Nov 10, 2026: a beat and a raised outlook push the stock to a 52-week high
ZipRecruiter reported after the close on Nov 9 and held its call at 5pm ET. After hours the stock touched $4.72 at 4:05pm and settled near $4.55. Premarket trading on Nov 10 started at $4.75 and faded to $4.35 by 8:55am. It opened at $4.71, dipped to $4.60 in the first five minutes, then climbed to $5.66 by 9:40am and $6.03 at 11:50am. At 1:00pm it was $5.76, up 34.2%, on about 2.7 million shares.
What happened:
- Revenue beat. $124.4 million against an average estimate of $121.1 million and guidance of $118 million to $124 million. It was up 8% from a year earlier and 5% from the second quarter.
- Profit beat by more. Adjusted EBITDA of $20.8 million compared with a $16.5 million estimate and $13 million to $19 million guided. Net income was $5.1 million, or $0.06 a share, against an average estimate of a $0.06 loss.
- The outlook went up. In August the company expected low-single-digit 2026 revenue growth and a 12% to 14% margin. It now guides 4% to 5% growth and 13% to 14%.
- Momentum into the fourth quarter. On the call, chief financial officer Carmen Chan said "momentum built throughout the quarter" and the company is "pleased with the performance that we're seeing quarter-to-date as well."
The stock moved on its own news. Staffing and online work peers were mixed, and software fell. From the Nov 9 close to about 1:00pm ET:
| Stock or fund | Nov 9 close | Nov 10, about 1:00pm | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZipRecruiter (ZIP) | $4.29 | $5.76 | +34.2% |
| Robert Half (RHI) | $42.33 | $42.90 | +1.3% |
| DHI Group (DHX) | $4.26 | $4.31 | +1.2% |
| Upwork (UPWK) | $9.72 | $9.68 | -0.5% |
| Fiverr (FVRR) | $8.48 | $8.23 | -3.0% |
| Software ETF (IGV) | $101.46 | $98.92 | -2.5% |
| S&P 500 ETF (SPY) | $752.69 | $746.44 | -0.8% |
After the jump, RSI(14) stood at 69, the shares sat 41.2% above their 50-day average and 69.0% above their 200-day average, 4.6% below the $6.03 high set during the session, and volume ran 4.0 times its 20-day average. The stock had fallen 17.5% to $3.72 on Nov 5 with no company announcement, so it is now up about 55% from that close.
The numbers
- Revenue. $124.4 million, up 8.2% from $115.0 million. Performance-based revenue from larger employers grew 13% and made up 25% of the total.
- Employers. 73,929 Quarterly Paid Employers, up 10% from a year earlier and 5% from June. Revenue per paid employer was $1,683, down 2%, which management put down to new and returning employers counting for the full quarter while paying for only part of it.
- Costs. Operating expenses were $100.9 million, down from $107.5 million a year earlier. Sales and marketing fell to 48% of revenue from 52%, and research and development fell to 20% from 27% on lower headcount.
- Margins. Gross margin was 90%. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 17%, up 9 percentage points from a year earlier. Our explainer on Adjusted EBITDA covers what that measure leaves out, here mainly $7.0 million of stock-based compensation.
- Balance sheet. $174.7 million of cash and securities against $250.7 million of 5% notes due 2030. It bought back 1.0 million shares for $4.5 million in the quarter and has $107.3 million left on its authorization.
The raised outlook did more than the quarter itself: it is the second increase this year from a flat revenue forecast at the start of 2026.
The bull case
The company is growing while its market is not. U.S. hires and quits were roughly flat, yet job seekers who applied to at least one job rose 10%, applications per job seeker rose 24% and employer response rates per application tripled from a year earlier. Chief executive Ian Siegel tied that to a rebuilt search and matching engine, and said traffic from AI platforms "nearly doubled" after it launched integrations with ChatGPT and Claude. President David Travers said the majority of enterprise customers now use its automated campaign tools, and performance-based revenue has grown for five straight quarters.
The debt repurchases changed the risk picture. ZipRecruiter retired $299.3 million of notes for $236.8 million this year, and quarterly interest expense was $3.3 million. With about 90% gross margins, extra revenue falls largely to profit. The forward P/E of about 60 looks high only because GAAP earnings are thin; on Adjusted EBITDA the stock is cheap for a business that is growing again. Robert Half's October jump showed the same pattern of investors paying up for any sign of hiring stabilizing.
The risks
- The fourth quarter is not a beat yet. The guide's $120 million midpoint matches the existing estimate, and the company expects a seasonal slowdown in hiring.
- AI search. Management said Google's AI overviews hit organic traffic hardest in the third quarter. If job seekers move to AI agents that apply on their behalf, the value of a job board's audience could shrink.
- Labor market. Health care, retail and education were weaker on the platform, Travers said. A turn from low hiring to layoffs would cut employer spending.
- Valuation after the jump. The stock is above the $5 high analyst target, and a 55% rise in four sessions leaves little room for a soft fourth quarter.
What comes next
ZipRecruiter will file its 10-K after year-end and is expected to report the fourth quarter around Feb 24, 2027. Our guide on how to read an earnings release explains how to check guidance against estimates before that report. For the rest of the session's movers, see today's biggest stock moves, including AAON, which also rose after earnings today.