Visual content marketplace Getty Images (NYSE: GETY) fell short of the market’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2026 as sales only rose 1.1% year on year to $226.6 million. On the other hand, the company’s outlook for the full year was close to analysts’ estimates with revenue guided to $968 million at the midpoint. Its non-GAAP loss of $0.02 per share was $0.02 below analysts’ consensus estimates.

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"The first quarter reflected the dynamic market environment we are operating in,” said Craig Peters, Chief Executive Officer of Getty Images.

Company Overview

With a vast library of over 562 million visual assets documenting everything from breaking news to iconic historical moments, Getty Images (NYSE: GETY) is a global visual content marketplace that licenses photos, videos, illustrations, and music to businesses, media outlets, and creative professionals.

Revenue Growth

Reviewing a company’s long-term sales performance reveals insights into its quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul.

With $983.8 million in revenue over the past 12 months, Getty Images is a small player in the business services space, which sometimes brings disadvantages compared to larger competitors benefiting from economies of scale and numerous distribution channels.

As you can see below, Getty Images’s 3.5% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was tepid. This shows it failed to generate demand in any major way and is a rough starting point for our analysis.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within business services, a half-decade historical view may miss new innovations or demand cycles. Getty Images’s annualized revenue growth of 4.4% over the last two years aligns with its five-year trend, suggesting its demand was consistently weak.

This quarter, Getty Images’s revenue grew by 1.1% year on year to $226.6 million, falling short of Wall Street’s estimates.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to decline by 2% over the next 12 months, a deceleration versus the last two years. This projection doesn't excite us and implies its products and services will see some demand headwinds.

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Adjusted Operating Margin

Getty Images has been an efficient company over the last five years. It was one of the more profitable businesses in the business services sector, boasting an average adjusted operating margin of 16.7%.

Analyzing the trend in its profitability, Getty Images’s adjusted operating margin decreased by 12.6 percentage points over the last five years. This raises questions about the company’s expense base because its revenue growth should have given it leverage on its fixed costs, resulting in better economies of scale and profitability.

In Q1, Getty Images generated an adjusted operating margin profit margin of 15.4%, up 3.2 percentage points year on year. This increase was a welcome development and shows it was more efficient.

Earnings Per Share

We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.

Getty Images’s full-year EPS flipped from negative to positive over the last three years. This is encouraging and shows it’s at a critical moment in its life.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business.

For Getty Images, its two-year annual EPS growth of 18.9% was lower than its three-year trend. We still think its growth was good and hope it can accelerate in the future.

In Q1, Getty Images reported adjusted EPS of negative $0.02, up from negative $0.14 in the same quarter last year. Despite growing year on year, this print missed analysts’ estimates, but we care more about long-term adjusted EPS growth than short-term movements. We also like to analyze expected EPS growth based on Wall Street analysts’ consensus projections, but there is insufficient data.

Key Takeaways from Getty Images’s Q1 Results

We struggled to find many positives in these results. Its revenue missed and its EPS was in line with Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this quarter could have been better. The stock traded down 3.6% to $0.78 immediately after reporting.

The latest quarter from Getty Images’s wasn’t that good. One earnings report doesn’t define a company’s quality, though, so let’s explore whether the stock is a buy at the current price. The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).