Ethos Technologies Inc. (LIFE)
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Ethos Technologies sells life insurance online, with no medical exam and a handful of health questions. Revenue doubled to $193.1 million in the first quarter of 2026 — the first set of numbers after the January 29, 2026 IPO. For the second quarter the company guides to just $114 million to $118 million. Its filings with the U.S. securities regulator, the SEC, explain why: the first quarter is seasonally the strongest, 88 percent of revenue comes from three carriers, and $291.4 million of the $619.4 million balance sheet is commission money that is meant to arrive over years. Valuing a young stock takes more than its first quarter.
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Quality & Screener
AI Rating
Uses AIEthos verkauft keine KI, sondern Lebensversicherungs-Policen gegen Provision — setzt KI und Machine Learning aber im eigenen Betrieb ein: im automatisierten Underwriting („predictive modeling platform“) sowie laut Risikobericht in Kundenbetreuung, Lead-Steuerung, Betrugserkennung bei Agenten und in der Entwicklung.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„We utilize artificial intelligence, machine learning, and similar tools and technologies, including generative AI and agentic AI (collectively, “AI”) that collect, aggregate, analyze or generate data or other materials or content in connection with our business, including customer-facing, operational and back-office functions, such as customer support, lead targeting, agent fraud detection, and development tooling."
Wir setzen künstliche Intelligenz, maschinelles Lernen und ähnliche Werkzeuge und Technologien ein, darunter generative KI und agentische KI (zusammen „KI“), die Daten oder andere Materialien oder Inhalte im Zusammenhang mit unserem Geschäft sammeln, zusammenführen, auswerten oder erzeugen — einschließlich kundenzugewandter, operativer und interner Funktionen wie Kundenbetreuung, Lead-Steuerung, Betrugserkennung bei Agenten und Entwicklungswerkzeugen.
„The streamlined application process is achieved through the Company’s full stack technology and predictive modeling platform which simplifies and automates the underwriting process allowing families to obtain same-day coverage."
Der verschlankte Antragsprozess wird durch die durchgängige Technologie- und Prognosemodell-Plattform des Unternehmens erreicht, die den Underwriting-Prozess vereinfacht und automatisiert und es Familien ermöglicht, noch am selben Tag Versicherungsschutz zu erhalten.
„We utilize artificial intelligence, machine learning, and similar tools and technologies, or collectively, AI, that collect, aggregate, analyze or generate data or other materials or content in connection with our business, including ancillary and operational functions, such as customer support, lead targeting, agent fraud detection, and development tooling."
Wir setzen künstliche Intelligenz, maschinelles Lernen und ähnliche Werkzeuge und Technologien (zusammen „KI“) ein, die Daten oder andere Materialien oder Inhalte im Zusammenhang mit unserem Geschäft sammeln, zusammenführen, auswerten oder erzeugen — einschließlich unterstützender und operativer Funktionen wie Kundenbetreuung, Lead-Steuerung, Betrugserkennung bei Agenten und Entwicklungswerkzeugen.
Filings Reviewed: 10-Q 2026-05-08 · 10-K 2026-03-17 · 8-K 2026-05-06 · 424B4 2026-01-30
Rated on July 31, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025: Q4 | 0.42 | – | 110 | 65.50 | 22.30 | 5 | 0 |
| 2026: Q1 | 0.38 | – | 193 | 103.50 | -86.20 | 31 | 29 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
Revenue rose from $159.8 million (2023) to $254.9 million (2024) to $387.6 million (2025), then 104 percent to $193.1 million in the first quarter of 2026. Unlike many young technology companies, real profit came with it: $71.2 million of net income in 2025 and $31.2 million of operating cash flow in the first quarter of 2026.
Ethos carries no insurance risk — the quarterly report for the period ended March 31, 2026 states explicitly that the company does not assume balance sheet risk for the policies on its platform. Gross margin runs at 98 percent, there is no conventional bank debt, and by the company's own math customer acquisition pays back in less than two months.
Commissions are booked up front including expected future years. As a result, commissions receivable of $291.4 million sit in a $619.4 million balance sheet as of March 31, 2026 — 47 percent. Revisions to persistency estimates work retroactively: one such revision cost $16.5 million in the first quarter of 2026 and pushed contribution margin from 43 to 30 percent.
Three carriers accounted for 45, 33 and 10 percent of revenue in the first quarter of 2026 (88 percent combined) and for 98 percent in fiscal 2024. As of March 31, 2026 a single partner held 67 percent of outstanding receivables. On the positive side, the largest partner's share has fallen from 54 to 45 percent.
Class B shares carrying 20 votes give the founders, Accel and Sequoia Capital roughly 95.4 percent of the voting power (March 31, 2026). On top of that come 19.0 million shares under the 2026 incentive plan, an employee program that grows each year, and 900,000 restricted stock units to each co-founder on July 8, 2026 — substantial dilution measured against 62,994,262 shares outstanding.
The company's own guidance of May 6, 2026 calls for revenue of just $114 million to $118 million in the second quarter of 2026 — roughly 40 percent below the first quarter, which management describes as seasonally the strongest. Full-year 2026 guidance was set at $561 million to $565 million, up from $510 million to $514 million in February. The raise therefore corresponds largely to the first quarter's beat.
Ethos Technologies is a fast-growing life insurance distributor that reported genuine profits up to its January 29, 2026 IPO: $387.6 million of revenue and $71.2 million of net income in fiscal 2025, plus $193.1 million of revenue in the first quarter of 2026 alone. The $166.4 million net loss in that quarter stems from stock-based compensation tied to the listing, not from operations. Three other points decide the case: $291.4 million of the $619.4 million balance sheet is commissions receivable resting on persistency estimates, 88 percent of revenue comes from three carriers, and 95.4 percent of the voting power sits with the founders and two venture firms. The company itself guides to $114 million to $118 million for the second quarter of 2026 — extrapolate the first quarter and you will be wrong. Not investment advice.
- Ethos Technologies reached our research list not through a price scanner but through a run of Form 4 insider filings in July 2026, in which a shareholder registered as a 10 percent owner sold shares on almost every trading day. The listing dates only from January 29, 2026 — screens built on multi-year series or fifty-two-week windows do not yet apply to this stock.
- A caution on market capitalization: Ethos has two share classes. Price databases frequently count only the 30,914,997 listed Class A shares and miss the 32,079,265 Class B shares. This analysis works with 62,994,262 shares (cover page of the quarterly report, as of April 30, 2026); the valuation anchor of roughly $1.28 billion rests on the closing price of July 30, 2026.
- The first-quarter 2026 net loss is an accounting event, not an operating one: 5.7 million deferred stock units vested with the IPO and produced $181.7 million of expense, of which $49.1 million left as cash in withheld taxes. Adjusted for stock-based compensation, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization came to $33.6 million.
- Not to be confused: Ethos Technologies is a distributor and administrator, not an insurer — the mortality risk on the policies it places sits with the partner carriers. Insurance-sector metrics such as combined ratio or underwriting result do not apply here.
About the Company
Ethos Technologies Inc. provides third-party administrator services for insurance policies in the United States. The company offers Ethos, a three-sided technology platform that serves an ecosystem of consumers, agents, and carriers. It also provides term life insurance, whole life insurance, and indexed universal life insurance products, as well as wills and estate planning, and supplemental health insurance products. The company was formerly known as Ethos Insurance Corporation and changed its name to Ethos Technologies Inc. in August 2016. The company was incorporated in 2016 and is based in San Francisco, California.
| IPO Year | 2026 |
|---|
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Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 31, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.