Marketwise 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
Red here stands for documented substance findings, not for a share price — and this is expressly a borderline case. Documented are equity of minus $213.6 million as of December 31, 2025 and minus $226.9 million as of March 31, 2026, liabilities of $432.0 million against total assets of $218.4 million, an operating cash outflow of $22.2 million in 2024 despite reported group net income of $93.1 million, and a cash balance that has fallen from $155.2 million (end of 2023) to a preliminary $33 million (June 30, 2026) while tax distributions to the minority holders continue. Against that stands a great deal: no financial debt, no maturity, no covenant, a profitable business, and liabilities that are largely delivery obligations rather than money claims. We do not read this as proximity to insolvency but as a documented question about substance — and in doubt the more cautious level applies. The decision is yours.
What the thesis turns on
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
MarketWise is not a one-year bargain but a debt-free subscription publisher in which the listed share owns a 15.2 percent stake. The business works: $62.6 million of operating income and $44.4 million of free cash flow in 2025, no financial debt, billings growing again (preliminarily up 56 percent in the second quarter of 2026) and a quarterly dividend of $0.45. But 84.8 percent of profit and cash flow belong to the LLC members, $62.0 million flowed to them in 2025, equity stands at minus $213.6 million and cash fell from $97.9 million to a preliminary $33 million. The P/FCF of 1.0 therefore does not measure the company: on a consistent basis the ratio is about 7. Not investment advice.
Business model and cash
A subscription publisher with almost no capital needs: $328.1 million of revenue on $1.6 million of investing outflows (2025), operating income of $62.6 million and free cash flow of $44.4 million. No financial debt and $70.1 million of cash as of December 31, 2025 (10-K 2025).
Order book 2026
Billings are turning: $271.2 million in 2025 (up 13.4 percent), $81.4 million in the first quarter of 2026 (up 15 percent) and preliminarily roughly $91 million in the second quarter (up 56 percent, the highest since 2023). The full-year target was raised by 10 percent to $330 million on July 9, 2026 (8-K of July 10, 2026, Exhibit 99.1).
Stake held by the listed share
MarketWise, Inc. held only 15.2 percent of the operating company as of December 31, 2025 (December 31, 2024: 12.4 percent). Of the 2025 group net income of $64.0 million, $58.4 million went to the noncontrolling interests and $5.6 million to the listed company. The P/FCF of 1.0 shown by the scanner therefore divides a Class A market value by a group cash flow (10-K 2025).
Balance-sheet structure
Liabilities of $432.0 million stand against total assets of $218.4 million (December 31, 2025); equity is minus $213.6 million and minus $226.9 million as of March 31, 2026. The cause is $368.0 million of invoiced but undelivered subscriptions, settled in newsletters rather than in money (10-K 2025, 10-Q for March 31, 2026).
Cash drain to the minority holders
In 2025 the company paid $49.8 million of tax distributions and $12.2 million of other distributions to the LLC members, against $4.8 million of dividends to Class A shareholders. Cash consequently fell in a good year from $97.9 million to $70.1 million and, preliminarily, to roughly $33 million by June 30, 2026. Roughly $40 million of tax distributions are expected for 2026 (10-K 2025, 8-K of July 10, 2026).
Customer base and marketing efficiency
Paid subscribers fell 26.0 percent to 374 thousand in 2025 and stood preliminarily at 400 thousand on June 30, 2026; on a trailing four-quarter basis they still declined 22 percent. Revenue per customer rose from $394 to a preliminary $821. The ratio of lifetime value to acquisition cost stands at 2.0x against the benchmark of 3x named by the company itself (10-K 2025, 10-Q for March 31, 2026).
Worth Noting
MarketWise reached our research list through our in-house stock scanner: 18th place in the P/FCF ranking at a ratio of 1.0 (544 stocks pass the criteria and the 25 strongest hits are shown; as of July 26, 2026). These lists are recalculated daily, so the placement is a dated snapshot.
Numerator and denominator of the ratio do not match: the market value of roughly $52.6 million contains only the Class A shares, while the $44.4 million of free cash flow comes from the whole group. On a consistent basis — all 15,651,315 shares of both classes against $44.4 million, or $52.6 million against the 15.2 to 17.0 percent share — the ratio is about seven.
Reverse stock split alert: effective April 2, 2025 every 20 shares became one. All figures in this analysis are stated after the split and the financial statements were retroactively adjusted. Unadjusted price series jump that day from $0.51 to $10.30 — that is the split, not a gain.
The second-quarter 2026 figures cited here (roughly $91 million of billings, 400 thousand subscribers, roughly $33 million of cash, a $330 million full-year target) come from the release of July 9, 2026 and are expressly preliminary and unaudited. The full report is scheduled for August 6, 2026.
Stock Watch
This analysis is as of August 29, 2026. Stock Watch will tell you what's changed at MKTW since then.
Later $1 a month per stock — signing up is free, and you'll be the first to know when it launches.
Price history
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
52-week range: 13.70 $ to 21.30 $ · Last price: 17.80 $ (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
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: Financial Data & Stock Exchanges
| Company | Market cap ($B) | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross Margin % | EBIT Margin % | Sales Growth (Year) % | Perf. 1Y % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marketwise Inc MKTW | 0.0 | – | 0.8 | 86.0 | – | -19.7 | 15.8 |
| S&P Global Inc SPGI | 128.2 | 27.1 | 16.1 | 70.9 | 44.3 | 7.9 | -20.8 |
| CME Group Inc CME | 98.0 | 22.8 | 16.4 | 100.0 | 69.8 | 6.4 | 7.4 |
| Intercontinental Exchange Inc ICE | 85.6 | 22.3 | 13.8 | 100.0 | 57.3 | 7.5 | -9.8 |
| Moodys Corporation MCO | 81.3 | 34.3 | 20.3 | 75.0 | 45.7 | 8.9 | -9.0 |
| Nasdaq Inc NDAQ | 51.7 | 27.5 | 16.8 | 100.0 | 48.4 | 11.1 | -2.8 |
| Coinbase Global Inc COIN | 47.8 | 64.0 | 30.7 | 85.8 | -7.1 | 9.4 | -49.8 |
| MSCI Inc MSCI | 40.0 | 31.1 | 22.4 | 83.0 | 53.7 | 9.8 | -3.3 |
| Cboe Global Markets Inc CBOE | 27.9 | 22.4 | 14.0 | 54.1 | 39.7 | 15.1 | 16.9 |
| Median of companies shown | 51.7 | 27.3 | 16.4 | 85.8 | 47.1 | 8.9 | -3.3 |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 238 | 18 | 19 | 7.19 | 76 | – | – |
| 2019 | 272 | 26 | 28 | 10.80 | 54 | -262 | 276 |
| 2020 | 364 | -539 | -538 | -208.07 | 56 | -915 | 285 |
| 2021 | 549 | -968 | -1,013 | -536.14 | 64 | -49 | 422 |
| 2022 | 512 | 87 | 18 | 14.54 | 48 | -21 | 443 |
| 2023 | 448 | 52 | 2 | 1.07 | 62 | -11 | 397 |
| 2024 | 409 | 89 | 7 | 3.58 | -22 | -13 | 260 |
| 2025 | 328 | 63 | 6 | 2.31 | 46 | -12 | 218 |
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: Q4 | 0.81 | 1,438.10 | 98 | -13.10 | 2.20 | 6 | 6 |
| 2025: Q1 | 0.34 | -46.30 | 84 | -23.40 | 1.10 | 2 | 2 |
| 2025: Q2 | 0.49 | -16.00 | 80 | -23.90 | 1.60 | 18 | 18 |
| 2025: Q3 | 0.57 | -12.50 | 81 | -16.40 | 1.90 | 2 | 2 |
| 2025: Q4 | 0.73 | -9.80 | 83 | -14.40 | 2.30 | 24 | 25 |
| 2026: Q1 | -0.22 | -164.40 | 77 | -7.80 | -0.70 | -2 | -3 |
| 2026: Q2 | -0.24 | -149.00 | 76 | -5.30 | -0.80 | 22 | 22 |
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 6 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Breakout & Setup
Momentum & Trend
Research
Risk & Weakness
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. Scanners marked in red are red-flag signals (risk/short scanners) — appearing there is not a seal of approval. 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
Estimates by Fiscal Year
| Fiscal Year | EPS Estimate ($) | EPS Range ($) | Revenue Estimate ($M) | Expected Growth | Analysts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/31/2026 | 0.63 | 0.63 – 0.63 | 322 | – | 1 |
| 12/31/2027 | 2.45 | 1.29 – 3.58 | 341 | – | 3 |
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.
Valuation
What is priced in?
Instead of guessing what the stock is worth, we turn the question around: what free cash flow growth has to happen for today’s market value to add up? The assumptions behind it can be moved.
With these assumptions (discount rate 10.0%, terminal growth 2.5%), no growth rate between -20.0% and 60.0% per year explains today’s market value — the reverse calculation yields no meaningful figure here.
| Free cash flow (last twelve months) | $46.8M |
|---|---|
| Market cap | $47.0M |
| Free cash flow in year ten | – |
| Terminal value as a share of market value | – |
For comparison: over the past five years free cash flow shrank by 3.8% per year.
It shows which assumption is built into today’s price, not whether that assumption will hold. Every assumption can be changed with the sliders; the figures move with them.
A simplified model calculation — not a forecast and not a recommendation.
AI classification
AI Rating
MarketWise setzt maschinelles Lernen und KI nach eigenen Angaben im Kundenmarketing sowie zunehmend in Produkten und Prozessen ein, verkauft aber selbst keine KI-Technologie.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„We have invested significant resources into our efforts around consumer marketing, including enterprise-wide customer relationship management (“CRM”) systems, the leveraging of artificial intelligence (“AI”) to analyze this data, and a robust database of customer information."
Wir haben erhebliche Mittel in unser Verbrauchermarketing investiert, darunter unternehmensweite Systeme zur Kundenbeziehungspflege („CRM“), den Einsatz künstlicher Intelligenz („KI“) zur Auswertung dieser Daten und eine umfangreiche Datenbank mit Kundeninformationen.
10-K · 2026-03-06 · View SEC filing
„We are increasing our use of machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) technologies into certain of our products and processes."
Wir weiten den Einsatz von Techniken des maschinellen Lernens und der künstlichen Intelligenz („KI“) in bestimmten unserer Produkte und Prozesse aus.
10-K · 2026-03-06 · View SEC filing
„We continue to build out our AI tools and predictive analytics capacity through identification of additional business cases and additional data features."
Wir bauen unsere KI-Werkzeuge und unsere Kapazität für vorausschauende Datenauswertung weiter aus, indem wir zusätzliche Anwendungsfälle und weitere Datenmerkmale erschließen.
10-K · 2026-03-06 · View SEC filing
Filings Reviewed: 10-K 2026-03-06 · 10-Q 2026-05-07 · 8-K 2026-04-24 · 8-K 2026-05-07 · 8-K 2026-07-10 · 8-K 2026-06-08
Rated on July 26, 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 -13.8%
- More than 10% revenue growth is expected for the coming year 5.6%
- Share count grows by less than 3% a year 25.3%
- Revenue growth plus cash-flow margin add up to at least 40 ("Rule of 40") -5.8%
- Gross margin at 40% or higher and without meaningful erosion 86.5%
- Goodwill from acquisitions does not grow faster than revenue 13.8%
- Net debt below twice EBITDA 64 m net cash
- Operating cash flow covers the profits of the last three years 72 m
- Return on capital at 15% or higher, or up versus two years ago no data
- Insiders hold at least 10% or are net buyers 24.2%
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
3/10The 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% 4.7%
- Exp. sales growth 3Y > 5% 1.9%
- EBIT growth 10Y > 5% 19.3%
- Exp. EBIT growth 3Y > 5% 3.0%
- Net debt < 4x EBIT -1.0x
- EBIT positive, 10Y straight 6
- Max. EBIT decline < 50% 100.0%
- Return on equity > 15% –
- ROCE > 15% –
- Expected return > 10% 102.8%
View stocks with the full AAQS score · Read the methodology at AlleAktien
Source: fundamental data
The company
About the Company
MarketWise, Inc. betreibt eine Multi-Brand-Plattform für Inhalte und Technologie für selbstständige Anleger in den USA und international.
- Employees
- 451
- Headquarters
- Baltimore, MD
- Address
- 1125 North Charles Street, 21201 Baltimore, United States
- Phone
- 888 261 2693
- Website
- marketwise.com
- IPO Date
- 07/22/2021
- ISIN
- US57064P2065
- Stock Split
- 1:20 on 04/03/2025
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| David Eifrig Jr., M.D. | CEO & Director | 1959 |
| Frank Porter Stansberry | Founder & Director | 1973 |
| Erik Mickels CPA | COO, CFO & Principal Accounting Officer | 1977 |
| Marco Galsim | Chief Information Officer | 1975 |
| Michael Alan Palmer | MD, Copywriter & Director | 1972 |
| Scott Daniel Forney J.D. | General Counsel & Corporate Secretary | 1986 |
| Lee Harris | Senior Vice President of Financial Planning & Analysis | – |
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.