National Research Corporation (NRC): BCG Matrix [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're looking at National Research Corporation's (NRC Health) portfolio map as of late 2025, and the story is one of a highly profitable core needing smart capital deployment. The foundation is rock-solid: the core business is driving a 31.4% Adjusted EBITDA margin in Q3 2025, with cash flow from operations surging 46% year-over-year to $13.8 million, which funds the high-growth AI Stars. We need to see exactly how management balances investing in those promising Question Marks against milking the established Cash Cows. Dive in to see the precise breakdown of where NRC Health's value sits right now.

Background of National Research Corporation (NRC)

You're looking at National Research Corporation (NRC), which now operates under the trade name NRC Health, a company deeply embedded in the American and Canadian healthcare analytics space. Honestly, this isn't a new player; National Research Corporation was established way back in 1981 in Lincoln, Nebraska, by Michael Hays, initially focusing on performance measurement tools for the healthcare industry.

The core mission of NRC Health centers on delivering essential data and insights that help healthcare organizations-like providers and payers-measure and improve the patient and employee experience. They use survey-based performance measurement, analysis, and tracking services to give clients a point of comparison against competitors and meet evolving regulatory needs. Key offerings have historically included the Healthcare Market Guide and solutions focused on patient-centered care, like the NRC+Picker unit.

As of late 2025, the company is publicly held on NASDAQ under the ticker NRC. You can see the recent financial context: as of October 31, 2025, the market capitalization stood at $308M, with a stock price of $13.36 based on 22.7M shares outstanding.

Operationally, the narrative for NRC Health in 2025 has been one of transition, marked by strong recurring revenue momentum but overall top-line pressure. For the three months ending September 30, 2025, total revenue was reported at $34.6 million, which was a slight dip from the prior year's third quarter. Still, management pointed to positive signs, noting that Total Recurring Contract Value (TRCV) reached $141.7 million, representing an 8% year-over-year increase and marking the fourth consecutive quarter of sequential growth. The company is actively working to navigate an earnings contraction cycle by focusing on customer retention and new sales, even as legacy recurring revenue has seen some erosion.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

National Research Corporation (NRC) - BCG Matrix: Stars

You're analyzing the portfolio for National Research Corporation (NRC) and the Stars quadrant is where the future cash cows are being forged. These are the business units operating in markets that are expanding rapidly, and NRC has successfully captured a leading position within them.

The AI-enabled solutions, specifically those powered by the Huey™ engine, represent a prime Star. While the engine was launched in August 2024, its adoption and impact are driving significant growth in the high-growth healthcare technology market throughout 2025. This positions the technology to consume cash for further development but promises substantial future returns as the market matures.

The comprehensive Experience Management Platform is another clear Star. Its market leadership is validated by winning the 2025 Best in KLAS Award for Healthcare Experience Management. This award signals a high relative market share in a segment where healthcare systems are aggressively investing to improve patient and employee outcomes.

The rapid expansion of market reach through strategic partnerships is fueling the high-growth narrative for these Stars. The recent collaborations are not just press releases; they translate directly into future recurring revenue streams.

Here are the key partnership and adoption metrics supporting the Star classification:

• The Experience Management Platform is now being deployed across the network of BJC HealthCare following the November 13, 2025, announcement.
• A new agreement was finalized with Mosaic Life Care, effective December 2, 2025, to elevate experiences across their Midwest system.
• The company reported its fourth consecutive quarter of recurring contract value growth in Q3 2025.

The success of these high-growth areas is also reflected in the strong revenue momentum indicators, which show the effectiveness of cross-sell and upsell strategies aimed at maximizing the value of the full platform.

Here is a snapshot of the financial performance supporting the high-growth nature of these segments as of the latest reported quarter:

The focus on customer retention is driving the conversion of these growth assets. Management noted 'meaningful improvement in customer retention' in Q3 2025, which is the direct result of successfully embedding the platform and AI tools. This success is what sets up these Stars to become the next generation of Cash Cows when the high-growth market for experience management eventually slows down.

The investment required to maintain this leadership is evident in the capital allocation decisions made in 2025. The company increased its quarterly cash dividend by 33% to $0.16 per share, signaling confidence in the cash generation potential of these leading products, even while they continue to require investment for market dominance.

You need to ensure capital allocation prioritizes the continued investment in the Huey engine development and the sales force expansion necessary to fully integrate the BJC HealthCare and Mosaic Life Care contracts. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

National Research Corporation (NRC) - BCG Matrix: Cash Cows

You're looking at the engine room of National Research Corporation's portfolio, the business units that reliably print cash. These are your classic Cash Cows: high market share in a mature space, meaning they don't need massive reinvestment to keep the lights on, but they generate significant free cash flow. The core Patient Experience (PX) and syndicated survey business definitely fits this profile, forming the bedrock of the $141.7 million Total Recurring Contract Value (TRCV) as of the third quarter of 2025. That TRCV figure, which is your clearest signal of forward-looking subscription revenue, showed an 8% year-over-year increase, marking its strongest growth since 2020. That's stability you can bank on.

The strength of this segment is best seen when you look at the operational cash generation. It's this high-margin subscription model that's translating directly into robust cash flow from operations, which surged 46% year-over-year to reach $13.8 million in Q3 2025. Honestly, that kind of cash surge from the core business is exactly what you want to see from a Cash Cow. Here's a quick snapshot of the Q3 2025 performance that defines this quadrant:

The profitability here is impressive; the segment responsible for this performance delivered an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 31.4% in Q3 2025. That high margin means National Research Corporation is getting a lot of cash out of every dollar of revenue this unit brings in. This excess capital is what funds the big bets-the Stars that need investment to maintain leadership and the Question Marks that need fuel to gain share.

You see the confidence management has in this cash-generating ability because they are actively returning capital to shareholders. The stability derived from long-term contracts with major healthcare systems allows for aggressive capital allocation decisions. Specifically, the Board declared a quarterly cash dividend increase of 33%, moving the payout to $0.16 per share. This move signals that management believes the current operating efficiency and recurring revenue base are defintely sustainable enough to support higher shareholder payouts while still funding growth elsewhere.

• Net retention rate reached its highest level since 2020.
• Cross-sell/upsell activity was the best quarterly expansion in six years.
• TRCV losses and down sells were reduced by nearly 50%.
• The company repurchased 618,264 shares during the quarter.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

National Research Corporation (NRC) - BCG Matrix: Dogs

You're looking at the units within National Research Corporation (NRC) that are stuck in low-growth markets and carry a low relative market share. These are the areas where the company has money tied up but sees minimal return, making them prime candidates for divestiture or aggressive pruning. The scenario here is clear: avoid them and minimize exposure.

The evidence for these 'Dogs' is seen in the revenue dynamics from existing clients. Over the first nine months of 2025, total revenue decreased by $\$4.0$ million, and a significant portion of that pressure came from a $\$5.0$ million drop in recurring revenue from existing clients. This decline strongly suggests the ongoing migration away from older, less sticky revenue streams, such as the older, traditional paper-based or basic telephone survey methodologies that the industry is actively replacing with digital platforms.

Management's focus on retention is a direct countermeasure to the cash-draining nature of these low-share products. The efforts to reduce churn risk are paying off, as evidenced by the fact that TRCV losses and down sells were reduced by nearly $50\%$ over the past year. This aggressive management of attrition is what you want to see when dealing with Dogs; expensive turn-around plans rarely work, so minimizing cash burn is the priority.

These legacy services likely fall into the category of niche, low-volume market research services that simply lack the scale or the high-margin profile of the core subscription model. Furthermore, any non-integrated, standalone products inherited from prior acquisitions that haven't been successfully migrated to the unified experience platform would also fit this profile, consuming internal resources without contributing meaningfully to the $31\%$ Adjusted EBITDA margin seen in Q3 2025.

The contrast between the struggling legacy segments and the core business is stark. The core, subscription-based business is clearly pulling the company forward, as shown by the Total Recurring Contract Value (TRCV) hitting $\$141.7$ million, an $8\%$ year-over-year increase, and the net retention rate reaching its highest point since 2020. Still, the overall TTM revenue stood at $\$139.10$ million as of Q3 2025, reflecting the drag from these lower-performing units.

Here's a look at the financial tension between the core growth engine and the legacy segments being managed down:

The services with high churn risk that management is actively working to reduce are the definition of a Dog. When you see the Q2 2025 results showing a net loss of $(\$106,000)$ and an operating income of only $\$1.588$ million, down $82\%$ from the prior year, you know that non-core, high-effort areas are eating margin, even if the overall Adjusted EBITDA margin remains strong at $31\%$. The significant rise in selling, general, and administrative expenses, up $58\%$ year-over-year in Q2 2025 to $\$17.734$ million, also suggests costs associated with managing complex, low-value client relationships or integration efforts for those non-integrated products.

The strategy here is clearly divestiture or managed decline, not investment. You want to see the cash flow from operations, which was $\$13.8$ million in Q3 2025, being funneled away from these areas and toward the Stars and Cash Cows. The fact that the company returned $\$28.1$ million to shareholders through dividends and repurchases during 2025 year-to-date shows capital is being deployed externally rather than being sunk into an expensive turnaround for a legacy survey business. The focus is on accelerating the core subscription model. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

National Research Corporation (NRC) - BCG Matrix: Question Marks

The Question Marks quadrant for National Research Corporation (NRC) is characterized by business areas demanding significant cash investment to capture growing market share, where current returns are not yet commensurate with the market's potential.

Newer, specialized Experience Management segments like Employee Experience (EX) or Market Experience (MX) are positioned here. While the broader patient engagement solutions market was valued at USD 25.0 billion in 2024, NRC Health's specific share in these newer verticals remains nascent, requiring aggressive market penetration efforts. The company's Total Recurring Contract Value (TRCV) stood at $141.7 million as of Q3 2025, representing the base from which these newer segments must grow rapidly.

International expansion efforts or new vertical market plays require substantial upfront sales force investment to gain traction. While the company serves customers across the United States and Canada, specific revenue contribution from truly new, low-share international markets is not separately reported. However, the financial strain of new business acquisition is visible; for instance, in Q2 2025, strong performance from new clients contributed $419,000 in revenue, a figure that must be weighed against the $(106,000) net loss reported for that same quarter, illustrating the cash consumption dynamic.

The investment in modernizing the technology platform to support AI is a high-cost, high-risk, high-reward initiative. The launch of healthcare's first AI engine, Huey™, represents a major capital deployment. This investment is strategic, as leadership outlined modernizing the technology platform, including AI, as a near-term priority following the Q3 2025 results. The company's strong cash flow from operations in Q3 2025 was $13.8 million, which must fund both sustaining operations and these significant growth bets.

Products in the early stages of the 'digital-first' consumer preference shift require NRC Health to prove its relative market share against pure-play digital competitors. The company's overall trailing twelve-month revenue as of March 31, 2025, was $141 million. To transition these Question Marks into Stars, NRC Health must rapidly convert its growing TRCV momentum-which increased 8% year-over-year to $141.7 million in Q3 2025-into revenue growth that outpaces the 3% year-over-year revenue decline seen in Q2 2025.

The financial profile of these emerging areas suggests high cash burn relative to current revenue contribution, as evidenced by the Q2 2025 Net Loss of $(106,000), even as the company achieved a strong 31% Adjusted EBITDA margin on its established business in Q3 2025.

The strategic imperative for these units is clear, demanding rapid market share gains to justify continued funding.

• Invest heavily to achieve Star status.
• Sell if growth potential is not realized quickly.
• Focus on proving relative market share against digital rivals.
• Ensure AI investment translates to competitive advantage.

The company's ability to sustain investment hinges on the profitability of its core business, which yielded an Adjusted EBITDA of $10.9 million in Q3 2025.