MediaAlpha 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 rating judges the company, not the share price — and one red criterion is hard evidence: equity was negative at minus $29.1 million as of March 31, 2026; the quarterly report labels the line, verbatim, "Total stockholders' deficit", and it was negative as of December 31, 2025 too (minus $29.2 million). The composition of the asset side reinforces it: $143.7 million of deferred tax assets and $47.7 million of goodwill make up 52.1 percent of total assets. That deferred tax asset is the counterpart of the very $137.8 million tax benefit that turned a $111.1 million pre-tax loss into a 2025 profit — if the valuation allowance had to be re-established, equity would move toward minus $170 million on paper, with nothing changing in the business. Plenty stands on the other side: no going concern paragraph, an unqualified opinion from PricewaterhouseCoopers (engaged since 2017), $65.6 million of operating cash flow in 2025 and rising, financing secured to 2031 at 5.97 percent, and a first quarter of 2026 with $22.4 million of income from operations. The stock may look inexpensive against those numbers — that is a price argument and changes nothing about the substance. Under the tie-break rule, the more cautious level applies: red.
What the thesis turns on
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
MediaAlpha is a working marketplace with a genuine network effect, extreme operating leverage and $65.6 million of operating cash flow in 2025 — produced by 147 employees. But the chain does not end where the big number sits: $1,113.6 million of revenue left $167.5 million of gross profit, of which $22.1 million was income from operations, after which the increase in the debt owed to its own pre-IPO owners produced a pre-tax loss of $111.1 million. The reported profit of $26.8 million arrived one line later, from a $137.8 million income tax benefit. Add 90.1 percent of revenue from one cyclical vertical, 49 percent from two customers, a $45.0 million FTC settlement, and a headline metric that stops being reported in 2026. Not investment advice.
Business model and leverage
A genuine marketplace with a documented network effect: $2.16 billion of volume ran across the platform in 2025, 99 percent of it from partners already in place in 2024, and 16 of the 20 largest U.S. auto insurers are Demand Partners. All of it moved by 147 full-time employees with capital expenditures of $0.3 million (annual report 10-K for 2025).
Quality of earnings
The reported 2025 net income of $26.8 million only appears below a pre-tax loss of $111.1 million — created by an income tax benefit of $137.8 million from releasing a valuation allowance on deferred tax assets. Income from operations fell from $42.7 million to $22.1 million despite revenue growth of 28.8 percent, weighed down by a $38.0 million FTC reserve and a $13.4 million write-off (10-K for 2025).
Balance sheet and substance
As of March 31, 2026, total assets of $367.7 million stood against total liabilities of $396.8 million; the quarterly report labels the line, verbatim, "Total stockholders' deficit", at minus $29.1 million. 52.1 percent of the asset side consists of deferred tax assets ($143.7 million) and goodwill ($47.7 million); cash was $26.1 million against $163.5 million of borrowings.
Cash generation and financing
Operating cash flow rose three years running to $65.6 million (2025; 2024: $45.9; 2023: $20.2). On March 25, 2026, financing was restructured: a $150.0 million term loan maturing March 25, 2031, a $60.0 million revolving facility, and an interest rate of 5.97 percent as of March 31, 2026 — no near-term maturity wall (10-Q as of March 31, 2026).
Concentration and cyclicality
90.1 percent of 2025 revenue came from property and casualty insurance, in practice auto — a market whose advertising budgets once already cost the company 40 percent of its revenue between 2021 and 2023. Add two customers at 49 percent of revenue and two suppliers at 25 percent of purchases after 11 percent a year earlier; many contracts are terminable on 30 or 60 days' notice (10-K for 2025, Item 1A and notes).
Claims of the pre-IPO owners
Under the 2020 Tax Receivables Agreement, 85 percent of future tax savings go to the pre-IPO owners; the liability rose by $124.1 million to $131.1 million in 2025. On the relief side: on June 25, 2026, MediaAlpha repurchased the Insignia interest for $31.0 million — 55 percent below its own $68.7 million carrying estimate — and puts the remaining liability at roughly $55.0 million as of June 30, 2026 (8-K of June 29, 2026).
Worth Noting
MediaAlpha reached our research list through a review of the most-discussed U.S. stocks in the large Reddit investing forums, as of July 27, 2026. That is an attention signal, not a quality judgment — the analysis itself rests exclusively on the mandatory filings with the U.S. securities regulator, the SEC.
Currency of the data: the most recent periodic report is the quarterly report 10-Q as of March 31, 2026 (filed April 29, 2026). It was followed by four 8-K filings (April 29, quarterly results; May 6, annual meeting results; May 18, a board appointment; June 29, 2026, the TRA buyback), a Schedule 13D/A (May 1, 2026) and ongoing insider filings (Form 4/Form 144, most recently July 22, 2026). The TRA buyback of June 25, 2026 is incorporated; the share count comes from the Form 144 notice of July 16, 2026 (54,062,155 Class A shares) and the most recent documented price from the Form 4 of July 22, 2026.
Not to be confused: the ticker MAX belongs to MediaAlpha, Inc. — not MaxLinear (MXL) and not Max Financial Services. "Contribution" and "adjusted EBITDA" are company-defined measures outside U.S. GAAP and are not identical to audited figures. Valuation statements are evergreen: the only price anchors used are those documented in mandatory filings ($12.95 as of December 31, 2025 per the 10-K; $13.71 to $14.33 for insider sales of July 20 to 22, 2026 per Form 4), never daily quotes.
Stock Watch
This analysis is as of August 26, 2026. Stock Watch will tell you what's changed at MAX since then.
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Price history
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
52-week range: 7.20 $ to 14.30 $ · Last price: 10.60 $ (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 Content & Information
| Company | Market cap ($B) | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross Margin % | EBIT Margin % | Sales Growth (Year) % | Perf. 1Y % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MediaAlpha Inc. MAX | 0.6 | 16.2 | 410.5 | 14.7 | – | 28.8 | -19.6 |
| Alphabet Inc Class A GOOGL | 4,238.0 | 26.1 | 12.3 | 60.9 | 36.1 | 15.1 | 39.6 |
| Alphabet Inc Class C GOOG | 4,226.7 | 25.7 | 12.3 | 60.9 | 36.1 | 15.1 | 37.9 |
| Meta Platforms Inc. META | 1,737.1 | 25.4 | 14.9 | 81.8 | 40.6 | 22.2 | -11.8 |
| Spotify Technology SA SPOT | 108.7 | 39.3 | 23.1 | 32.8 | 15.8 | 9.7 | -25.2 |
| Nebius Group N.V. NBIS | 48.1 | – | 50.6 | 74.3 | – | – | 131.7 |
| Reddit, Inc. RDDT | 31.1 | 44.2 | 35.5 | 91.4 | 27.6 | 69.4 | -42.7 |
| Baidu Inc BIDU | 30.5 | – | 51.2 | 40.9 | 10.0 | -3.0 | -28.5 |
| Tencent Music Entertainment Group TME | 12.8 | 9.3 | 6.9 | 44.3 | 30.4 | 15.9 | -68.5 |
| Median of companies shown | 48.1 | 25.7 | 23.1 | 60.9 | 30.4 | 15.5 | -19.6 |
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 | 297 | 19 | 18 | 0.55 | 23 | 40 | 87 |
| 2019 | 408 | 25 | 18 | 17.53 | 22 | -114 | 105 |
| 2020 | 585 | 20 | 15 | 0.44 | 51 | -102 | 214 |
| 2021 | 645 | 2 | -5 | -0.09 | 29 | -4 | 290 |
| 2022 | 459 | -35 | -58 | -1.37 | 28 | -16 | 170 |
| 2023 | 388 | -40 | -40 | -0.89 | 20 | -10 | 154 |
| 2024 | 865 | 43 | 17 | 0.31 | 46 | 2 | 262 |
| 2025 | 1,114 | 78 | 26 | 0.38 | 66 | 4 | 384 |
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 | 0.08 | – | 301 | 156.60 | 1.50 | 15 | 15 |
| 2025: Q1 | -0.04 | – | 264 | 108.70 | -0.70 | 24 | 24 |
| 2025: Q2 | -0.33 | -592.20 | 252 | 41.10 | -7.40 | 26 | 26 |
| 2025: Q3 | 0.26 | 52.50 | 307 | 18.30 | 4.90 | 24 | 24 |
| 2025: Q4 | 0.47 | 460.20 | 291 | -3.20 | 10.80 | -7 | -8 |
| 2026: Q1 | 0.21 | – | 310 | 17.30 | 3.70 | -2 | -2 |
| 2026: Q2 | 0.65 | 297.00 | 317 | 26.00 | 12.40 | 43 | 42 |
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 7 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Growth
Quality & Balance Sheet
Breakout & Setup
Momentum & Trend
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
Estimates by Fiscal Year
| Fiscal Year | EPS Estimate ($) | EPS Range ($) | Revenue Estimate ($M) | Expected Growth | Analysts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/31/2026 | 1.50 | 1.01 – 2.05 | 1,308 | -57.5% | 3 |
| 12/31/2027 | 1.67 | 1.08 – 2.03 | 1,420 | 11.4% | 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.
Today’s market value implies roughly -1.8% growth in free cash flow per year over ten years (assumptions: discount rate 10.0%, terminal growth 2.5%).
| Free cash flow (last twelve months) | $56.3M |
|---|---|
| Market cap | $566.0M |
| Free cash flow in year ten | $47.0M |
| Terminal value as a share of market value | 43.8% |
For comparison: over the past five years free cash flow grew by 5.0% 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
KI ist bei MediaAlpha keine Umsatzquelle, sondern ein im Geschäftsbericht konkret benanntes Risiko für den Zufluss: Das gesamte Geschäft beginnt mit Menschen, die über Suchmaschinen auf Vergleichsseiten gelangen — und genau diesen Kanal sieht die Firma durch KI in Suchmaschinen und durch KI-Plattformen bedroht.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„Internet search engines may incorporate artificial intelligence into their platforms in ways that we cannot predict, and AI-based platforms may increasingly compete with such search engines. Such changes may adversely impact the volume and price of Consumer Referrals."
Internet-Suchmaschinen könnten künstliche Intelligenz auf eine Weise in ihre Plattformen einbauen, die wir nicht vorhersagen können, und KI-basierte Plattformen könnten zunehmend mit solchen Suchmaschinen konkurrieren. Solche Veränderungen könnten sich nachteilig auf Menge und Preis der Verbraucher-Vermittlungen auswirken.
10-K · 2026-02-23 · View SEC filing
„In addition, changes in the usage and functioning of search engines or decreases in consumer use of search engines, for example, as a result of the continued development of artificial intelligence technology, could negatively impact our owned and operated and our third-party publishers’ websites."
Darüber hinaus könnten Veränderungen bei der Nutzung und Funktionsweise von Suchmaschinen oder ein Rückgang der Suchmaschinennutzung durch Verbraucher — zum Beispiel als Folge der fortschreitenden Entwicklung der Technologie künstlicher Intelligenz — unsere eigenen Webseiten und die Webseiten unserer Publisher-Partner negativ beeinträchtigen.
10-K · 2026-02-23 · View SEC filing
„The data that we gather from interactions with consumers is evaluated and curated by proprietary predictive modeling tools and machine learning algorithms."
Die Daten, die wir aus Interaktionen mit Verbrauchern gewinnen, werden von firmeneigenen Prognosemodellen und Algorithmen des maschinellen Lernens ausgewertet und aufbereitet.
10-K · 2026-02-23 · View SEC filing
Filings Reviewed: 10-K 2026-02-23 · 10-Q 2026-04-29 · 10-Q 2025-10-29 · 10-Q 2025-08-06 · 10-Q 2025-04-30 · 10-K 2025-02-24
Rated on July 27, 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 34.4%
- More than 10% revenue growth is expected for the coming year 8.6%
- Share count grows by less than 3% a year 16.8%
- Revenue growth plus cash-flow margin add up to at least 40 ("Rule of 40") 34.6%
- Gross margin at 40% or higher and without meaningful erosion 14.8%
- Goodwill from acquisitions does not grow faster than revenue 12.4%
- Net debt below twice EBITDA failed
- Operating cash flow covers the profits of the last three years 130 m
- Return on capital at 15% or higher, or up versus two years ago 33.1%
- Insiders hold at least 10% or are net buyers 43.5%
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
7/10The 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% 20.8%
- Exp. sales growth 3Y > 5% 12.9%
- EBIT growth 10Y > 5% 22.1%
- Exp. EBIT growth 3Y > 5% 108.8%
- Net debt < 4x EBIT 1.4x
- EBIT positive, 10Y straight 6
- Max. EBIT decline < 50% 100.0%
- Return on equity > 15% –
- ROCE > 15% 33.1%
- Expected return > 10% 132.9%
View stocks with the full AAQS score · Read the methodology at AlleAktien
Source: fundamental data
Insiders
Insider Transactions
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.
| Date | Person | Role | Type | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 16, 2026 | Nonko Eugene | Director | Sell | 7,273 | 11.24 | 81,733 |
| Sep 16, 2026 | Nonko Eugene | Director | Sell | 1,940 | 11.25 | 21,827 |
| Sep 15, 2026 | Cramer Keith | Chief Revenue Officer | Sell | 13,000 | 11.49 | 149,422 |
| Sep 15, 2026 | Nonko Eugene | Director | Sell | 7,273 | 11.49 | 83,538 |
| Sep 15, 2026 | Nonko Eugene | Director | Sell | 1,940 | 11.48 | 22,272 |
| Sep 14, 2026 | Nonko Eugene | Director | Sell | 7,778 | 11.96 | 93,005 |
| Sep 14, 2026 | Nonko Eugene | Director | Sell | 2,667 | 12.03 | 32,095 |
| Sep 10, 2026 | Nonko Eugene | Director | Sell | 7,273 | 11.62 | 84,506 |
| Sep 10, 2026 | Nonko Eugene | Director | Sell | 1,940 | 11.52 | 22,345 |
| Sep 9, 2026 | Nonko Eugene | Director | Sell | 7,273 | 11.41 | 82,954 |
The company
About the Company
MediaAlpha, Inc. , through its subsidiaries, operates an insurance customer acquisition platform in the United States.
- Employees
- 147
- Headquarters
- Los Angeles, CA
- Address
- 700 South Flower Street, 90017 Los Angeles, United States
- Phone
- 213 316 6256
- Website
- mediaalpha.com
- IPO Date
- 10/28/2020
- ISIN
- US58450V1044
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Steven M. Yi J.D. | Co-Founder, CEO, President & Director | 1970 |
| Eugene Nonko | Co-Founder, Chief Architect & Director | 1981 |
| Patrick R. Thompson | CFO, Treasurer, Principal Financial & Accounting Officer | 1979 |
| Amy Yeh | Chief Technology Officer | 1979 |
| Jeffrey B. Coyne Esq., J.D. | General Counsel & Secretary | 1967 |
| Keith Cramer | Chief Revenue Officer | 1981 |
| Tigran Sinanyan | Senior VP of Finance & Corporate Development | 1983 |
| Andy Soltani | Senior Vice President of Analytics | – |
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).
- 09/09/2026 MediaAlpha, Inc. (MAX): Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement; Financial Statements and Exhibits SEC ↗
- 09/03/2026 MediaAlpha, Inc. (MAX): Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers: Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers; Regulation FD Disclosure; Financial Statements and Exhibits SEC ↗
- 07/29/2026 MediaAlpha, Inc. (MAX): Results of Operations and Financial Condition; Financial Statements and Exhibits 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.