NEW YORK, May 21, 2026, 18:08 EDT
Perion Network Ltd. shares slipped further Thursday, last seen down 1.9% at $8.84, extending losses after earnings. Investors set aside AI product growth and stayed focused on the company’s revenue miss and soft profit. The Nasdaq stock tumbled 16% to $9.01 Wednesday after reporting a bigger first-quarter loss and revenue below forecasts, MarketWatch said.
Pressure on PERI is key for Perion, as the company is pushing Perion One, its newer ad platform, and Outmax, its AI campaign tool, to make up for weakness in its older web and search units. Customers are starting to spend more through those new lines, but first-quarter results didn’t give investors clear proof that this growth is boosting profits yet.
Perion reported first-quarter revenue up 1% to $90.4 million. Contribution ex-TAC, which leaves out traffic-acquisition costs, was unchanged at $39.7 million. Adjusted EBITDA dropped to $0.5 million from $1.8 million. CEO Tal Jacobson mentioned “encouraging adoption” for Perion One and Outmax. Perion kept its 2026 targets for contribution ex-TAC at $215 million to $235 million and adjusted EBITDA at $50 million to $54 million. Perion
Perion’s newer channels saw faster gains. In its investor presentation, Outmax AI Agent spend jumped 316% from a year ago on a pro forma basis, while connected TV spend rose 68%. Digital out-of-home spend was up 29%, and Perion One added 6%. Connected TV is ads shown through internet-connected TVs, while digital out-of-home covers ads on screens found in stores, billboards, and transit spots.
PERI didn’t keep pace. The stock trailed ad-tech and growth peers. Magnite was up around 1.0%, PubMatic added 3.2%, and The Trade Desk gained 1.3%. The Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.1% to 26,293.10.
Canaccord Genuity held its Buy rating and $14 target on Perion, Investing.com said, after the company’s results. Perion’s revenue and connected TV numbers missed consensus, but profit was a bit ahead, the report said. The firm trimmed estimates a little, citing near-term uncertainty, according to Investing.com.
On the Perion earnings call, Raymond James analyst Andrew Marok said Outmax’s numbers looked “really good” but flagged more competition in the agentic ad space. Jacobson said Perion stands out because it works across CTV, web and social, including closed gardens, or ad ecosystems locked down by the big platforms. Perion
The setup is messy. CFO Elad Tzubery pointed to oil price inflation and Middle East tensions as reasons for shaky ad budgets, with consumer packaged goods hit hardest and autos also feeling the strain. He mentioned “short planning cycles” from advertisers, warning it could be a problem if big clients hold off on spending until later this year.
Needham’s Laura Martin asked about Google’s new AI push to lock users into its own search and shopping. Jacobson said Perion shifted out of open-web channels to focus on out-of-home and closed systems. “Open web is not going to be the future,” he said. Perion
Second-half spending is still the question. Tzubery told Lake Street’s Eric Martinuzzi that Perion is targeting double-digit growth later in 2026 and wants to hit 20% in the fourth quarter, but that will depend on how strategic agreements ramp up. For now, the market is treating PERI as just another small ad-tech stock and not an AI turnaround—at least until the model gets proven.
