Forensic Analysis · Software & SaaS · as of Nov 10, 2026
Ziprecruiter, Inc. (ZIP)
A forensic read on Ziprecruiter, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
C · Mixed — selective
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
3.6
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
-5.3%
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.
Ziprecruiter, Inc. earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.6, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-4.5%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -4.5% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 19.0%. After-tax operating profit was $55M in FY2023 and ($15M) in FY2025, with operating income at 12.3% of revenue in FY2023, 0.3% in FY2024 and -4.3% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +16% across FY2023–FY2025, from $292M to $337M, while the return fell 23.5 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 19.0% the older base was already earning. $254M of the $337M base at FY2025 is short-term investments (75.4%) — securities held beside cash, which the base keeps because only cash is subtracted from it; they earn the balance sheet's yield, which is not in the operating profit above, so the loss on the operating capital is larger than this rate shows.
2932% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $102M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 2932% of free cash flow. That is $99M (2832%) more than free cash flow covered, and more than operating cash flow as well. The balance sheet covered it: cash and short-term investments fell $97M and total debt rose $1M over FY2025. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $48M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 4299%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$449.0M
Revenue Growth YoY-5.3%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-16.6%
Net Margin-7.3%
Free Cash Flow$3.5M
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Ziprecruiter, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?