ON24 Inc. (NYSE:ONTF), a digital engagement platform leader, is quietly building a strong foundation for a comeback story that investors shouldn’t ignore. With its recent earnings beating Wall Street expectations and a suite of AI-powered products gaining traction, the company is positioning itself for a return to growth amid a challenging macroeconomic environment. Despite short-ON24, Inc. (NYSE:ONTF) is a leading cloud-based digital engagement platform that empowers global enterprises to transform how they connect, engage, and convert audiences in the digital-first era. Founded in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, ON24 has evolved from a webcasting provider into a sophisticated, AI-powered engagement ecosystem trusted by some of the world’s most influential brands across industries such as technology, financial services, life sciences, and professional services.
What sets ON24 apart is its ability to deliver real-time, interactive, and data-driven experiences that go beyond traditional webinars and virtual events. Through its flagship platform, the company enables organizations to orchestrate personalized digital journeys that span across marketing, sales, training, and customer success. Its suite of tools—including ON24 Webcast Elite, ON24 Engagement Hub, ON24 Target, and the newly developed AI-powered Analytics and Content Engine (ACE)—provides enterprises with a scalable, always-on engagement infrastructure that generates actionable first-party data to drive pipeline and revenue growth.
ON24’s mission is to help businesses convert digital engagement into measurable outcomes. As the demand for virtual interaction accelerates across global markets, the company has redefined how organizations can leverage digital content to achieve marketing efficiency, customer intimacy, and ROI at scale. Today, ON24 supports millions of professionals annually, powering over one billion engagement minutes and driving countless buyer journeys in more than 40 countries.
Publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ONTF, ON24 continues to strengthen its leadership in the digital experience economy. Its platform is not only recognized for its reliability and enterprise-grade security, but also for its relentless innovation—most recently through its integration of artificial intelligence to automate content creation, enhance personalization, and generate deeper insights from engagement analytics.
With over two decades of expertise, a growing customer base of large-scale enterprise clients, and a future-forward vision centered on intelligent engagement, ON24 stands at the forefront of digital transformation. As businesses increasingly prioritize scalable, data-enriched virtual experiences, ON24 is uniquely positioned to capture the expanding market for AI-driven engagement solutions—making it a company to watch for long-term investors and enterprise technology stakeholders alike.revenue softness and a suppressed stock price, ON24’s strategic pivot toward enterprise clients, product-led innovation, and disciplined financial management suggests that this undervalued tech stock could offer compelling upside for long-term investors.
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A Strong Q1 2025 Signals Operational Resilience and Strategic Progress
In Q1 2025, ON24 delivered a narrower-than-expected loss, posting EPS of -$0.01 versus consensus estimates of -$0.03. Revenue came in at $34.7 million, with core platform revenue at $34.2 million. More importantly, the company reported its fifth consecutive quarter of positive free cash flow, generating $1.9 million. Its gross retention rate reached the highest level in four years, indicating a notable stabilization of its customer base—a key sign of long-term platform stickiness.
The company also announced that over 50% of its annual recurring revenue (ARR) is now tied to multi-year contracts, and its $100,000+ ARR customer cohort continues to represent two-thirds of total ARR. These metrics underscore the company’s increasing orientation toward high-value, long-term enterprise customers.
AI-Powered ACE and ON24 IQ: Transforming Engagement into Growth
At the heart of ON24’s strategy is its robust AI innovation roadmap, led by its AI-powered Analytics and Content Engine (ACE) and the new ON24 IQ intelligent agents. These tools are not just technological bells and whistles—they are becoming essential for customers who need to streamline event management, personalize experiences, and measure ROI in a data-driven, automated way. With over 30% of customers using ON24’s AI tools and a growing portion now paying for these features, AI adoption is clearly on an upward trajectory.
The ON24 platform is built around five core AI pillars: AI-powered content and nurture automation, intelligent event agents (ON24 IQ), advanced personalization capabilities, performance insights through first-party engagement data, and multilingual scalability. This positions ON24 as a mission-critical partner for global enterprises seeking to maximize digital engagement outcomes while reducing manual workload.
Enterprise-Focused Go-To-Market Strategy Gaining Traction
CEO Sharat Sharan and the new leadership team, including the recently appointed CMO David Lee, are doubling down on an enterprise-focused sales motion. Q1 saw the best enterprise new business performance in five quarters, driven by a solutions-based approach and the launch of the “Propel Forward” campaign. This initiative highlights ON24’s value across verticals like financial services, life sciences, and technology, aligning their platform’s capabilities with clients’ strategic needs.
Customer case studies include a Fortune 500 IT firm re-engaging with ON24 to overhaul its content strategy, a major biopharmaceutical company turning to ON24 for omni-channel compliance-ready engagement, and a global financial giant consolidating various programs under ON24’s intelligent engagement platform. These wins not only validate ON24’s product-market fit but also its increasing ability to deliver differentiated outcomes across high-retention verticals.
Financial Discipline and Capital Return Reinforce Shareholder Value
Despite revenue pressures, ON24 is managing expenses with surgical precision. Sales and marketing expenses dropped to $15.6 million in Q1 from $16.3 million a year ago, while G&A costs also fell. R&D spending remained consistent at 20% of revenue, a testament to the company’s sustained investment in innovation without compromising profitability.
Importantly, ON24’s balance sheet remains rock-solid with $181 million in cash and no debt—giving it both flexibility and stability in a volatile market. The Board’s newly announced $50 million share repurchase program follows $191 million already returned to shareholders. This level of capital return, alongside strong cash flow, sends a clear signal of confidence in the company’s intrinsic value.
Guiding Toward Profitability and Growth in 2025
While ON24’s management remains conservative in its full-year guidance amid macroeconomic headwinds, the company expects to be adjusted EBITDA positive for all quarters in 2025 and to generate full-year positive free cash flow. The outlook includes core platform revenue between $133.7 million and $136.7 million and non-GAAP EPS between $0.02 and $0.05—indicating a significant improvement in operating efficiency and bottom-line performance.
The company’s plan to expand AI SKU offerings and deepen multi-language capabilities should further accelerate adoption across global enterprises, paving the way for potential ARR growth in the second half of 2025.
Why ON24 is a Bullish Bet for Long-Term Investors
ON24 is far from a high-flying SaaS darling, but therein lies the opportunity. The stock is trading at a depressed valuation, which fails to reflect the company’s improved retention, growing enterprise foothold, disciplined cost structure, and differentiated AI platform. As AI continues to redefine digital engagement, ON24’s ability to deliver measurable business outcomes—at scale—gives it an edge that should translate into meaningful revenue and earnings growth.
The foundation for a turnaround is already in place. With stable cash flow, a proven leadership team, and accelerating innovation in AI, ON24 is emerging as a high-upside, low-risk growth story hiding in plain sight.
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