MediaAlpha Q2 Earnings
MAX beats expectations
Overview
MediaAlpha had a strong Q2, beating earnings expectations.
Key Stats (all QOQ)
Revenue up 2.2%
Net Income up 298%
Adjusted EBITDA down 6.7%
Product development costs up 11%
P&C concentration up from 94% to 97% of Revenue
Earnings per share nearly doubled from $0.23 to $0.44
*Private Marketplace Revenue was down 21%
Total debt up 8%
Guidance
Q2 Guidance was for $290-310 million in revenue, and they hit just under $317 million. Guidance for Q3 is up an additional 12% at $330-350MM.
Revenue of $330 million to $355 million, up approximately 12% year over year at the midpoint.
Contribution of $51.5 million to $54.5 million, up approximately 16% year over year at the midpoint.
Adjusted EBITDA of $32.0 million to $35.0 million, up approximately 15% year over year at the midpoint, including an approximately $1 million year-over-year decline in Contribution from under-65 Health.
Misc.
Total assets are down around $7MM, but given high income and stock buybacks, this isn’t surprising.
Shareholder equity went from nearly $30MM negative to $5MM positive.
MediaAlpha repurchased 2.2MM shares for $20MM. That gets them to $41MM YTD, and $88MM over the last 4 quarters, so steadily around $22MM a quarter.
Debt maturity is in March of 2031, after refinancing in Q1 (which they reported in April).
MediaAlpha didn’t make any acquisitions in Q2, staying fairly consistent with their recent history. Their most recent purchase was CustomerHelperTeam in February 2022.
*Private Marketplace
MediaAlpha disaggregates revenue from Open Marketplace and Private Marketplace (sometimes called Private Exchange) transactions. A Private Marketplace is where they’re simply providing the technology and the end user sources volume from their own partners.
The Open Marketplace is where MediaAlpha is the intermediary charging advertisers for the media delivered. Open is the primary business model, with private markets driving only 1.5% of revenue. I think it’s useful to keep tabs on this as private exchange deals are often low margin but have long exclusivity periods. MediaAlpha’s most direct competitor on private exchanges is QuinStreet.
Glossary
MM - Million
B - Billion
QOQ - Quarter over Quarter
YOY - Year over Year
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Disclosures
I previously worked at QuinStreet from 2020-2025 but no longer hold any of their stock.
I may have consulting or referral agreements with companies reported on. I’ll never use confidential information here; this reporting is purely based on analyzing the SEC filings and a bit of conjecture.
We also use rounded numbers for simplicity, so totals won’t always add up to precisely 100.00%.
