Ziff Davis, Inc. (JCOM) DCF Valuation & Fundamental Primer
Ziff Davis, Inc. (JCOM) currently trades at $142.84 with an enterprise value of $4.01B. Our proprietary institutional model rates Ziff Davis, Inc. at 70/100 (Grade: B+ · Quality Software Operator). The current market price prices in an implied 5-year revenue CAGR of 17.4% vs. historical growth of 3.3% (Aggressive Growth Expectations Priced In).
Institutional fundamental teardown of Ziff Davis, Inc. (JCOM) covering SEC 10-K/10-Q cash flow conversion, SBC dilution friction, and Reverse-DCF valuation hurdles.
Ziff Davis, Inc. (JCOM) 3-Scenario DCF Valuation Range
Stress-test JCOM's 5-year growth, target FCF margin, WACC, terminal methodology, and SBC/dilution friction in real time.
Split between 5-Year Explicit Cash Flows and Discounted Terminal Value
2D Institutional Valuation Sensitivity Heatmap
Implied share price & upside/downside spread across 25 valuation states (Current Price: $142.84).
| WACC \ Terminal | 1.5% | 2.0% | 2.5% | 3.0% | 3.5% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.5% | $86.29 -40% | $91.87 -36% | $98.39 -31% | $106.10 -26% | $115.34 -19% |
| 9.3% | $77.12 -46% | $81.52 -43% | $86.58 -39% | $92.44 -35% | $99.32 -30% |
| 10.0% | $69.57 -51% | $73.11 -49% | $77.12 -46% | $81.71 -43% | $87.00 -39% |
| 10.8% | $63.25 -56% | $66.15 -54% | $69.39 -51% | $73.05 -49% | $77.22 -46% |
| 11.5% | $57.88 -59% | $60.28 -58% | $62.95 -56% | $65.93 -54% | $69.28 -51% |
Institutional Software Quality Scorecard (70/100 · Grade B+)
Solid software model with clear operating leverage, partially offset by standard SBC or moderate burn.
Elite deferred revenue float; FCF exceeds operating income by >20%
Minimal dilution friction; management compensation aligned with shareholders
Sub-par gross margins; higher cost of delivery or hardware/services mix
Moderate leverage or cash burn; monitor liquidity runway
Core Investment Strengths & Moats
- High-grade cash conversion: FCF is 250% of EBIT driven by upfront annual collections
- Low dilution friction: SBC is only 2.9% of revenue
Key Operational & Dilution Risks
- Lower software gross margins (0.0%), indicating higher hosting or service delivery drag
Reverse-DCF Solver: What Growth is Priced Into JCOM?
The current share price demands 17.4% 5-year CAGR (19.8% net of SBC & dilution)—a +14.1% acceleration over historical run-rate (3.3%). Any growth slowdown risks valuation multiple contraction.
Headline Reverse-DCF ignores Stock-Based Compensation (2.9% of revenue) and annual share dilution (0.4%/yr). Accounting for both requires 19.8% 5-year revenue CAGR to justify $142.84/sh on a true per-share economic cash flow basis.
Ziff Davis, Inc. (JCOM) 5-Year Fundamental Forecast
| Statement Line Item | TTM Audited Base | TTM | Y1 | Y2 | Y3 | Y4 | Y5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.40B | $1.40B | $1.45B | $1.50B | $1.54B | $1.60B | $1.65B |
| Gross Profit | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Operating Income (EBIT) | $113.6M | $113.7M | $117.4M | $121.3M | $125.3M | $129.4M | $133.6M |
| Stock-Based Compensation (SBC) | $40.9M | $40.9M | $42.3M | $43.7M | $45.1M | $46.6M | $48.1M |
| Unlevered Free Cash Flow (FCF) | $283.7M | $283.7M | $293.0M | $302.7M | $312.6M | $322.9M | $333.5M |
| SBC-Adjusted True Cash Flow | $242.8M | $242.8M | $250.8M | $259.0M | $267.5M | $276.3M | $285.4M |
Software & Cloud Services Peer Comparables & Rule of 40 Regression
Rule of 40 vs. EV / Revenue Multiple Regression
OLS Fit: EV/Rev = -7.3 + 0.38 × (Rule of 40) · R² = 59%Stocks below the gold regression line trade at a discount relative to their Rule of 40 compounding efficiency.
| Company | Ticker | Market Cap | TTM Revenue | Gross Margin | FCF Margin | Rule of 40 | SBC % Rev | EV / Rev |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ziff Davis, Inc. | JCOM | $6.75B | $1.40B | 0.0% | 20.2% | 23.5% | 2.9% | 5.1× |
| ServiceNow | NOW | $152.61B | $10.98B | 79.2% | 31.1% | 54.2% | 15.9% | 13.9× |
| Workday, Inc. | WDAY | $50.35B | $8.00B | 75.0% | 27.4% | 43.9% | 19.0% | 6.4× |
| Salesforce | CRM | $217.10B | $37.90B | 77.2% | 32.8% | 42.8% | 8.4% | 5.8× |
| Datadog | DDOG | $46.05B | $2.68B | 80.8% | 31.1% | 57.7% | 21.3% | 17.4× |
| Snowflake Inc. | SNOW | $71.79B | $3.63B | 66.5% | 25.2% | 57.7% | 40.8% | 20.0× |
| Hubspot | HUBS | $19.89B | $2.63B | 85.0% | 21.3% | 52.7% | 19.2% | 7.7× |
| Peer Cohort Median Benchmark (N=6) | 78.2% | 29.2% | 53.5% | 19.1% | 10.8× | |||
EV / Revenue Multiple Compression Stress Test
| Multiple Scenario | EV / Revenue | Implied Enterprise Value | Implied Equity Value | Implied Share Price | Delta vs Current |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current Multiple | 5.1× | $7.11B | $6.75B | $142.84 | 0.0% |
| -20% Multiple Compression | 4.1× | $5.69B | $5.33B | $112.76 | -20.0% |
| -35% Multiple Compression | 3.3× | $4.62B | $4.26B | $90.19 | -35.0% |
| Software Baseline Floor (5.0× EV/Rev) | 5.0× | $7.01B | $6.65B | $140.71 | -1.4% |
Frequently Asked Questions: Ziff Davis, Inc. (JCOM) Valuation
What is Ziff Davis, Inc. (JCOM)'s intrinsic DCF valuation and implied share price?
Based on audited SEC 10-K/10-Q filings and a 5-year 3-statement discounted cash flow (DCF) model, Ziff Davis, Inc. (JCOM) has a Base Case implied value of $77.26 per share (with a Bear Case of $43.71 and a Bull Case of $113.04), compared to its current price of $142.84. The model discounts projected free cash flows at a 10.0% WACC and a 2.5% terminal growth rate.
What is Ziff Davis, Inc. (JCOM)'s Rule of 40 score and Free Cash Flow margin?
Ziff Davis, Inc. achieves a Rule of 40 score of 23.5%, combining a 3.3% revenue growth run-rate with a 20.2% TTM free cash flow margin on $1.40B in trailing twelve-month revenue. In the Software & Cloud Services peer cohort, the median Rule of 40 benchmark is 53.5%.
What revenue growth rate is priced into JCOM stock according to Reverse-DCF analysis?
At $142.84 per share (Enterprise Value of $7.11B), our Reverse-DCF solver indicates the market is pricing in a 5-year implied revenue CAGR of 17.4%, compared to Ziff Davis, Inc.'s historical CAGR of 3.3%. Overall market expectations are rated as "Aggressive Growth Expectations Priced In".
How does Ziff Davis, Inc. compare to Software & Cloud Services software peers?
Ziff Davis, Inc. (JCOM) earns an institutional Software Quality Score of 70/100 (Grade B+ — Quality Software Operator). Across its Software & Cloud Services peer group (NOW, WDAY, CRM, DDOG, SNOW), the cohort trades at a median EV/TTM Revenue multiple of 10.8× and a median gross margin of 78.2%.
How does Stock-Based Compensation (SBC) impact Ziff Davis, Inc. (JCOM)'s valuation?
Ziff Davis, Inc. recorded $40.9M in TTM stock-based compensation (2.9% of revenue). When treating SBC as a cash-equivalent compensation expense, Ziff Davis, Inc.'s SBC-adjusted free cash flow yield is 3.6%, scoring 25/25 on our Shareholder Dilution Friction pillar.