MeritValue

ZIPRECRUITER, INC.

ZIPdata completeness 100%7 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

ZIPRECRUITER, INC. earns about 10% on invested capital, barely covering its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 22% of its shares over 5 years. The estimate methods put fair value between $0.42 and $3.15 a share.Whether it’s worth owning at today’s price is the last question — and yours to answer, below.

i. The business — what you’d actually own
FigureFY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Revenue$741.1M1$904.6M2$645.7M3$474M3$449M3
Net income$3.6M4$61.5M5$49.1M6−$12.9M6−$33M6
Operating cash flow$144.1M7$128.8M8$103.2M9$45.7M9$11M9
Capital expenditure$6.08M10$2.69M11$918,00012$922,00012$1.08M12
Free cash flow (derived)$138.1M7$126.1M8$102.3M9$44.8M9$9.88M9
Total debt$013$541.6M14$542.6M15$543.6M16$544.8M16
Cash & equivalents$254.6M17$227.4M18$283M19$218.4M20$188M20
Diluted shares115.5M121.4M105.8M98.6M89.9M

Superscripts are receipts. Each links to the SEC filing the number came from (full list at the bottom).

ii. Your slice — ownership made literal
If you owned
shares
Net assets behind them
−$8.59
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
−$3.67
Free cash flow it threw off
$1.1
Debt you’d be carrying
$60.62

10 shares is a claim on −$8.59 of net worth that earned you −$3.67 and generated $1.1 of cash last year, against $60.62 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
10% avg · 5y
FY21 —FY22 25%FY23 26%FY24 -2%FY25 -9%

It earned about 10% on invested capital against a ~9% cost of capital — roughly what it costs to fund the business, so the numbers show no clear edge.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
−22% shares · 5y

Share count is down 22% over 5 years — management has been buying back stock, quietly handing owners a bigger slice.

reading capital allocation →

Signals, not verdicts — read from the filings above. Numbers don’t prove a moat; they show its footprint. You decide.

iv. What it’s worth — engine v0.1.0

The 3 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $0.42 and $3.15 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$2.62
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$44.8M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$3.15
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$44.8M
Earnings Power Value
$0.42
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$3.6M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
not applicable
diluted EPS missing or non-positive — Graham Number undefined

Different models answer different questions — which to trust when →

v. The price question — last, on purpose
Is today’s price fair?
See live price ↗
Type a price. The ledger answers.
Or set your own belief
FCF growth, next 5 years0.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $3.15
The three cases
Bear0.0%$3.15
Base0.0%$3.15
Bull5.0%$4.88

Bear/base/bull growth = 0% / filed history / history + 5pp. Type a price to see the return each case implies.

Default growth 0.0%= this company’s own filed history (median-to-median FCF CAGR, clamped 0–20%). Your adjustments are recorded anonymously. They become the “what do owners actually believe” dataset.

Sources — the receipts
  1. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001617553-24-000011 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001617553-25-000011 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001617553-26-000016 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001617553-24-000011 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001617553-25-000011 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001617553-26-000016 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001617553-24-000011 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001617553-25-000011 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001617553-26-000016 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001617553-24-000011 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001617553-25-000011 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001617553-26-000016 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001617553-23-000007 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001617553-24-000011 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001617553-25-000011 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001617553-26-000016 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001617553-23-000007 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001617553-24-000011 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001617553-25-000011 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  20. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001617553-26-000016 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)