One-glance verdict
Undervalued
$117.64 our estimate vs market $14.13
Wall Street consensus: $20.05 (-83.0% lower than our fair-value estimate)
88% below our estimate, below the bear case
Fundamentals snapshot
Criteo S.A.
CRTO · NMS · Communication Services · Advertising Agencies
Current price
$14.13
52-week range
$13.95 - $25.29
Market cap
$692.34M
Balance sheet
Healthy
82.39x Strong cushion
Net cash $132.10M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
0 Risks
3 rewards · 0 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 45.4% last year.
- Reward Returns 9.3% on equity, ahead of 50% of its peers.
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 4/10 years.
What this company does
Criteo S.A.
Criteo provides a technology platform that helps businesses, like online stores, reach customers with personalized ads and sell more products. Most of its money comes from advertisers paying to use its system to connect with shoppers, which matters because it shows how effective Criteo is at driving sales for its clients.
How the company got here
Criteo was founded in Paris, France, in 2005 by Jean-Baptiste Rudelle, Franck Le Ouay, and Romain Niccoli. Initially, the company focused on research and development for four years before launching its first product in 2008. Criteo's early success was built on a machine learning platform that analyzed user behavior, initially applied to movie recommendations and e-commerce purchases. The company went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange in October 2013, raising $251 million. Over the years, Criteo has evolved from a single-product advertising company to a multi-product commerce media platform, acquiring other companies like HookLogic in 2016 and Mabaya in 2021 to expand its capabilities.
What it actually does
Criteo operates as a global commerce media platform, connecting brands, agencies, retailers, and media owners to drive business results. It uses a vast amount of commerce data and artificial intelligence (AI) to help companies understand consumer behavior and deliver personalized advertising. Essentially, Criteo helps businesses show the right ads to the right people at the right time, aiming to increase sales and engagement across various online channels. The company's technology analyzes user preferences and online activity to create targeted advertisements, often in the form of banner ads.
Retail Media
The Retail Media segment is a significant part of Criteo's business, making up about 35% of its revenue. This segment connects brands with shoppers directly at the digital point of sale, meaning ads appear on retailer websites and apps. Retailers use Criteo's platform to monetize their own digital spaces by selling ad space to brands. Brands, in turn, pay to advertise their products to shoppers who are actively browsing or purchasing on these retail sites, aiming to drive sales directly from the point of inspiration to the point of purchase.
Performance Media
Performance Media, which accounts for about 60% of Criteo's revenue, focuses on personalized display advertising and product recommendations. This part of the business helps advertisers reach and convert consumers across different channels. It operates on a performance-based pricing model, meaning clients often pay when a consumer clicks on an ad (cost-per-click or CPC) or when a specific action is taken. The goal here is to drive measurable results, such as website visits or sales, for advertisers.
What management is betting on now
Criteo's management is focused on transforming the company into a comprehensive, AI-driven commerce intelligence platform. Key strategic priorities include deepening their existing Commerce Intelligence platform by retaining clients and expanding product adoption. They are also investing in enhancing their Retail Media offerings, which are seen as a major growth engine, and revitalizing Performance Media through cross-channel strategies. The company is also investing in self-service tools and data center capacity to broaden its reach and capture more advertising budgets.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q4
$126.42M
FY2025 Q1
$45.25M
FY2025 Q2
$-36.65M
FY2025 Q4
$199.90M
FY2026 Q1
$15.36M
FY2026 Q2
$-37.94M
Revenue
$428.02M
Net income
$11.19M
Diluted EPS
0.22
Operating cash flow
$20.30M
Free cash flow
$-37.94M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$424.64M
Net income
$7.82M
Diluted EPS
0.15
Operating cash flow
$48.21M
Free cash flow
$15.36M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$1.49B
Net income
$106.67M
Diluted EPS
1.98
Operating cash flow
$250.29M
Free cash flow
$199.90M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$482.67M
Net income
$21.25M
Diluted EPS
0.39
Operating cash flow
$-1.40M
Free cash flow
$-36.65M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$451.43M
Net income
$37.93M
Diluted EPS
0.66
Operating cash flow
$62.34M
Free cash flow
$45.25M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$553.03M
Net income
$71.09M
Diluted EPS
1.21
Operating cash flow
$169.45M
Free cash flow
$126.42M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$458.89M
Net income
$6.25M
Diluted EPS
0.11
Operating cash flow
$57.50M
Free cash flow
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Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $117.64 vs current price $14.13
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $20.05 (-83.0% lower than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $117.64 a share — about 732.6% above today's price of $14.13, so the stock currently looks cheap (undervalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Healthy
Net cash $132.1M - more cash than debt. Interest coverage 82.4x.
Net debt
$-132.10M
Interest coverage
82.39x
Criteo S.A.'s profit covers its interest bill about 82.4 times over. which is stronger than every peer shown here and 3 peers sit below 1x, which is the danger zone where profit does not fully cover the interest bill.
Healthy
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
CRTO
BASELINE
Criteo S.A.
Total debt $148.19M Interest coverage 82.39x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $434.11M Interest coverage 8.58x -90% vs CRTO Carries about 9.6x less debt cushion than CRTO.
Total debt $40.91M Interest coverage -3.16x -100% vs CRTO This peer has almost no interest-payment cushion compared with CRTO.
Total debt $416.98M Interest coverage 5.17x -94% vs CRTO Carries about 15.9x less debt cushion than CRTO.
Total debt $356.09M Interest coverage 0.58x -99% vs CRTO Carries about 141.8x less debt cushion than CRTO.
Total debt $22.09M Interest coverage -20.30x -100% vs CRTO This peer has almost no interest-payment cushion compared with CRTO.
What you should know
The case for and against CRTO
3 Rewards
0 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 45.4% last year.
-
Returns 9.3% on equity, ahead of 50% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 4/10 years.
Risks
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
7.21x
Forward P/E
3.64x
P/B
0.61x
P/S
0.37x
EV/EBITDA
2.10x
PEG ratio
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Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
53.6%
Operating margin
5.8%
Net margin
5.6%
ROE
9.3%
ROA
5.2%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
0.13x
Current ratio
1.29x
Quick ratio
1.20x
Total debt
$148.19M
Total cash
$280.29M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$2.83B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
-3.6%
EPS TTM
1.96
EPS 5Y CAGR
166.2%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$317.40M
Free CF TTM
$208.50M
FCF margin
7.4%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
0.0%
Payout ratio
0.0%
Last ex-div date
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