Lifestance Health Group Inc (LFST)
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symbol.quality_heading
We found at least one documented issue that threatens the company itself — regardless of how the stock is currently valued.
Red here is expressly not about the numbers — they are good and getting better. Red is about a documented governance finding: internal control over financial reporting has been deficient since the fiscal 2019 audit, the quarterly report says it remained deficient as of March 31, 2026, the chief executive officer and the chief financial officer themselves call disclosure controls not effective, and the same weaknesses already forced a restatement of the 2018 and 2019 annual financial statements — over intangible assets acquired in business combinations, the very line item that today carries $1,297.0 million of goodwill, or 60 percent of the balance sheet. A control system its own auditors have not cleared in seven years is exactly the kind of substance finding this level exists for. Against that sits a great deal of good: a genuine earnings turnaround, $146.2 million of operating cash flow, a 69 percent equity ratio, no liquidity problem and no going-concern language. That does not make the company bad — it makes it a company whose good numbers come out of a system it does not yet vouch for. In case of doubt the more cautious level applies. The decision is yours.
symbol.quality_note
LifeStance treats mental illness at industrial scale: 8,040 employed therapists and psychiatrists, 572 centers, roughly 9.0 million visits in 2025. After four years of losses, the books showed a profit for the first time in 2025 — $9.7 million — and the first quarter of 2026 added $14.2 million. The same quarterly report also carries a sentence that has refused to disappear since fiscal 2019: internal control over financial reporting is deficient. We read both sentences — the good one and the uncomfortable one — in the original.
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Stock Watch
This analysis is as of July 26, 2026. Stock Watch will tell you what's changed at LFST since then.
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Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 17 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
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
Trading Day
Key levels of the most recently completed trading day — not a live quote.
52-Week Range
Current price 10.50 $ — 86% of the range above the low.
Lowest and highest closing price over the last 52 weeks. The marker shows where the current price sits within that range: close to the high speaks for strength, close to the low for weakness.
Basics
Performance
Technical Indicators
Calculated from the price history · as of 08/03/2026
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
This stock currently pays no dividend.
Quality & Screener
AI Rating
ThreatenedDer Geschäftsbericht für 2025 nennt KI erstmals als konkretes Risiko für das eigene Modell: Wenn Patienten einen Teil ihrer psychischen Versorgung einer KI überlassen, sinkt die Zahl der Patienten, die zu zugelassenen Klinikern gehen — LifeStance selbst verkauft keine KI-Leistungen.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„If patients elect to rely on AI for a portion of their mental health care, the number of patients seeking care from licensed clinicians may decline, negatively impacting our business."
Wenn Patienten sich entscheiden, für einen Teil ihrer psychischen Gesundheitsversorgung auf KI zu setzen, kann die Zahl der Patienten sinken, die Behandlung bei zugelassenen Klinikern suchen, was unser Geschäft beeinträchtigen würde.
„We also expect our competitors to continue to improve their technology infrastructure, including with the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) and machine learning solutions, to interact with patients, clinicians and payors, sell their services, utilize their data and support and grow their patient base."
Wir erwarten außerdem, dass unsere Wettbewerber ihre technische Ausstattung weiter verbessern, auch mit Lösungen für künstliche Intelligenz (KI) und maschinelles Lernen, um mit Patienten, Klinikern und Kostenträgern in Kontakt zu treten, ihre Leistungen zu verkaufen, ihre Daten zu nutzen und ihren Patientenstamm zu stützen und auszubauen.
„In addition, new developments in cloud computing, AI, and machine learning have made it easier to enter our markets due to lower up-front technology costs."
Zudem haben neue Entwicklungen bei Cloud-Rechenleistung, KI und maschinellem Lernen den Eintritt in unsere Märkte erleichtert, weil die anfänglichen Technikkosten gesunken sind.
Filings Reviewed: 10-Q 2026-05-07 · 10-K 2026-02-25 · 10-Q 2025-11-06 · 10-Q 2025-08-07 · 10-Q 2025-05-07 · 10-K 2025-02-27
Rated on July 26, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
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.
Analysts & Price Target
The price target sits 14.3% above the current price.
- Consensus
- Sell
- Analyst Ratings
- 8
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.
Estimates by Fiscal Year
| Fiscal Year | EPS Estimate ($) | EPS Range ($) | Revenue Estimate ($M) | Expected Growth | Analysts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/31/2026 | 0.31 | 0.27 – 0.34 | 1,664 | 70.8% | 5 |
| 12/31/2027 | 0.39 | 0.34 – 0.44 | 1,902 | 25.9% | 5 |
Average of the analyst estimates for the coming fiscal years. The range shows how far the most optimistic and the most cautious estimate sit apart — the wider it is, the less certain the expectation.
Next Reporting Date
- Expected Earnings per Share
- 0.02 $
Expected date of the next quarterly or annual figures. Dates do shift occasionally — only the invitation issued by the company is binding.
Revenue & Profit
Cash Flow
Balance Sheet
Margins
Per Share
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· Total · per year
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The figures could not be loaded right now.
Source: fundamental data
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | -0.02 | – | 326 | 16.00 | -2.20 | 62 | 56 |
| 2025: Q1 | 0.00 | – | 333 | 10.80 | 0.20 | -3 | -10 |
| 2025: Q2 | -0.01 | – | 345 | 10.60 | -1.10 | 64 | 57 |
| 2025: Q3 | 0.00 | – | 364 | 16.30 | 0.30 | 27 | 17 |
| 2025: Q4 | 0.03 | – | 382 | 17.40 | 3.10 | 58 | 83 |
| 2026: Q1 | 0.04 | 1,886.40 | 404 | 21.20 | 3.50 | 33 | 22 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Annual Figures
| Fiscal Year | Revenue ($M) | EBIT ($M) | Net Income ($M) | EPS ($) | Operating Cash Flow ($M) | Equity ($M) | Total Assets ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 213 | 15 | 6 | 0.02 | 17 | -166 | 281 |
| 2020 | 377 | 15 | -38 | -0.10 | -9 | 998 | 1,570 |
| 2021 | 668 | -286 | -307 | -0.94 | 9 | 1,545 | 1,927 |
| 2022 | 860 | -210 | -216 | -0.61 | 53 | 1,519 | 2,174 |
| 2023 | 1,056 | -189 | -186 | -0.51 | -17 | 1,429 | 2,110 |
| 2024 | 1,251 | -32 | -57 | -0.15 | 107 | 1,446 | 2,118 |
| 2025 | 1,424 | 24 | 10 | 0.02 | 146 | 1,521 | 2,204 |
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.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
Four years of shrinking losses, then the flip: minus $307.2 million (2021), minus $215.6 million (2022), minus $186.3 million (2023), minus $57.4 million (2024), plus $9.7 million (2025). In the first quarter of 2026 revenue rose 21 percent to $403.5 million and net income reached $14.2 million. The clinician count grew by a net 814 and visits by 18 percent to 2.5 million per quarter.
Equity ratio of 69 percent, Altman Z-score 3.91 and a Piotroski F-score of 8 of 9 as of July 26, 2026. Debt stands at $282.8 million principal, $232.0 million of it not due until 2029; the $100.0 million revolving facility was fully undrawn as of March 31, 2026, and net interest expense for the quarter was $1.8 million. Cash sits at $194.8 million with positive free cash flow.
The material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting identified in connection with the fiscal 2019 audit still existed as of March 31, 2026 according to the quarterly report; the chief executive officer and the chief financial officer conclude that disclosure controls were not effective. The same weaknesses already forced a restatement of the 2018 and 2019 financial statements. Remediation is under way but not complete.
Of $2,145.9 million in total assets as of March 31, 2026, $1,297.0 million is goodwill and $175.1 million other intangibles. Deduct both from equity of $1,477.4 million and roughly $5.3 million of tangible substance remains. Note 7 attributes the goodwill primarily to the assembled workforce — to people who can resign.
Two commercial payors accounted for 13 percent and 15 percent of revenue in the first quarter of 2026, 28 percent combined, and 88 percent of revenue comes from commercial insurers. Dependence on the larger of the two has fallen since 2023, when it was 19 percent, and government-funded work has grown to 6 percent. The concentration is not existential, but it does set prices.
TPG cut its stake from 36.1 percent to 29.3 percent in the offering that closed on May 12, 2026, and Summit Partners from 7.5 percent to 6.1 percent. The company itself absorbed 6.0 million shares for $48.12 million; together with $49.1 million spent in the first quarter, $97.2 million of the authorized $100.0 million is gone. The purchase was approved by a committee of disinterested directors — the standard safeguard for related-party dealings.
LifeStance delivered what a turnaround is supposed to deliver: revenue rose from $667.5 million (2021) to $1,424.3 million (2025), a $307.2 million loss became a $9.7 million profit, operating cash flow climbed to $146.2 million, and the first quarter of 2026 followed up with 21 percent revenue growth and $14.2 million of income. The balance sheet carries: a 69 percent equity ratio, an undrawn revolver, debt not due until 2029. The other side is equally documented: internal control over financial reporting has been deficient since the fiscal 2019 audit and remained so as of March 31, 2026, 60 percent of the balance sheet is goodwill built on assembled workforces, and the sponsor is selling while the company pushes back with nearly its whole buyback authorization. Not investment advice.
- LifeStance reached our research list through our in-house stock scanner: rank 16 of 62 U.S. hits in the "Turnaround Candidates" list, turnaround check 7 of 8, as of July 25, 2026. The list is recalculated every day — the rank is a dated snapshot, not a standing state. Two mandatory pillars decide admission: at least 50 percent below the all-time high, and secured survival (Altman Z-score of 1.1 or better, at most one balance sheet warning flag, positive equity). Miss either one and the stock leaves the list no matter how good the turnaround check looks.
- Every figure carries its own as-of date: annual data from the Form 10-K for 2025 (filed February 25, 2026) and for 2022 (filed March 9, 2023), quarterly data from the 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 (filed May 7, 2026), buyback and ownership data from the 8-K filed May 12, 2026 and the 424B7 filed May 8, 2026, board changes from the 8-K filed July 7, 2026. Valuation ratios are as of July 26, 2026 — meant to be evergreen, with no daily price used as a buy argument. Market value was cross-checked against 381.8 million shares times $10.13 from the Form 144 filed June 26, 2026; the gap is about 7 percent.
- Avoid confusion: the ticker LFST belongs to LifeStance Health Group, Inc. of Scottsdale (CIK 0001845257). The SEC registration lists no former names. The company should not be confused with purely virtual mental health providers — LifeStance explicitly treats in person as well, across 572 of its own centers. Through July 26, 2026 no SEC filing disclosed an acquisition, a going-private transaction or a merger.
About the Company
LifeStance Health Group, Inc. bietet über ihre Tochtergesellschaften ambulante psychische Gesundheitsdienste für Kinder, Jugendliche, Erwachsene und Senioren in den USA an.
| Employees | 8,349 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Scottsdale, AZ |
| Address | 4800 North Scottsdale Road, 85251 Scottsdale, United States |
| Phone | 602 767 2100 |
| Website | lifestance.com |
| IPO Date | 10. Jun 2021 |
| ISIN | US53228F1012 |
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Kenneth Alan Burdick J.D. | Executive Chairman | 1959 |
| David Patrick Bourdon | CEO & Director | 1969 |
| Ryan Bruce McGroarty | CFO & Treasurer | 1973 |
| Vukasin Paunovich | Chief Technology Officer | 1972 |
| Ryan Pardo J.D. | Chief Legal Officer & Secretary | 1977 |
| Ann Varanakis | Chief People Officer | 1978 |
| Lisa Keise Miller | Chief Operating Officer & Principal Operating Officer | 1974 |
| Monica Prokocki | Vice President of Investor Relations | – |
| Brooke Matthews | Director of Public Relations | – |
| Richard Hall | Chief Shared Services Officer | – |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Insider Transactions
| Date | Person | Role | Type | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6. Jul 2026 | Burdick Kenneth A | Director | Other | 45,495 | 0.00 | – |
| 21. Apr 2026 | Robert Bessler | Director | Sell | 5,101 | 7.01 | 35,758 |
Reportable transactions by officers and major shareholders from SEC Form 4 filings. "Other" includes things like stock grants and option exercises without a buy/sell character.
View all insider transactions →Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 31, 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.