QuinStreet Inc. Stock Upgraded (QNST)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- QuinStreet (Nasdaq:QNST) has been upgraded by TheStreet Ratings from sell to hold. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, reasonable valuation levels and good cash flow from operations. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including unimpressive growth in net income, poor profit margins and a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• Although QNST's debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28 is very low, it is currently higher than that of the industry average. Along with this, the company maintains a quick ratio of 2.79, which clearly demonstrates the ability to cover short-term cash needs.
• In comparison to the other companies in the Internet Software & Services industry and the overall market, QUINSTREET INC's return on equity is significantly below that of the industry average and is below that of the S&P 500.
• The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Internet Software & Services industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 26.8% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $7.50 million to $5.49 million.
• The gross profit margin for QUINSTREET INC is currently lower than what is desirable, coming in at 32.20%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of 5.40% significantly trails the industry average.

QuinStreet, Inc. operates as a vertical marketing and media online company in the United States and internationally. It provides direct marketing services, including the delivery of leads or paid clicks; and hosted solution and related services for clients in the direct selling industry. The company has a P/E ratio of 19.5, above the average media industry P/E ratio of 19.2 and above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. QuinStreet has a market cap of $467.4 million and is part of the services sector and media industry. Shares are up 6.8% year to date as of the close of trading on Monday.

You can view the full QuinStreet Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

For more information on QuinStreet Inc. click any of the following:

• QuinStreet Inc. Stock Price

• QuinStreet Inc. Analyst Ratings

• QuinStreet Inc. Key Stats & Profile

• QuinStreet Inc. Earnings

• QuinStreet Inc. Ratio Comparison

• QuinStreet Inc. Growth Rates

• QuinStreet Inc. Balance Sheet

• QuinStreet Inc. Cash Flow

• QuinStreet Inc. Income Statement