Forensic Analysis · Communication Services / Telecom · as of Nov 8, 2026
Ziff Davis, Inc. (ZD)
A forensic read on Ziff Davis, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
B · Sound & dependable
Forensic grade
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
2.7%
ROE
3.5%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
Ziff Davis, Inc. earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by goodwill impairments.
What the filings flag
$160M
FY2023–FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $160M of goodwill writedowns across 3 years (FY2023 ($57M), FY2024 ($85M), FY2025 ($18M)) — about 105% of net income over the span. A large writedown means an acquisition turned out worth far less than was paid — a real mark against M&A discipline.
5.7%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 5.7% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2023–FY2025 from 3.9%. After-tax operating profit was $90M in FY2023 and $125M in FY2025, with operating income at 9.7% of revenue in FY2023, 8.1% in FY2024 and 12.6% in FY2025. The capital base behind it cannot be compared across FY2023–FY2025: short-term debt is tagged in one of those two fiscal years and not the other, and an untagged line enters this calculation as zero, so any change in the base would be a change in what the filer tagged. FY2023's operating profit carried a $57M goodwill write-off that alone took about 1.7 points off that year's return, so about 1.7 of the 1.8-point rise across FY2023–FY2025 is that charge leaving the base year rather than the capital earning more. FY2024's operating profit carried a $85M goodwill write-off that alone took about 2.4 points off that year's return; FY2024 sits between the two ends of FY2023–FY2025, so the charge shapes the path between them without moving the change across it. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.45B
Revenue Growth YoY+3.5%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+3.1%
Net Margin3.3%
Free Cash Flow$287.9M
Return on Equity2.7%
Debt / Equity0.49x
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