Should Investors Buy WIX as Low Valuation Meets AI Spending Risks?

WIX Valuation Sits Below Its Historical Norm

WIX trades at 1.6X forward 12-month sales, below its five-year median of 3.5X and the cited multiples for its sub-industry, sector and the S&P 500. That discount may attract investors seeking growth at a less demanding sales valuation.

The broader valuation picture is less forgiving. An enterprise-value-to-EBITDA multiple of 69.4X and a negative reported net margin indicate that future operating leverage still carries substantial weight in the investment thesis.

Wix Growth Broadens Beyond Website Creation

Base44 moves Wix into natural-language software and application development, while Harmony combines AI with visual website creation. Wix Headless also connects AI-generated frontends with payments, bookings, commerce, customer relationship management and analytics, potentially increasing the attachment of business applications.

Competition is moving quickly. GoDaddy Inc. GDDY has placed Airo at the center of its AI strategy, with Airo reaching a $50 million annualized bookings run rate in the second quarter of 2026. Shopify Inc. SHOP is expanding Sidekick and agentic commerce tools, reinforcing the need for Wix to convert product innovation into durable customer growth.

WIX Cash Flow Gets a Per-Share Tailwind

Wix repurchased roughly 17.6 million shares for about $1.6 billion, reducing its equity base by nearly 30%. A lower share count can increase free cash flow per share when total cash generation is stable or rising.

Balance-sheet capacity deserves equal attention. Wix ended the second quarter with approximately $960.9 million in cash and cash equivalents and $1.63 billion in short- and long-term debt, leaving less room for execution errors after the large capital return.

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Wix Execution Risks Argue for Patience

Second-quarter non-GAAP gross margin fell to 67% from 70% a year earlier. Non-GAAP sales and marketing expenses increased 67% to $173.1 million as Wix accelerated paid advertising for Base44 and supported higher AI inference costs tied to free users.

Management expects Base44’s non-GAAP gross margin to reach approximately 60% in the second half of 2026, but it plans to reinvest the related savings into marketing. Partners' softness, a moderately longer acquisition-payback target and a commerce wind-down that is expected to pressure gross payment volume growth for four more quarters keep execution risk elevated.

WIX's Mixed Scores Support a Watchful Stance

The valuation discount, expanding AI portfolio and reduced share count support the case for monitoring WIX. The spending profile, debt load and dependence on Base44 margin delivery make patience more appropriate than treating the sales multiple as a stand-alone buy signal.

WIX currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Its Momentum Score of A and a VGM Score of B are constructive, but the Value Score of C and Growth Score of C indicate less consistent support across investment styles. The combination favors a watchful stance while investors track demand, marketing efficiency and second-half margin execution. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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