One-glance verdict
Undervalued
$5.24 our estimate vs market $2.64
50% below our estimate, below the bear case
Fundamentals snapshot
IZEA Worldwide, Inc.
IZEA · NCM · Communication Services · Advertising Agencies
Current price
$2.64
52-week range
$2.60 - $5.86
Market cap
$45.98M
Balance sheet
Healthy
-290.31x Concerning
Net cash $46.60M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
1 Reward
2 Risks
1 rewards · 2 risks
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 1/10 years.
- Risk Return on equity was -5.1% last year — the company lost money on shareholders' equity.
- Risk Operating margin compressed from -13.7% to -18.4% over 3 years.
What this company does
IZEA Worldwide, Inc.
IZEA is a company that helps other businesses advertise by connecting them with online creators, like popular YouTubers or Instagram influencers. It makes money by managing these advertising campaigns from start to finish, which is important because more and more companies are using creators to reach potential customers.
How the company got here
Founded in 2006, IZEA was a pioneer in what's now called the 'creator economy' (the world of independent writers, video makers, and social media personalities who make a living from their content). It started with the simple idea of paying bloggers to write about products, creating one of the first-ever online platforms to connect brands with creators. [7, 9] Over the years, it expanded from blogs to include social networks like Twitter and consolidated its various technologies into a single, more powerful platform. [9, 11] After officially changing its name to IZEA Worldwide, Inc. in 2018, the company has continued to evolve, focusing on providing software and services for brands to work with social media influencers. [15]
What it actually does
Think of IZEA as a matchmaker and manager for brands and social media influencers. The company helps businesses, from small companies to giant corporations like Nestlé and HBO Max, find and collaborate with creators to make sponsored content, like a paid Instagram post or a YouTube video featuring a product. [8] IZEA's platform handles the entire process, from discovering the right creators and negotiating deals to managing the campaign and processing payments. [3, 15] Essentially, it provides the technology and the expert services for what is known today as influencer marketing. [7]
Managed Services
This is the company's main business and makes up the vast majority of its revenue. [1] In this 'done-for-you' model, brands hire IZEA's team of experts to plan and run their entire influencer marketing campaigns from start to finish. [7] This includes developing the creative strategy, hand-picking the best creators for the job, managing the relationship, and providing detailed analytics (reports that show how well the campaign performed). [7] Brands pay IZEA for this full-service management, which can range from a single project to a long-term, integrated marketing plan. [3]
Software Licensing
This is a small but distinct part of the company's business. [1] Instead of having IZEA run the campaign, a brand or advertising agency can pay a recurring fee to use IZEA's software platforms themselves. [4] This 'do-it-yourself' option gives customers access to tools like IZEA's new ZED platform, which helps them find creators, manage contracts, and measure results on their own. [4, 7] This is a form of SaaS (Software as a Service), where customers subscribe to use the technology rather than buying it outright.
What management is betting on now
The company's current strategy is to focus more on winning business from 'enterprise' customers, which are very large corporations. [8] Management believes that while this shift might cause some short-term revenue dips, building strong, long-term relationships with major brands is key to future growth. [8, 12] A big part of this strategy is promoting their new, AI-powered technology platform called ZED, which is designed to help large companies manage all their creator marketing efforts in one place. [4, 17] They are betting that the creator economy will continue to be a major part of marketing and that IZEA is uniquely positioned to provide the combination of expert service and advanced technology that big brands need. [12]
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 Q3
$-1.43M
FY2024 Q4
$538.36K
FY2025 Q1
$2.00M
FY2025 Q2
$-787.80K
FY2025 Q4
$-32.24K
FY2026 Q2
$1.20M
Revenue
$5.81M
Net income
$-683.91K
Diluted EPS
-0.04
Operating cash flow
$1.26M
Free cash flow
$1.20M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$6.57M
Net income
$-777.52K
Diluted EPS
-0.04
Operating cash flow
$-3.99M
Free cash flow
—
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Sources
Revenue
$6.06M
Net income
$-1.17M
Diluted EPS
-0.07
Operating cash flow
$-5.25K
Free cash flow
$-32.24K
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$8.07M
Net income
$147.75K
Diluted EPS
0.01
Operating cash flow
$1.19M
Free cash flow
—
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Sources
Revenue
$9.13M
Net income
$1.21M
Diluted EPS
0.07
Operating cash flow
$-762.14K
Free cash flow
$-787.80K
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$7.97M
Net income
$-142.80K
Diluted EPS
-0.01
Operating cash flow
$2.01M
Free cash flow
$2.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$11.00M
Net income
$-4.62M
Diluted EPS
-0.25
Operating cash flow
$541.94K
Free cash flow
$538.36K
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Sources
Revenue
$8.83M
Net income
$-8.77M
Diluted EPS
-0.52
Operating cash flow
$-1.40M
Free cash flow
$-1.43M
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $5.24 vs current price $2.64
Our most-likely fair value is $5.24 a share — about 98.4% above today's price of $2.64, so the stock currently looks cheap (undervalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Healthy
Net cash $46.6M - more cash than debt. Interest coverage -290.3x.
Net debt
$-46.60M
Interest coverage
-290.31x
IZEA Worldwide, Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 0.0 times over. which is weaker than most peers shown here and 4 peers sit below 1x, which is the danger zone where profit does not fully cover the interest bill.
Healthy
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
IZEA
BASELINE
IZEA Worldwide, Inc.
Total debt $0.00 Interest coverage -290.31x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $22.09M Interest coverage -20.30x Neither company has much profit cushion over interest right now.
Total debt $356.09M Interest coverage 0.58x This peer still has a real interest-payment cushion, while IZEA does not.
Total debt $10.34M Interest coverage -25.77x Neither company has much profit cushion over interest right now.
Total debt $189.89M Interest coverage -4.30x Neither company has much profit cushion over interest right now.
Total debt $36.73M Interest coverage 14.75x This peer still has a real interest-payment cushion, while IZEA does not.
What you should know
The case for and against IZEA
1 Reward
2 Risks
Rewards
-
Free cash flow was positive in 1/10 years.
Risks
-
Return on equity was -5.1% last year — the company lost money on shareholders' equity.
-
Operating margin compressed from -13.7% to -18.4% over 3 years.
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)
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Forward P/E
-6.44x
P/B
0.97x
P/S
1.73x
EV/EBITDA
0.15x
PEG ratio
2.67x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
44.7%
Operating margin
-18.4%
Net margin
-9.4%
ROE
-5.1%
ROA
-4.6%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
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Current ratio
7.83x
Quick ratio
7.74x
Total debt
$0.00
Total cash
$46.60M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$26.52M
Revenue 5Y CAGR
1.0%
EPS TTM
-0.14
EPS 5Y CAGR
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Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$-1.55M
Free CF TTM
$2.37M
FCF margin
9.0%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
—
Payout ratio
0.0%
Last ex-div date
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