National Research Corporation (NRC) Key Metrics
NRC valuation today
Trailing 12 months · as of October 17, 2026- Market cap
- $445.7M
- Enterprise value
- $564.0M
- P/E (TTM)
- 80.6 10-yr median 30.5
- Forward P/E
- 17.2
- PEG ratio
- 1.32
- Price / sales
- 3.2 10-yr median 6.9
- Price / book
- 72.9 10-yr median 15.2
- EV / EBITDA
- 24.1 10-yr median 20.3
- Dividend yield
- 3.18% $0.64 a year
- Beta
- 0.28
NRC key metrics, 2016–2025
Fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 · U.S. dollarsNRC valuation Price multiples at each fiscal year-end price.
NRC returns How much profit the business earns on the capital it uses.
NRC per-share figures Results divided by the shares outstanding at year-end.
NRC financial health Debt, liquidity and how easily interest is covered.
NRC efficiency & capital use Working capital cycle and where the cash goes.
NRC valuation history
NRC returns on capital
Net income (ROE, ROA) or after-tax operating income (ROIC) divided by the average of the opening and closing balance.
NRC debt vs cash
Debt includes short- and long-term borrowings and, where reported, lease liabilities.
NRC cash returned to shareholders
NRC price vs earnings per share
NRC key metrics
2016–2025| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valuation | ||||||||||
| Market capitalization | $420.4M | $418.8M | $976.1M | $934.4M | $1.06B | $1.10B | $1.69B | $1.07B | $941.1M | $467.3M |
| Enterprise value | $495.3M | $479.0M | $1.01B | $932.8M | $1.04B | $1.10B | $1.71B | $1.10B | $907.4M | $437.9M |
| P/E ratio | 36.2 | 16.9 | 31.5 | 29.4 | 28.4 | 29.5 | 52.2 | 35.6 | 41.0 | 22.8 |
| Price / sales | 3.1 | 2.9 | 6.6 | 6.2 | 7.2 | 8.2 | 13.2 | 8.9 | 8.0 | 4.3 |
| Price / book | 30.0 | 13.4 | 19.9 | 13.0 | 12.5 | 17.1 | 51.4 | 56.1 | 10.5 | 5.6 |
| Price / free cash flow | 26.7 | 21.8 | 43.7 | 35.4 | 26.1 | 30.0 | 46.6 | 31.6 | 40.4 | 20.4 |
| Price / operating cash flow | 15.9 | 12.1 | 25.6 | 25.8 | 23.0 | 27.0 | 41.3 | 26.9 | 33.5 | 17.4 |
| EV / sales | 3.6 | 3.3 | 6.8 | 6.2 | 7.0 | 8.2 | 13.4 | 9.2 | 7.7 | 4.0 |
| EV / EBITDA | 16.4 | 11.6 | 21.9 | 18.9 | 18.3 | 21.6 | 35.3 | 26.3 | 23.3 | 12.2 |
| EV / free cash flow | 31.5 | 25.0 | 45.1 | 35.3 | 25.4 | 29.9 | 47.2 | 32.3 | 39.0 | 19.1 |
| Earnings yield | 2.8% | 5.9% | 3.2% | 3.4% | 3.5% | 3.4% | 1.9% | 2.8% | 2.4% | 4.4% |
| Free cash flow yield | 3.7% | 4.6% | 2.3% | 2.8% | 3.8% | 3.3% | 2.1% | 3.2% | 2.5% | 4.9% |
| Dividend yield | 2.6% | 2.7% | 3.7% | 2.2% | 0.9% | 1.0% | 1.9% | 1.6% | 1.8% | 6.1% |
| Shareholder yield (dividends + buybacks) | 7.4% | 10.1% | 5.7% | 5.2% | 1.2% | 1.0% | 1.9% | 8.3% | 2.0% | 6.2% |
| Share price at fiscal year-end | $18.77 | $17.64 | $39.56 | $37.30 | $41.52 | $42.75 | $65.94 | $38.14 | $37.30 | $19.00 |
| Per share | ||||||||||
| Revenue per share | $6.13 | $6.03 | $6.02 | $6.05 | $5.77 | $5.19 | $4.99 | $4.26 | $4.66 | $4.45 |
| Earnings per share | $0.52 | $1.04 | $1.26 | $1.27 | $1.46 | $1.45 | $1.26 | $1.07 | $0.91 | $0.83 |
| Operating cash flow per share | $1.18 | $1.46 | $1.54 | $1.45 | $1.81 | $1.58 | $1.60 | $1.42 | $1.11 | $1.09 |
| Free cash flow per share | $0.70 | $0.81 | $0.91 | $1.06 | $1.59 | $1.43 | $1.41 | $1.21 | $0.92 | $0.93 |
| Cash per share | $0.18 | $0.18 | $0.27 | $1.00 | $2.12 | $1.35 | $0.53 | $0.46 | $1.38 | $1.34 |
| Book value per share | $0.62 | $1.32 | $1.98 | $2.88 | $3.33 | $2.50 | $1.28 | $0.68 | $3.57 | $3.37 |
| Tangible book value per share | −$2.43 | −$1.58 | −$0.57 | $0.35 | $0.86 | $0.22 | −$1.04 | −$1.45 | $1.16 | $0.89 |
| Dividends per share | $0.49 | $0.48 | $1.47 | $0.84 | $0.36 | $0.41 | $1.22 | $0.60 | $0.67 | $1.16 |
| Capex per share | $0.48 | $0.65 | $0.64 | $0.39 | $0.22 | $0.16 | $0.18 | $0.21 | $0.19 | $0.16 |
| Debt per share | $3.53 | $2.71 | $1.58 | $0.93 | $1.12 | $1.29 | $1.35 | $1.35 | $0.04 | $0.14 |
| Shares outstanding | 22.4M | 23.7M | 24.7M | 25.1M | 25.6M | 25.7M | 25.7M | 28.1M | 25.2M | 24.6M |
| Change in shares outstanding | −5.7% | −3.8% | −1.5% | −2.3% | −0.2% | +0.2% | −8.6% | +11.3% | +2.6% | +0.4% |
| Returns & profitability | ||||||||||
| Return on equity (ROE) | 51.2% | 61.8% | 51.2% | 40.4% | 50.1% | 76.7% | 124.7% | 55.1% | 26.5% | 26.1% |
| Return on invested capital (ROIC) | 16.3% | 30.9% | 40.9% | 53.2% | 63.2% | 65.6% | 70.2% | 60.9% | 41.8% | 44.8% |
| Return on assets (ROA) | 8.7% | 19.4% | 24.5% | 22.1% | 25.8% | 30.5% | 29.7% | 25.6% | 18.5% | 16.4% |
| Return on tangible assets | 17.4% | 38.9% | 52.2% | 47.3% | 39.8% | 49.8% | 63.5% | 62.9% | 34.5% | 34.4% |
| Free cash flow margin | 11.5% | 13.4% | 15.0% | 17.4% | 27.6% | 27.5% | 28.3% | 28.3% | 19.8% | 20.9% |
| Income quality (OCF / net income) | 2.28 | 1.40 | 1.23 | 1.14 | 1.24 | 1.09 | 1.26 | 1.33 | 1.22 | 1.31 |
| Financial health | ||||||||||
| Total debt | $79.0M | $64.4M | $39.0M | $23.4M | $28.7M | $33.2M | $34.7M | $37.8M | $1.1M | $3.5M |
| Cash & short-term investments | $4.1M | $4.2M | $6.7M | $25.0M | $54.4M | $34.7M | $13.5M | $13.0M | $34.7M | $33.0M |
| Net debt | $74.9M | $60.2M | $32.3M | −$1.6M | −$25.7M | −$1.5M | $21.2M | $24.9M | −$33.7M | −$29.5M |
| Debt / equity | 5.65 | 2.06 | 0.80 | 0.32 | 0.34 | 0.52 | 1.06 | 1.98 | 0.01 | 0.04 |
| Debt / assets | 0.59 | 0.49 | 0.32 | 0.18 | 0.18 | 0.25 | 0.31 | 0.35 | 0.01 | 0.03 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.48 | 1.46 | 0.70 | −0.03 | −0.45 | −0.03 | 0.44 | 0.60 | −0.86 | −0.82 |
| Current ratio | 0.55 | 0.55 | 0.67 | 1.31 | 1.82 | 1.71 | 0.76 | 0.60 | 1.62 | 1.49 |
| Quick ratio | 0.55 | 0.55 | 0.67 | 1.31 | 1.82 | 1.71 | 0.76 | 0.60 | 1.57 | 1.49 |
| Interest coverage | 4.7 | 13.6 | 46.5 | 38.5 | 30.2 | 23.5 | 20.6 | 23.3 | 417.3 | 164.2 |
| Working capital | −$16.4M | −$16.3M | −$11.8M | $10.3M | $33.3M | $22.4M | −$9.0M | −$18.7M | $19.9M | $15.6M |
| Invested capital | $88.9M | $91.5M | $81.3M | $70.4M | $59.7M | $62.9M | $54.1M | $43.9M | $56.4M | $53.3M |
| Tangible asset value | −$54.4M | −$37.5M | −$14.1M | $8.8M | $21.9M | $5.7M | −$26.8M | −$40.9M | $29.3M | $21.8M |
| Net current asset value | −$100.7M | −$81.7M | −$49.1M | −$14.7M | $1.5M | −$15.0M | −$48.6M | −$60.5M | $15.0M | $9.2M |
| Graham number | $2.70 | $5.56 | $7.49 | $9.06 | $10.46 | $9.04 | $6.04 | $4.05 | $8.55 | $7.95 |
| Graham net-net per share | −$4.82 | −$3.73 | −$2.32 | −$0.88 | −$0.27 | −$0.89 | −$2.16 | −$2.37 | $0.38 | $0.14 |
| Capital allocation | ||||||||||
| Dividends paid | $11.0M | $11.5M | $36.4M | $21.0M | $9.2M | $10.5M | $31.3M | $16.9M | $16.9M | $28.6M |
| Share buybacks (net) | $20.2M | $30.9M | $19.1M | $27.6M | $4.1M | $0 | $1.1M | $72.4M | $1.7M | $204,000 |
| Dividend payout ratio | 94.6% | 46.2% | 117.4% | 65.9% | 24.4% | 28.2% | 96.6% | 56.1% | 73.5% | 139.2% |
| Dividends + buybacks / free cash flow | 197.9% | 221.1% | 248.3% | 183.8% | 32.6% | 28.7% | 89.4% | 263.4% | 79.6% | 125.7% |
| Capex / revenue | 7.8% | 10.8% | 10.6% | 6.5% | 3.7% | 3.0% | 3.6% | 5.0% | 4.1% | 3.6% |
| Capex / operating cash flow | 40.5% | 44.6% | 41.4% | 27.1% | 11.9% | 9.8% | 11.4% | 15.0% | 17.2% | 14.8% |
| Capex / depreciation | 1.40 | 2.57 | 2.67 | 1.86 | 0.87 | 0.53 | 0.84 | 1.09 | 1.05 | 0.94 |
| Stock-based compensation / revenue | 2.4% | 0.2% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 1.0% | 1.3% | 1.6% | 1.8% |
| SG&A / revenue | 39.9% | 31.4% | 31.0% | 28.2% | 26.3% | 25.8% | 25.8% | 26.2% | 25.3% | 25.9% |
| Efficiency | ||||||||||
| Days sales outstanding | 30.3 | 30.4 | 34.3 | 36.0 | 37.1 | 37.2 | 33.7 | 41.3 | 40.5 | 34.8 |
| Days of inventory on hand | — | — | — | — | 0.0 | — | 0.0 | — | 5.4 | 0.0 |
| Days payables outstanding | 16.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 9.9 | 10.6 | 22.3 | 33.7 | 16.3 | 16.8 | 103.1 |
| Cash conversion cycle (days) | 14.3 | 22.4 | 26.3 | 26.1 | 26.5 | 14.9 | 0.0 | 25.0 | 29.1 | -68.3 |
| Receivables turnover | 12.04 | 12.01 | 10.64 | 10.15 | 9.85 | 9.81 | 10.83 | 8.83 | 9.02 | 10.50 |
| Payables turnover | 22.81 | 45.64 | 45.65 | 36.85 | 34.46 | 16.37 | 10.84 | 22.42 | 21.76 | 3.54 |
| Inventory turnover | — | — | — | — | 52,350,000.00 | — | 46,435,000.00 | — | 67.08 | 45,577,000.00 |
| Asset turnover | 1.03 | 1.12 | 1.18 | 1.05 | 1.02 | 1.09 | 1.17 | 1.02 | 0.95 | 0.88 |
| Average receivables | $11.4M | $11.9M | $14.0M | $14.9M | $15.0M | $13.6M | $11.8M | $13.6M | $13.0M | $10.4M |
| Average payables | $2.6M | $1.2M | $1.2M | $1.5M | $1.5M | $3.0M | $4.3M | $2.1M | $2.3M | $12.9M |
| Average inventory | — | — | — | — | $1 | — | $1 | — | $731,500 | $1 |
| Intangibles / total assets | 50.7% | 51.9% | 51.5% | 48.5% | 40.2% | 44.0% | 53.9% | 55.7% | 47.7% | 50.6% |
Computed from NRC's annual financial statements (latest annual report filed March 5, 2026) and the closing share price on each fiscal year-end, adjusted for stock splits. Figures in U.S. dollars; data from EODHD. Averages use the opening and closing balance of each year.
NRC valuation and financial ratios
At the end of fiscal 2025 (December 31, 2025), National Research traded at 36.2 times earnings, against a 10-year median of 30.5. Based on the latest twelve months, the trailing P/E is 80.6 and the forward P/E is 17.2. National Research earned a return on equity of 51.2% and a return on invested capital of 16.3% in fiscal 2025. It ended the year with $79.0 million of debt and $4.1 million in cash and short-term investments, net debt of $74.9 million. It returned $31.2 million to shareholders: $11.0 million in dividends and $20.2 million in share buybacks, 198% of free cash flow. The share count fell 8.9% from 24.6M to 22.4M over 9 years.
See the NRC income statement, the NRC chart for price history, or the NRC stock overview for the latest quote and news.
NRC key metrics FAQ
What is National Research's P/E ratio?
National Research's trailing P/E ratio is 80.6 based on the last twelve months of earnings (as of October 17, 2026), and its forward P/E is 17.2. At the end of fiscal 2025 it was 36.2, compared with a 10-year median of 30.5.
What is National Research's EV/EBITDA?
National Research's enterprise value was 16.4 times EBITDA at the end of fiscal 2025 (enterprise value $495.3 million, EBITDA $30.2 million); the current EV/EBITDA is 24.1.
What is National Research's return on equity?
National Research's return on equity (ROE) was 51.2% in fiscal 2025: net income of $11.6 million on average shareholders' equity of $22.6 million.
What is National Research's ROIC?
National Research's return on invested capital was 16.3% in fiscal 2025, using after-tax operating income divided by average debt plus equity minus cash.
How much debt does National Research have?
National Research had total debt of $79.0 million at the end of fiscal 2025, a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65 and $74.9 million of net debt (2.48 times EBITDA).
What is National Research's dividend yield?
National Research's forward dividend yield is 3.18%. National Research paid $11.0 million in dividends in fiscal 2025 ($0.49 per share), a payout ratio of 94.6%.
Does National Research buy back its shares?
Yes. National Research spent $20.2 million on net share repurchases in fiscal 2025 Shares outstanding changed −5.7% over the year, to 22.4M..
What is National Research's free cash flow yield?
National Research generated $15.7 million of free cash flow in fiscal 2025, a free cash flow yield of 3.7% on its market value at year-end ($420.4 million).
What is National Research's current ratio?
National Research's current ratio was 0.55 at the end of fiscal 2025: current assets were 0.55 times current liabilities.