Is the business good?
How good a business is ZD?
Ziff Davis, Inc. earns 5.8% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
5.8%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 3.2 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 11%
Operating margin · Advertising Agencies median 11% · 12 months to Q1 2026
- Share count, year on year
- −12%
Share count, year on year · bought back, each share owns more of the company
- R&D as % of revenue
- 4.3%
R&D as % of revenue
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 12% |
| FY2021 | 12% |
| FY2022 | 14% |
| FY2023 | 9.7% |
| FY2024 | 8.1% |
| FY2025 | 13% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 85%
- Operating margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 11%
- Net margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 3.3%
- Free cash flow margin
- 21%
- R&D as % of revenue
- 4.3%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $1.39B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $290M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $45M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 5.8%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.
Advertising Agencies
Ranks #8 of 9 by Smart Score