Zeta Global's second quarter saw robust top-line growth, surpassing Wall Street’s revenue and profit expectations. Despite this, the market reacted negatively following the results. Management attributed the strong quarter to accelerated adoption of Zeta’s AI-powered Athena platform and deeper cross-industry partnerships, particularly with OpenAI, Palantir, and Snowflake. CEO David Steinberg emphasized that “Athena is fundamentally changing how customers interact with the Zeta platform,” highlighting rapid uptake among large customers and a notable increase in multi-use case adoption.
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Zeta Global (ZETA) Q2 CY2026 Highlights:
- Revenue: $442.8 million vs analyst estimates of $420.7 million (43.5% year-on-year growth, 5.2% beat)
- Adjusted EPS: $0.27 vs analyst estimates of $0.19 (39.8% beat)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $91.7 million vs analyst estimates of $86.44 million (20.7% margin, 6.1% beat)
- The company lifted its revenue guidance for the full year to $1.82 billion at the midpoint from $1.79 billion, a 1.8% increase
- EBITDA guidance for the full year is $405.2 million at the midpoint, above analyst estimates of $397.4 million
- Operating Margin: 3.8%, up from -1.7% in the same quarter last year
- Billings: $439.2 million at quarter end, up 43.4% year on year
- Market Capitalization: $6.91 billion
While we enjoy listening to the management’s commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls is the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention.
Our Top 5 Analyst Questions From Zeta Global’s Q2 Earnings Call
- Jason Kreyer (Craig-Hallum) asked how Athena and the OneZeta program will influence multi-use case adoption in coming quarters. CFO Christopher Greiner replied that cross-sell and upsell trends remain strong and that Athena’s impact is still in early stages, supporting ongoing ARPU expansion.
- Matt Swanson (RBC Capital Markets) questioned the role of new partnerships with Palantir, OpenAI, and Snowflake in accelerating go-to-market success. CEO David Steinberg said these alliances have dramatically increased Zeta’s access to major enterprise accounts and drove some of the largest deals in company history.
- DJ Hynes (Canaccord Genuity) sought clarity on formal productization of ZBI use cases and prioritization by industry. Steinberg explained that ZBI productization is driven by real customer requests, with vertical-specific solutions quickly added as new features, creating a continuous product flywheel.
- Elizabeth Elliott (Morgan Stanley) explored how expanding into business intelligence with ZBI changes Zeta’s wallet share opportunities and sales cycle. Steinberg said Zeta still targets 7–10% of marketing budgets but now sees new sales cycles with broader enterprise buyers, especially CTOs and CIOs.
- Jackson Nichols (KeyBanc Capital Markets) asked about the impact of Palantir Foundry infrastructure on Athena heavy users and potential risks from the transition. Steinberg confirmed the migration is complete and seamless, improving speed, onboarding, and intelligence for customers without disruption.
Catalysts in Upcoming Quarters
In future quarters, the StockStory team will be watching (1) the pace of enterprise adoption for Athena and ZBI, (2) execution and revenue contribution from Palantir and OpenAI partnerships, and (3) margin sustainability as automation continues to scale and new products roll out. Additional focus will be on customer net retention rates and the conversion of pipeline opportunities into large enterprise contracts.
Zeta Global currently trades at $27.53, up from $24.26 just before the earnings. Is the company at an inflection point that warrants a buy or sell? Find out in our full research report (it’s free).
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