One-glance verdict
Undervalued
$38.33 our estimate vs market $11.29
Wall Street consensus: $12.00 (-68.7% lower than our fair-value estimate)
71% below our estimate, below the bear case
Fundamentals snapshot
Forrester Research, Inc.
FORR · NMS · Industrials · Consulting Services
Current price
$11.29
52-week range
$4.88 - $12.75
Market cap
$214.95M
Balance sheet
Healthy
0.73x Concerning
Net cash $67.44M. 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 9/10 years.
- Risk Return on equity was -30.3% last year — the company lost money on shareholders' equity.
- Risk Operating margin compressed from 7.8% to 5.5% over 3 years.
What this company does
Forrester Research, Inc.
Forrester Research sells expert advice and research to other businesses, helping them understand technology trends and what their customers want. The company makes most of its money from selling subscriptions to this advice, which creates a lot of recurring revenue (predictable sales that come in regularly, like a phone bill). This matters because it provides a steady stream of income for Forrester while its clients use the insights to make better, more profitable decisions.
How the company got here
Forrester Research was founded in 1983 by George Forrester Colony to analyze and predict trends in technology and their impact on business. The company went public in 1996, raising money to expand its services and geographic reach. Over the years, Forrester has acquired several other research firms to broaden its expertise, including JupiterResearch for digital media and SiriusDecisions for business-to-business sales and marketing. A key shift in its strategy has been the move toward its Forrester Decisions platform, which offers research and guidance tailored to specific executive roles.
What it actually does
Forrester is a research and advisory company that helps business and technology leaders make informed decisions. Think of them as a team of experts who study how technology and customer behavior are changing, and then sell that knowledge to big companies. They provide reports, data, and direct advice to help executives in areas like technology strategy, marketing, and customer experience. This helps companies understand things like which software to buy, how to improve their customer service, or how to adapt to new trends like artificial intelligence.
Research
This is Forrester's main business, where clients pay a subscription fee for access to a library of research, data, and tools. The flagship product, Forrester Decisions, provides specific guidance for different leadership roles, like a chief marketing officer or a head of technology. This segment provides ongoing insights into market trends, consumer behavior, and technology vendor evaluations (assessments of technology providers to help businesses choose the right partners). This subscription-based model provides a steady and predictable stream of revenue (the money a company earns from its business activities) for the company.
Consulting
In this segment, Forrester's experts work directly with companies on specific projects. This is different from the subscription research, as it involves tailored advice and hands-on help to solve a particular challenge a company is facing. For example, a company might hire Forrester to help them develop a new digital marketing strategy or to understand the financial impact of a new technology investment. While a smaller part of the business than research, consulting allows Forrester to build deeper relationships with its clients.
Events
Forrester hosts conferences and forums where business leaders can learn about the latest trends and network with their peers. These events cover topics like customer experience, technology and innovation, and security. Attendees pay to hear from Forrester's analysts (experts who study specific industries) and other industry leaders. This part of the business brings their research to life and provides another way for clients to engage with their insights.
What management is betting on now
Forrester is heavily focused on integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into its products and services. They are developing tools like 'Forrester AI' to help clients get answers from their research more quickly and efficiently. The company's strategy centers on becoming an essential partner for leaders navigating major business changes, particularly those driven by technology and a focus on the customer. They are also concentrating on growing their 'contract value' (the total value of their subscription contracts), which is a key indicator of the health of their core research business.
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
$-223.00K
FY2024 Q4
$-2.49M
FY2025 Q1
$26.07M
FY2025 Q2
$-4.23M
FY2025 Q3
$524.00K
FY2025 Q4
$-4.28M
FY2026 Q1
$19.38M
FY2026 Q2
$-12.60M
Revenue
$100.23M
Net income
$15.25M
Diluted EPS
0.78
Operating cash flow
$-555.00K
Free cash flow
$-12.60M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$85.45M
Net income
$-21.82M
Diluted EPS
-1.14
Operating cash flow
$25.58M
Free cash flow
$19.38M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$101.06M
Net income
$-33.88M
Diluted EPS
-1.75
Operating cash flow
$-3.21M
Free cash flow
$-4.28M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$94.30M
Net income
$-2.13M
Diluted EPS
-0.11
Operating cash flow
$1.20M
Free cash flow
$524.00K
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$111.66M
Net income
$3.91M
Diluted EPS
0.20
Operating cash flow
$-3.63M
Free cash flow
$-4.23M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$89.88M
Net income
$-87.27M
Diluted EPS
-4.62
Operating cash flow
$26.72M
Free cash flow
$26.07M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$108.04M
Net income
$432.00K
Diluted EPS
0.02
Operating cash flow
$-1.83M
Free cash flow
$-2.49M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$102.53M
Net income
$-5.80M
Diluted EPS
-0.30
Operating cash flow
$264.00K
Free cash flow
$-223.00K
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $38.33 vs current price $11.29
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $12.00 (-68.7% lower than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $38.33 a share — about 239.5% above today's price of $11.29, so the stock currently looks cheap (undervalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Healthy
Net cash $67.4M - more cash than debt. Interest coverage 0.7x.
Net debt
$-67.44M
Interest coverage
0.73x
Forrester Research, Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 0.7 times over. which is weaker than most peers shown here.
Healthy
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
FORR
BASELINE
Forrester Research, Inc.
Total debt $63.99M Interest coverage 0.73x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $83.03M Interest coverage 15.53x +2,036% vs FORR Carries about 21.4x more debt cushion than FORR.
Total debt $67.50M Interest coverage 4.38x +502% vs FORR Carries about 6.0x more debt cushion than FORR.
Total debt $564.79M Interest coverage 4.72x +549% vs FORR Carries about 6.5x more debt cushion than FORR.
Total debt $865.16M Interest coverage 5.49x +655% vs FORR Carries about 7.6x more debt cushion than FORR.
Total debt $3.33B Interest coverage 9.38x +1,191% vs FORR Carries about 12.9x more debt cushion than FORR.
What you should know
The case for and against FORR
1 Reward
2 Risks
Rewards
-
Free cash flow was positive in 9/10 years.
Risks
-
Return on equity was -30.3% last year — the company lost money on shareholders' equity.
-
Operating margin compressed from 7.8% to 5.5% 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)
—
Forward P/E
12.48x
P/B
1.79x
P/S
0.56x
EV/EBITDA
10.54x
PEG ratio
1.30x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
57.0%
Operating margin
5.5%
Net margin
-11.2%
ROE
-30.3%
ROA
0.6%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
0.53x
Current ratio
1.06x
Quick ratio
0.80x
Total debt
$63.99M
Total cash
$131.43M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$381.04M
Revenue 5Y CAGR
-5.3%
EPS TTM
-2.23
EPS 5Y CAGR
—
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$23.01M
Free CF TTM
$18.09M
FCF margin
4.7%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
—
Payout ratio
0.0%
Last ex-div date
2018-12-11