Cardlytics (NASDAQ:CDLX) Upgraded to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Cardlytics from "sell" to "hold", but the stock still carries an overall MarketBeat consensus rating of "Reduce" with a $1.75 average price target.
• Cardlytics reported a quarterly EPS loss of ($0.15) that missed estimates despite revenue beating at $56.1M, and the company shows deep losses (negative ROE ~371%, net margin -44%) with sell‑side forecasts of about -1.52 EPS for the year.
• Insiders have been selling recent shares—274,945 sold in the last three months including sales by CEO Amit Gupta—while institutional investors still own roughly 68% of the company.

Cardlytics (NASDAQ:CDLX - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on CDLX. Bank of America restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Cardlytics in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Evercore set a $1.00 target price on Cardlytics in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Cardlytics in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cardlytics presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $1.75.

Cardlytics Price Performance

NASDAQ:CDLX opened at $1.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $62.23 million, a PE ratio of -0.58 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $0.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.34. Cardlytics has a 1-year low of $0.66 and a 1-year high of $3.28.

Cardlytics (NASDAQ:CDLX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.07) by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $56.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.46 million. Cardlytics had a negative return on equity of 370.98% and a negative net margin of 44.36%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cardlytics will post -1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Nicholas Hollmeyer Lynton sold 40,296 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $0.99, for a total value of $39,893.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 167,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $166,177.44. This represents a 19.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Amit Gupta sold 62,549 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $0.99, for a total value of $61,923.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,111,445 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,100,330.55. This represents a 5.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 274,945 shares of company stock worth $271,233. Insiders own 4.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cardlytics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cardlytics in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Cardlytics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Cardlytics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in Cardlytics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Cardlytics in the second quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.10% of the company's stock.

Cardlytics Company Profile

Cardlytics, Inc operates a purchase intelligence and marketing platform that connects advertisers with consumers through bank and credit card transaction data. The company partners with financial institutions to analyze anonymized purchase information, enabling brands to deliver highly targeted offers and rewards directly to customers' online and mobile banking channels. By leveraging real-time insights into consumer spending habits, Cardlytics helps marketers optimize campaign performance and measure return on ad spend more accurately than traditional digital advertising methods.

At the core of Cardlytics' offering is its proprietary purchase intelligence engine, which aggregates and anonymizes transaction data from partner banks and credit unions.

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