MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.25 EPS

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) posted its earnings results on Monday. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.25, FiscalAI reports. MediaAlpha had a negative return on equity of 71.02% and a negative net margin of 0.10%.The business had revenue of $291.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $296.42 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

Here are the key takeaways from MediaAlpha’s conference call:

• MediaAlpha delivered record 2025 results with $2B Transaction Value, $1B revenue and $100M Adjusted EBITDA, driven by 65% P&C growth and 45% total Transaction Value growth.
• The company materially narrowed its Under?65 health business—health vertical revenue declined ~40% in Q4 and Under?65 health contribution fell to ~$7M from $41M in 2024; health is expected to be a mid?single?digit % of Transaction Value in 2026.
• Management highlighted AI tailwinds—P&C click volume rose >20% YoY in Q4 and the platform is embedding AI to price media more granularly, which they say increases targeting effectiveness and reinforces scale/data defensibility.
• Capital return acceleration—repurchased ~$47.3M (~7% of shares) in 2025 and the board boosted the buyback by $50M to a $100M program, with the majority expected to be executed in 2026.
• Strong cash generation and near?term outlook—generated $99M free cash flow in 2025 (net ~$65M excluding FTC), guided Q1 Transaction Value up ~23% YoY and reiterated a full?year free cash flow target of $90M–$100M.

MediaAlpha Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of MediaAlpha stock opened at $7.69 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $10.67 and a 200-day moving average of $11.42. MediaAlpha has a 1-year low of $7.09 and a 1-year high of $13.92. The company has a market cap of $501.16 million, a PE ratio of -256.25 and a beta of 1.29.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MAX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of MediaAlpha in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MediaAlpha from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, January 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of MediaAlpha from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $13.50 target price on MediaAlpha in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on MediaAlpha from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MediaAlpha has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.25.

Insider Activity at MediaAlpha

In other MediaAlpha news, insider Steven Yi sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.50, for a total transaction of $108,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,903,330 shares in the company, valued at $39,194,955. The trade was a 0.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CRO Keith Cramer sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.83, for a total value of $128,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive directly owned 187,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,401,378.27. This represents a 5.07% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 495,000 shares of company stock valued at $5,820,802 over the last three months. 11.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MediaAlpha by 680.9% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,429,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246,493 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in MediaAlpha by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,367,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,714,000 after buying an additional 309,455 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MediaAlpha by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,045,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,538,000 after acquiring an additional 100,300 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MediaAlpha by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 804,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,413,000 after purchasing an additional 33,416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shay Capital LLC grew its holdings in MediaAlpha by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Shay Capital LLC now owns 790,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,991,000 after acquiring an additional 120,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.39% of the company’s stock.

More MediaAlpha News

Here are the key news stories impacting MediaAlpha this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Record transaction value and full?year financial milestones: MediaAlpha reported Q4 transaction value of $613M and record full?year transaction value ($2.2B), revenue ($1.1B), net income and adjusted EBITDA. The board doubled the share repurchase authorization to $100M — a direct capital?return catalyst. MediaAlpha Announces Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2025 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Earnings beat: Q4 EPS of $0.50 topped expectations (~$0.25), a meaningful beat that helped lift sentiment despite softer revenue. MediaAlpha, Inc. (MAX) Q4 Earnings Beat Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish forward metrics: Management sees Q1 2026 transaction value of $570M–$595M and expects ~35% growth in the P&C vertical, citing AI-driven improvements and expansion of its open marketplace — positive for revenue?linked volume growth. MediaAlpha expects $570M–$595M Q1 2026 transaction value with 35% P&C growth as AI and open marketplace drive expansion
• Neutral Sentiment: Q1 revenue guidance set to $285M–$305M, roughly in line with Street estimates — guidance is not a clear positive surprise but supports the transaction?value narrative. MediaAlpha Inc (MAX) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Highlights
• Neutral Sentiment: Full earnings call transcript and slides are available for detail — useful for checking margin drivers, customer concentration, and how management plans to deploy the buyback. MediaAlpha, Inc. (MAX) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue miss and weaker year?over?year top?line: Q4 revenue was $291.15M vs. consensus ~$296.4M and was down ~3.2% YoY; the company still shows a thin net margin (slightly negative) and negative ROE — underlying profitability and growth recovery remain mixed. MediaAlpha Q4 results and metrics
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction may reflect sentiment and buyback/transaction?value momentum more than durable margin improvement; that raises short?term volatility risk if execution or P&C adoption softens. MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) misses Q4 CY2025 sales expectations, but stock soars 8.2%

About MediaAlpha

MediaAlpha, Inc is a technology company that operates a real-time digital marketplace for the distribution of insurance and adjacent services. The company’s platform connects buyers—consumers seeking insurance policies—to sellers, including insurance carriers and distribution partners, through programmatic bidding and data-driven pricing. By leveraging transaction-level data and proprietary auction mechanics, MediaAlpha enables carriers to acquire customers more efficiently and at scale.

The firm offers a suite of products that help clients optimize marketing spend and improve conversion rates.