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    Ronald Josey

    Managing Director and Senior Internet Analyst at Citigroup Inc.

    Ronald Josey is a Managing Director and Senior Internet Analyst at Citigroup Inc., specializing in equity research within the Communication Services sector with a focus on major internet companies such as Meta and Amazon. He covers 73 stocks and has achieved a solid performance track record, with 57% of his recommendations being profitable and generating an average return of 23.8% per transaction, earning him a 4.98-star ranking on TipRanks. Josey began his analyst career over a decade ago and previously held senior research roles at Citizens JMP before joining Citi, building deep expertise in evaluating platforms and advertiser growth strategies. He holds key professional credentials including FINRA registration and relevant securities licenses.

    Ronald Josey's questions to Ibotta (IBTA) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to Ibotta (IBTA) leadership • Q1 2025

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked about the potential constraints or 'governors' on expanding the CPID (cost per incremental dollar) program with the initial successful clients and the key milestones required for a broader rollout to all clients.

    Answer

    Bryan Leach, Founder and CEO, identified that expansion with current CPID clients depends on aligning with their budget cycles and completing deep-dive audits with their finance and measurement teams to build trust. For a broader rollout, he highlighted the need to automate currently manual analytical processes and implement machine learning for targeting and optimization. He emphasized that these steps are crucial to scale the offering from a few pilot clients to their entire client base efficiently.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Ibotta (IBTA) leadership • Q4 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey requested more detail on the necessary changes to the sales force and how the new CPID measurement framework is a significant improvement for CPGs.

    Answer

    CEO Bryan Leach described the sales force evolution as a series of optimizations to support a more analytical, high-level sale, led by the new CRO. He explained that the CPID framework is a major leap from standard ROAS because it uses a control group to measure true, incremental, and profitable sales lift in near real-time, transforming promotions into an 'always-on' performance marketing channel.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Ibotta (IBTA) leadership • Q3 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked about the early results from the Instacart pilot, the nature of the associated costs impacting margins, and the drivers behind the strong 20% year-over-year growth in redemptions per redeemer on the third-party network.

    Answer

    CEO Bryan Leach noted that early Instacart results show promise for high redemption rates and will help grow the general merchandise and beverage categories. CFO Sunit Patel explained that Instacart costs are unique as Ibotta is assuming an existing promotions business, leading to a near-term step-up in COGS, but these costs are relatively fixed and shouldn't impede long-term margin expansion. Bryan Leach added that the 3PP metric growth reflects network maturation and a favorable mix shift.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Getty Images Holdings (GETY) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to Getty Images Holdings (GETY) leadership • Q1 2025

    Question

    Ronald Josey of Citigroup inquired about the drivers behind the subscription mix shift towards corporate clients, a potential slowdown in subscriber growth, and whether the various headwinds mentioned for Q1 2025 are now largely resolved.

    Answer

    CEO Craig Peters explained the corporate shift is a long-term trend of companies building in-house creative teams and growth in SMBs on iStock. He noted that optimizing the subscription mix on iStock may slow subscriber count growth but that revenue retention remains strong. CFO Jennifer Leyden clarified that the revenue recognition item is a recurring accounting entry, the impact from the LA fires is expected to linger but is included in guidance, and that broader macro uncertainty is factored into their outlook to the best of their ability.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Airbnb (ABNB) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to Airbnb (ABNB) leadership • Q1 2025

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked about the upcoming May 13th product launch, its integration plans, and its contribution to guidance. He also inquired how Airbnb's affordability initiatives could boost bookings amid trends like staycations.

    Answer

    CFO Ellie Mertz stated the new launch's top-line impact will be modest initially but will scale over time, while associated expenses will more significantly impact EBITDA in the second half of the year. She agreed that in the current environment, Airbnb's diverse and affordable offerings, such as drive-to destinations, present an opportunity to merchandise listings that are more relevant to cost-conscious consumers.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Airbnb (ABNB) leadership • Q4 22024

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked for insights from recent product enhancements in search and merchandising and how they inform new product development. He also inquired about the drivers behind the acceleration in Nights and Experiences Booked.

    Answer

    CEO Brian Chesky detailed numerous product optimizations, including personalized welcomes, mobile app pushes, and a simplified checkout page, which have boosted conversion. He also highlighted affordability and reliability improvements. CFO Ellie Mertz added that these optimizations lifted the exit growth rate by a couple of hundred basis points, contributing to the strong Q4 demand.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to PINTEREST (PINS) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to PINTEREST (PINS) leadership • Q1 2025

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked for more detail on emerging advertiser verticals like financial services and inquired about the benefits of having 25% of code generated by AI.

    Answer

    CFO Julia Donnelly noted that verticals like tech, telecom, and entertainment are also growing. She explained that financial services is a natural fit as users plan major life events on Pinterest. Regarding AI, she stated it accelerates engineering velocity and employee productivity, enabling prudent investment in high-ROI initiatives.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to PINTEREST (PINS) leadership • Q4 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey of Citigroup followed up on the compounding effect of products like Direct Link, asking about advertiser adoption and the benefits of the upcoming ROAS bidding launch.

    Answer

    CEO Bill Ready detailed a strategic sequence: Direct Link created value (clicks), which drove adoption of measurement tools, which then proved ROI and led to increased budgets. He noted that for some of Pinterest's largest advertisers, lower-funnel objectives now represent over 80% of their spend. He positioned Performance+ and ROAS bidding as the next step to make it easier for advertisers to capitalize on this proven value.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to PINTEREST (PINS) leadership • Q3 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked for more detail on shoppable engagement rates, the impact of AI on engagement, and the typical adoption timeline for lower-funnel tools like Direct Link and CAPI.

    Answer

    CEO Bill Ready pointed to the steady improvement in the weekly-to-monthly active user (WAU/MAU) ratio as the key indicator of deepening engagement, driven by sessions with clicks and saves. He reiterated that lower-funnel tools have a multi-quarter adoption cycle but create a durable, compounding flywheel effect where increased user actionability generates richer data, leading to better recommendations and more monetization.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to CARVANA (CVNA) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to CARVANA (CVNA) leadership • Q1 2025

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked about the near-term macro environment, including the impact of tariffs, and how Carvana balances reinvesting efficiency gains into growth versus letting them flow to profitability.

    Answer

    CEO Ernie Garcia stated that the business model is adaptive to macro factors like tariffs and the primary focus is on creating fundamental gains. He explained that the company plans to share the majority of these future gains with customers to further separate its value proposition and drive growth. Garcia emphasized that with a Q1 EBITDA margin of 11.5%, Carvana is already in its long-term target range and sees a clear path to further improvements through fixed cost leverage and operational efficiencies.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to CARVANA (CVNA) leadership • Q4 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey of Citigroup inquired about Carvana's strategy for managing inventory as a growth lever versus the risk of depreciation, and how the company is leveraging AI to improve search, merchandising, and the overall user experience.

    Answer

    CEO Ernie Garcia explained that Carvana views selection as a powerful customer benefit and will continue to invest in growing inventory, balancing the resulting conversion lift against depreciation costs. He also expressed strong conviction in AI's transformative potential, highlighting Carvana's unique advantages in scale and data. Garcia mentioned their chatbot, Sebastian, as an early application of a broader AI strategy to enhance the entire customer journey.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Fiverr International (FVRR) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to Fiverr International (FVRR) leadership • Q1 2025

    Question

    Ronald Josey inquired about the progress and future rollout of Fiverr Go, given its strong initial results, and asked for insights on the stable macro demand environment and the drivers behind the strong Marketplace revenue.

    Answer

    CEO Micha Kaufman stated that Fiverr Go has achieved product-market fit, calling it a 'satisfaction, confidence and conversion machine.' He explained the next phase is scaling the product across more categories while maintaining quality. Kaufman attributed the Q1 revenue strength to seizing seasonal opportunities in the business solutions segment, which is paying off after long-term investment, rather than an improvement in the overall macro environment.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Fiverr International (FVRR) leadership • Q4 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked about the potential for Fiverr Go to expand across all service categories and sought clarity on the drivers behind higher average spend from newer buyer cohorts.

    Answer

    CEO Micha Kaufman stated that while GenAI cannot yet handle all categories, the new developer ecosystem will accelerate expansion by allowing third parties to build models on Fiverr's data. CFO Ofer Katz attributed higher cohort spending to the upmarket strategy, including Fiverr Pro, dynamic matching, a focus on high-value buyers, and growth in complex categories like Programming & Tech.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Fiverr International (FVRR) leadership • Q3 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey of Citigroup inquired about the recent demand stabilization mentioned by management, asking for more context on what is driving it, and questioned the product strategy for retaining the higher-quality buyers being attracted by new offerings like Dynamic Matching and Hourly Contracts.

    Answer

    CEO Micha Kaufman clarified that the "stabilization" refers to September and early October trends being less volatile than June-August, but he is not calling it a new trend yet due to upcoming elections and seasonality. Regarding buyer retention, he explained that Fiverr's strategy is to eliminate friction points common in offline agency work by building simple, AI-integrated tools. This focus on higher-value customers is proving successful, as these cohorts show better retention, spend, and frequency.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Xometry (XMTR) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to Xometry (XMTR) leadership • Q1 2025

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked about the long-term implications of tariffs on sourcing, the reasons for the lighter Q1 marketplace gross margin, and new President Sanjeev Sahni's initial impressions and focus areas.

    Answer

    CEO Randy Altschuler suggested tariffs will drive a long-term trend of multi-sourcing for resilience. CFO James Miln explained the margin dip was due to a planned multi-million dollar investment in the global sourcing strategy, with a significant rebound expected in Q2. President Sanjeev Sahni highlighted Xometry's AI moat and highly diversified global supplier network as key competitive strengths.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Xometry (XMTR) leadership • Q4 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked to unpack the drivers of the 'land and expand' strategy's success, differentiating between sales motion changes and marketplace menu expansion. He also sought insight into the confidence behind the Q1 gross margin recovery.

    Answer

    CEO Randolph Altschuler credited enterprise success to a combination of improved sales team segmentation and technology tools like Teamspace, ERP integrations, and the CAD plug-in. CFO James Miln expressed confidence in margin recovery based on a multi-year track record of expanding margins through data and network effects, framing the Q1 dip as a deliberate, temporary investment to scale new geographies.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Xometry (XMTR) leadership • Q3 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked how the expansion of instant quoting capabilities has impacted conversion rates and inquired about the outlook for marketplace gross margins, referencing a previous target of around 35% by year-end.

    Answer

    CEO Randy Altschuler explained that expanding the instant quoting menu helps attract and convert new buyers, contributing to a record number of net new active buyers in Q3. It also deepens engagement with existing customers, leading to a record increase in accounts spending over $50,000. CFO James Miln attributed gross margin expansion to AI-driven pricing and a growing supplier network, reaffirming the company's target of approaching 35% marketplace gross margin by the end of the year and a long-term range of 35% to 40%.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to DoorDash (DASH) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to DoorDash (DASH) leadership • Q1 2025

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked for more insight into how the value proposition of DashPass is being extended to drive accelerating growth. He also inquired about the company's thoughts on the recently raised delivery fee cap in New York City.

    Answer

    CEO Tony Xu reiterated that the focus for DashPass is to continuously improve the product to increase usage and consumer surplus. Regarding New York City, he stated that such policies often harm Dashers, merchants, and consumers by reducing opportunities and raising prices, but DoorDash remains optimistic about working with officials to find common-sense solutions.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to UPWORK (UPWK) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to UPWORK (UPWK) leadership • Q1 2025

    Question

    Ronald Josey of Citi requested more details on the specific search and recommendation product enhancements driving the core marketplace and asked about the profile of clients being acquired through the updated go-to-market strategy.

    Answer

    CEO Hayden Brown identified new features like semantic search and an enhanced client dashboard as key drivers of positive client metrics. CFO Erica Gessert added that the optimized marketing spend is attracting higher LTV clients, evidenced by a 5% YoY increase in average hours per contract and a 12% YoY rise in fixed-price spend per contract.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Reddit (RDDT) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to Reddit (RDDT) leadership • Q1 2025

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked about the current macroeconomic advertising environment and its potential impact on Reddit, as well as the outlook for daily active user (DAU) growth given recent Google algorithm changes.

    Answer

    COO Jen Wong stated that while there is market uncertainty, it's mostly 'business as usual,' and Reddit serves as a key resource for users and brands during volatile times. CEO Steve Huffman added that while short-term user growth may see 'bumps' from Google's changes, noting high-teens DAU growth in April, the long-term strategy is driven by product improvements, not external factors.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Reddit (RDDT) leadership • Q4 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey of Citigroup Inc. inquired about the early results and user query types for the new 'Reddit Answers' feature. He also asked for details on the recent Google Search algorithm change and its impact on engagement and revenue.

    Answer

    CEO Steve Huffman described Reddit Answers as a promising beta, highlighting its ability to surface deep, subjective answers from Reddit's corpus, such as fan theories or author recommendations. Regarding the Google algorithm change, Huffman noted it was a temporary fluctuation primarily affecting logged-out users with no revenue impact, and that traffic had since recovered. He added that an increase in searches for the term 'Reddit' suggests strong user intent to reach the platform regardless of search engine referrals.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Reddit (RDDT) leadership • Q3 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey of Citigroup Inc. asked for details on the drivers behind the Q3 revenue upside, specifically the mix between ad stack improvements and new advertiser demand. He also inquired about the balance between investments and achieving sustained profitability.

    Answer

    COO Jen Wong attributed revenue growth to vertical diversification, lower-funnel ad stack improvements driving more conversions, and 69% YoY international growth. CFO Drew Vollero added that the company has a bias to invest due to measurable, short-term ROI, noting that cost growth accelerated in Q3 to fuel revenue.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Alphabet (GOOGL) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to Alphabet (GOOGL) leadership • Q1 2025

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked for more detail on the drivers behind the improving direct response advertising business on YouTube, questioning the role of tools like Demand Gen and PMAX versus increased user engagement on Shorts.

    Answer

    Philipp Schindler, SVP and Chief Business Officer, attributed the strength in direct response to multiple factors, highlighting the success of AI-powered tools that help customers drive performance. He also expressed satisfaction with the monetization progress of Shorts, particularly in the U.S., where the gap with in-stream viewing is closing. CEO Sundar Pichai added a celebratory note on YouTube's 20th anniversary and its massive scale.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Maplebear (CART) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to Maplebear (CART) leadership • Q4 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey inquired about the impact of Instacart's affordability investments, such as price parity partnerships and couponing, on order growth. He also asked about the financial impact of the recent Super Bowl advertisement.

    Answer

    CEO Fidji Simo confirmed that affordability initiatives are core drivers of order growth and user engagement, noting customers saved $1.2 billion in 2024. CFO Emily Maher added that the Super Bowl ad was not an incremental expense but was funded by reallocating the existing marketing budget, with a focus on brand awareness.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Maplebear (CART) leadership • Q3 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked for details on how affordability initiatives, which led to an 18% increase in savings per order, contributed to the reacceleration of order growth to over 10% year-over-year.

    Answer

    CEO Fidji Simo attributed the success to a multi-pronged affordability strategy, including deep integrations with grocer loyalty programs like Kroger's fuel points, EBT SNAP availability, and weekly flyers with price parity. She also highlighted the new 'Super Saver' zero-delivery-fee option, which improves conversion and retention among price-sensitive new users, directly fueling order growth and expanding the total addressable market.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to LITHIA MOTORS (LAD) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to LITHIA MOTORS (LAD) leadership • Q4 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked for more details on Lithia's online strategy, the vision for growing Driveway and GreenCars, and whether significant online growth is expected in 2025.

    Answer

    President and CEO Bryan DeBoer described the online channels as a key, fully integrated part of the ecosystem. He highlighted the launch of the 'MyDriveway' customer portal as a major step, which will onboard 70,000 financing customers to create a 'snowball effect' for engagement. He confirmed they are targeting a 50% volume lift for Driveway and GreenCars in 2025 and are already seeing positive early-year trends.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Meta Platforms (META) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to Meta Platforms (META) leadership • Q4 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey of Citigroup asked for more details on Mark Zuckerberg's comment about 'getting back to the OG Facebook' and for an update on how the user experience for Meta AI is evolving based on current usage patterns.

    Answer

    CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated his focus for the year is on making Facebook more culturally influential, which may involve near-term trade-offs to focus on specific product areas, hinting at a return to some of its original uses. CFO Susan Li shared that Meta AI is most used on WhatsApp for information-seeking and on Facebook for getting context on feed content. She noted the roadmap is focused on personalization, including improving memory and content recommendations.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Meta Platforms (META) leadership • Q3 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey inquired about the product evolution and monetization path for Threads, which now has 275 million MAUs. He also asked for more detail on the drivers of the 11% year-over-year increase in ad pricing.

    Answer

    CFO Susan Li stated that Threads' monetization is not expected to be a meaningful driver in 2025, as the focus remains on user growth and feature development. Regarding ad pricing, she attributed the 11% increase to strong advertiser demand driven by improved ad performance. She emphasized that the key input metric is conversion growth, which continues to outpace impression growth and drives higher value for advertisers.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to LEGALZOOM.COM (LZ) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to LEGALZOOM.COM (LZ) leadership • Q3 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey inquired about the strategic shift from focusing on market share to 'quality share' and how this impacts the go-to-market strategy for subscriptions. He also asked for details on initiatives to acquire customers more efficiently through sales and marketing.

    Answer

    CEO Jeff Stibel clarified the focus is on 'quality share,' attracting high-intent customers who become long-term subscribers, using education, pricing, and packaging as levers. COO & CFO Noel Watson detailed marketing efficiency efforts like retesting spend levels, exploring new channels such as radio and direct mail, and on the sales side, enhancing training and testing new compensation structures to improve effectiveness.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to trivago (TRVG) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to trivago (TRVG) leadership • Q3 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked about the progress of expanding AI-powered hotel highlights to 250,000 hotels and its impact on conversion. He also inquired if the performance marketing headwinds from Google's ad format changes were improving sequentially and followed up on the conversion rate impact from the new content summaries.

    Answer

    Executive Johannes Thomas clarified that the initiative was about expanding AI-generated *content* summaries, not hotel *supply*, and confirmed it has been a relevant driver of conversion improvements. Regarding Google, he stated that the new ad formats have stabilized, and trivago's teams are gradually becoming more competitive within them. He reiterated that the content initiative is one of several activities that have contributed to a substantial, gradual increase in conversion rates throughout the year.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to Uber Technologies (UBER) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to Uber Technologies (UBER) leadership • Q3 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey asked about the primary drivers of growth in Delivery MAPs and frequency, and inquired about other initiatives aimed at boosting overall platform frequency.

    Answer

    CEO Dara Khosrowshahi attributed Delivery's audience growth to the strength of the core Uber Eats brand, significantly aided by cross-promotion from the Mobility platform, which provides one-third of new Delivery users. He stated that frequency is driven by continuous improvements in service quality (selection, on-time rates) and the success of the Uber One membership program. Members, now numbering 25 million, spend three times more than non-members and have higher retention rates.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to ZILLOW GROUP (ZG) leadership

    Ronald Josey's questions to ZILLOW GROUP (ZG) leadership • Q2 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey of Citigroup asked about the timing of the CEO transition and requested a detailed overview of the benefits of Zillow's enhanced markets strategy.

    Answer

    Co-Founder Rich Barton explained the CEO transition timing was due to the company's strong strategic and financial position, crediting new CEO Jeremy Wacksman's leadership. CEO Jeremy Wacksman then detailed that enhanced markets are measured by revenue per total transaction value and provide customers with real-time touring, financing options through Zillow Home Loans, and access to a select network of high-performing agents, driving share gains.

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    Ronald Josey's questions to ZILLOW GROUP (ZG) leadership • Q1 2024

    Question

    Ronald Josey from Citigroup Inc. inquired about the strategy to grow the rentals business to its $1 billion revenue potential, focusing on the multifamily segment's growth and how the rentals platform deepens long-term customer relationships.

    Answer

    CEO Rich Barton framed rentals as a classic two-sided digital marketplace opportunity, leveraging Zillow's massive organic audience (demand) and unique long-tail inventory (supply). He noted the recent focus on the multifamily market is the next phase of growth. COO Jeremy Wacksman added that growth is driven by a flywheel of increasing renter demand through marketing and partnerships, which in turn attracts more property managers to the platform.

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