Why is the market selling a company growing 15% a year?
Revenue is growing double-digit, cash is piling up, debt is zero, yet the stock trades at six times earnings. Is this a sale the market rarely offers, or a warning that history from 2023 is about to repeat?
Key points
The company grows double-digit, owes not a cent, and still trades at six times earnings
After two quarters of beating analyst estimates, the stock fell each time - once by as much as 20%
The famous low P/E is partly an accounting illusion, driven by a single item from last year's fourth quarter
In 2023, revenue collapsed by nearly half within a few months, and the market hasn't forgotten it to this day
The first warning sign will not appear in this company's results, but in the monthly reports of one large insurer
It grows 15% a year and costs less than a bank
Imagine a company that over the past year grew revenue at 14.8% annually, in the last quarter even by 25%, posted record operating profit, has almost 200 million dollars in the bank, and owes not a cent. Now imagine its stock trades at 6.5 times earnings. That's how declining regional banks or tobacco companies are valued, not growing internet platforms.
That's exactly EverQuote $EVER . In Q2 2026, the company lifted revenue to $195.1 million, net income to $19.2 million, and adjusted EBITDA to a record $30.1 million. It beat analyst estimates on both revenue and profit. And the stock? It fell 9% that same evening. After April's Q1 results, also above estimates, it was roughly 20%.
Today it trades around $20, market cap is about $0.7 billion, and the consensus of eight analysts targets $28.17, i.e., 40% higher. Such a discrepancy always means one of two things: either the market knows something not yet visible in the numbers, or it fears something that has already happened once. With EverQuote, both apply, and that's exactly why it's worth understanding when a low P/E is an opportunity and when it's a trap.