Why StubHub Stock Just Crashed
Key Points
StubHub missed badly on earnings last night.
A "one-time stock-based compensation charge" cost StubHub $1.4 billion, and losses totaled $1.9 billion.
StubHub Holdings (NYSE: STUB) stock tumbled 12.8% through 10:10 a.m. ET Thursday after missing badly on Q4 earnings last night.
Heading into the report, analysts already weren't optimistic, forecasting the concert ticket-reselling platform would lose $0.01 per share on sales of $485.6 million.
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StubHub actually lost $1.56 per share.
And its sales were only $449.2 million.
Oof!
Image source: Getty Images.
StubHub Q4 earnings
StubHub sales declined 16% year over year despite the company growing its sales and marketing budget 7% -- and its general and administrative spending 60%. So StubHub isn't doing a great job of keeping spending in check. With less money coming in the door and more going out, StubHub flipped from earning a small profit a year ago to losing $1.56 per share (GAAP) in Q4 2025.
Full-year results were both better and worse. Sales declined only 1.4% versus 2024 -- that's the good news. The bad news is that on the bottom line, StubHub lost $6.27 per share.
StubHub blamed most of the loss on "a one-time stock-based compensation charge of $1.4 billion." Total t losses were $1.9 billion, however, so even without the charge, StubHub would have been in the red.
Is StubHub stock a buy?
Was there any good news to report? Well, yes, if you're willing to grasp at straws. Free cash flow at StubHub was positive both for the quarter and the year. StubHub generated cash profit of $2.2 million in Q4 and $159.7 million for the year. Full-year FCF declined 38% year over year, however, so even this news wasn't great.
The best I can say about StubHub stock, honestly, is that at 20x FCF valuation today, it's not terribly expensive -- but StubHub really needs to start growing again if it's to be a buy.
Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.