# Lifestance Health Group (LFST.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/LFST

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:29:48.368Z. Financial observations: FY2019–FY2026.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: fail; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $12.37 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 0 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- more than 2 net loss years

- negative average operating margin

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 8 years

- Years with declining revenue: 0

- Years with a net loss: 5

- Operating margin variation: 1.92×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2019: 0.07×

- FY2020: 0.04×

- FY2021: -0.43×

- FY2022: -0.24×

- FY2023: -0.18×

- FY2024: -0.03×

- FY2025: 0.02×

- LTM to Jun 2026: 0.05×

### moat: fail

- Years with nonpositive invested capital use equity plus debt and leases; positive earnings with no positive capital are shown above 100%.

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- ROIC, median of available years: -5.2%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: -27.0%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: -2.0 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 30.2%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 32.2%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 1

- Capital spending / revenue: 6.7%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: -5.3%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2019: >100%

- FY2020: 4.9%

- FY2021: -64.4%

- FY2022: -27.0%

- FY2023: -26.3%

- FY2024: -5.2%

- FY2025: 10.9%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: -$649M

- Net income, five-year total: -$757M

- Return on incremental invested capital: 30.0%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -0.1 pp

Chart: Owner earnings · five years; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: -$307M

- FY2022: -$216M

- FY2023: -$146M

- FY2024: -$8.1M

- FY2025: $28M

### management: fail

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 4.9% vs -5.2%

- Per-share earnings: -0.12 to -0.15 (three-year endpoint medians)

- per-share value declined or ends nonpositive

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 5.0%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 5.0%

- Per-share value change: -$0.03

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: -$0.12

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: -$0.15

- Average buyback yield: 0.0%

- Buyback history: 1 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- ROIC, first three-year median: 4.9%

- ROIC, last three-year median: -5.2%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2019: $0.02

- FY2020: -$0.12

- FY2021: -$0.94

- FY2022: -$0.61

- FY2023: -$0.51

- FY2024: -$0.15

- FY2025: $0.02

### accounting: pass

- stock compensation exceeds 15% of operating cash flow

- Sloan accruals: -6.2%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.64×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 51.1%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 15.12×

- Accounting red flags: 1

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.97×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2019: -4.1%

- FY2020: -1.9%

- FY2021: -16.4%

- FY2022: -12.3%

- FY2023: -8.0%

- FY2024: -7.8%

- FY2025: -6.2%

## Holders

- [Matthew McLennan](https://gigainvestors.com/FE): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Up 112% since Oct 2023 · "LifeStance Reports Strong Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results and Raises Full Year Outlook" (finance.yahoo.com, Aug 2026) · sales +11.3%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:03.817Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

- 2025-08-07: LifeStance Health Group Inc (NASDAQ:LFST) Reports Q2 2025 Revenue Growth and Narrowed Losses ([chartmill.com](https://www.chartmill.com/news/LFST/Chartmill-32631-LifeStance-Health-Group-Inc-NASDAQLFST-Reports-Q2-2025-Revenue-Growth-and-Narrowed-Losses))

- 2025-11-08: LifeStance (LFST) Soars 30% on Q3 Earnings Blowout ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lifestance-lfst-soars-30-q3-101126292.html))

- 2026-05-12: LFST Q1 Deep Dive: Technology and Clinician Productivity Drive Outperformance and Guidance Increase ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/healthcare/articles/lfst-q1-deep-dive-technology-001255380.html))

- 2026-08-06: LifeStance Reports Strong Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results and Raises Full Year Outlook ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/healthcare/articles/lifestance-reports-strong-second-quarter-100000460.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +11.3%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1845257/000119312526071462/lfst-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-25.

- FY2019: $213M 

- FY2020: $377M 

- FY2021: $668M 

- FY2022: $860M 

- FY2023: $1.1B 

- FY2024: $1.3B 

- FY2025: $1.4B 

- FY2026: $1.6B 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 32.4%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1845257/000119312526071462/lfst-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-25.

- FY2019: 29.4% 

- FY2020: 35.6% 

- FY2021: 30.2% 

- FY2022: 27.6% 

- FY2023: 28.6% 

- FY2024: 32.2% 

- FY2025: 32.4% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in medical care facilities; annual sales are USD 1.4 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1845257/000119312526071462/lfst-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-25); FY2025: revenue 1424285000; grossProfit 461099000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); LFST.US: LifeStance Health Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides outpatient mental health services to children, adolescents, adults, and geriatrics in the United States. The company offers patients a multidisciplinary suite of mental health services, psychiatric evaluations and treatment, psychological, and neuropsychological testing, as well as individual, family, and group therapy. It also treats a range of mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, psychotic disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition, the company operates an outpatient mental health platform, as well as offers patient care virtually through its online delivery platform or in-person at its centers. LifeStance Health Group, Inc. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 28.6% to 32.4% during 2023–25; it lost 5.2% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-25); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 28.6%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-25); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 32.2%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1845257/000119312526071462/lfst-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-25); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 32.4%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-25); 7-year return on capital observations [[2019,1.000001],[2020,0.04944627361933339],[2021,-0.6441421835224975],[2022,-0.2695426438765124],[2023,-0.2631478226564894],[2024,-0.05164711015890611],[2025,0.10902146147968748]]; median -0.05164711015890611. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid no dividends in 7 years.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1845257/000119312526071462/lfst-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-25); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 36125000; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 28291000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-25); Dividend observations: [[2019,0],[2020,0],[2021,0],[2022,0],[2023,0],[2024,0],[2025,0]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 3.1% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); LFST.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 3.072 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price is 3.4 times annual sales.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-25); Closing price 12.37 USD; reporting-to-trading FX 1; FY2025 annual sales per share 3.6414060582508387; price multiple 3.3970394408422466. FY2025 cash earnings/share 0.07233034034197824. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2021-06: $27.86 per share

- 2021-07: $23.70 per share

- 2021-08: $14.86 per share

- 2021-09: $14.50 per share

- 2021-10: $11.98 per share

- 2021-11: $7.94 per share

- 2021-12: $9.52 per share

- 2022-01: $7.63 per share

- 2022-02: $9.43 per share

- 2022-03: $10.11 per share

- 2022-04: $6.77 per share

- 2022-05: $7.45 per share

- 2022-06: $5.56 per share

- 2022-07: $5.96 per share

- 2022-08: $6.29 per share

- 2022-09: $6.62 per share

- 2022-10: $7.55 per share

- 2022-11: $5.09 per share

- 2022-12: $4.94 per share

- 2023-01: $5.28 per share

- 2023-02: $5.12 per share

- 2023-03: $7.43 per share

- 2023-04: $8.15 per share

- 2023-05: $8.19 per share

- 2023-06: $9.13 per share

- 2023-07: $9.39 per share

- 2023-08: $8.21 per share

- 2023-09: $6.87 per share

- 2023-10: $5.83 per share

- 2023-11: $6.87 per share

- 2023-12: $7.83 per share

- 2024-01: $5.98 per share

- 2024-02: $8.35 per share

- 2024-03: $6.17 per share

- 2024-04: $6.18 per share

- 2024-05: $5.57 per share

- 2024-06: $4.91 per share

- 2024-07: $5.51 per share

- 2024-08: $6.31 per share

- 2024-09: $7.00 per share

- 2024-10: $6.71 per share

- 2024-11: $7.52 per share

- 2024-12: $7.37 per share

- 2025-01: $7.97 per share

- 2025-02: $7.79 per share

- 2025-03: $6.66 per share

- 2025-04: $6.57 per share

- 2025-05: $5.94 per share

- 2025-06: $5.17 per share

- 2025-07: $3.98 per share

- 2025-08: $5.48 per share

- 2025-09: $5.50 per share

- 2025-10: $4.90 per share

- 2025-11: $6.50 per share

- 2025-12: $7.04 per share

- 2026-01: $7.07 per share

- 2026-02: $7.24 per share

- 2026-03: $6.37 per share

- 2026-04: $7.57 per share

- 2026-05: $7.71 per share

- 2026-06: $10.71 per share

- 2026-07: $10.48 per share

- 2026-08: $12.36 per share

- 2026-09: $12.03 per share

- 2026-10: $12.37 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1845257/000119312526071462/lfst-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-25.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.