30, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Growth
Growth Score
Ten checks against the annual reports — each one passed counts a point.
- Revenue grows by more than 15% a year over three years 14.1%
- More than 10% revenue growth is expected for the coming year no data
- Share count grows by less than 3% a year 0.1%
- Revenue growth plus cash-flow margin add up to at least 40 ("Rule of 40") 4.8%
- Gross margin at 40% or higher and without meaningful erosion 52.4%
- Goodwill from acquisitions does not grow faster than revenue 0.0%
- Net debt below twice EBITDA 3 m net cash
- Operating cash flow covers the profits of the last three years 1 m
- Return on capital at 15% or higher, or up versus two years ago 34.7%
- Insiders hold at least 10% or are net buyers 95.1%
A criterion without figures counts neither as passed nor as failed; a score is only produced from 7 judgeable criteria upwards. Source: fundamental data. All ten criteria in detail
Quality check
AAQS
4/10The AAQS (AlleAktien Quality Score) checks 10 quality criteria on growth, profitability, and balance-sheet strength — per the methodology developed and published by AlleAktien, calculated by us from our own fundamental data. A stock counts as a quality stock from 9 out of 10 points. Where a company has a shorter listing history, we calculate over the fiscal years available (at least five).
- Sales growth 10Y > 5% 32.3%
- Exp. sales growth 3Y > 5% –
- EBIT growth 10Y > 5% –
- Exp. EBIT growth 3Y > 5% –
- Net debt < 4x EBIT -1.2x
- EBIT positive, 10Y straight 4
- Max. EBIT decline < 50% 100.0%
- Return on equity > 15% 24.3%
- ROCE > 15% 34.7%
- Expected return > 10% –
View stocks with the full AAQS score · Read the methodology at AlleAktien
Source: fundamental data
The company
About the Company
Hour Loop, Inc., an online retailer, engages in e-commerce retailing business in the United States. It sells products in various categories, including home/garden décor, toys, kitchenware, apparel, and electronics. The company sells its products through hourloop.com, as well as third-party marketplaces, including Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and Etsy. Hour Loop, Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Redmond, Washington.
- Employees
- 159
- Headquarters
- Redmond, WA
- Address
- 8201 164th Avenue NE, 98052-7615 Redmond, United States
- Phone
- 206 385 0488
- Website
- hourloop.com
- IPO Date
- 01/07/2022
- ISIN
- US44170P1066
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Sam Lai | Chairman of Board, CEO & Interim CFO | 1982 |
| Sau Kuen Yu | Senior VP & Director | 1977 |
| Rahul Ray Ratan | Advisor | 1971 |
| Emily Wu | Human Resources Manager of Flywheel Consulting Limited | 1978 |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Filings
Company Filings (8-K)
An 8-K is the filing a US company must use to disclose material events immediately — takeovers, changes at the top, major contracts or payment troubles, for instance. The links open the original document at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Data as of: September 17, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.