Here are 1-3 brief analogies to describe National Research (NRC):

• NRC Health is like J.D. Power for healthcare patient and employee experience.
• NRC Health is like Gartner for healthcare experience data and analytics.
• NRC Health is like Qualtrics, but exclusively focused on the healthcare industry.

• Patient Experience Solutions: Provides platforms and analytics to healthcare organizations to measure, understand, and improve the patient journey and satisfaction.
• Workforce Engagement Solutions: Offers tools and surveys to assess and enhance employee and physician engagement, alignment, and retention within healthcare systems.
• Consumer Loyalty & Market Insights: Delivers data-driven insights and analytics to help healthcare providers understand consumer behavior, build loyalty, and identify market growth opportunities.
• Reputation Management: Enables healthcare organizations to monitor, manage, and improve their online reputation through patient feedback and review management.

National Research (symbol: NRC) sells primarily to other companies (Business-to-Business, or B2B) within the healthcare sector.

NRC Health, the operating name for National Research, provides healthcare intelligence, analytics, and solutions to help organizations improve patient experience, provider engagement, and overall quality. As such, their customer base consists of a wide array of healthcare providers across the United States.

While NRC serves numerous healthcare organizations, it does not typically disclose specific individual "major customers" by name in its public filings (such as 10-K reports), as no single customer generally accounts for a material portion of its revenue (e.g., 10% or more). Instead, its customer base is diversified across the following types of healthcare organizations, which collectively represent its major customer segments:

• Hospitals and Health Systems: This includes individual hospitals as well as large integrated health systems comprising multiple hospitals, clinics, and specialized care facilities. Examples of prominent systems they have worked with (though not necessarily designated as "major" by revenue share) include Sutter Health, Intermountain Healthcare, and Parkview Health. These are typically private or non-profit entities and do not have public stock symbols.
• Physician Groups and Clinics: Independent physician practices and larger groups of medical professionals.
• Long-Term Care Facilities: Such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other post-acute care providers.
• Other Healthcare Providers: This can include home health agencies, hospices, and other specialized treatment centers.

Given the nature of their business and diversified customer base, NRC's "major customers" are best understood as the collective body of healthcare organizations within these categories, rather than a few specific, named entities representing a dominant share of revenue.

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Trent Green, Chief Executive Officer

Trent Green was appointed Chief Executive Officer of NRC Health effective June 1, 2025. He brings over 25 years of healthcare leadership experience, having most recently served as CEO of One Medical and previously as Chief Operating Officer at Legacy Health. Green is recognized as a visionary leader and was named to the inaugural list of TIME100 Most Influential People in Health.

Shane Harrison, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Shane Harrison was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective on or about September 25, 2025. He is a seasoned finance leader with more than 25 years of experience. Prior to joining NRC Health, he served as Senior Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations at PowerSchool, a K-12 education SaaS provider, since 2022. He also held positions as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development for NAVEX Global from 2019-2021, and various roles including Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations, Corporate Treasurer, and Interim CFO for FLIR Systems from 2010-2019. Harrison began his career with Deloitte and was an investment banker at Lehman Brothers.

Michael D. Hays, Chairman of the Board

Michael D. Hays founded National Research Corporation (NRC Health) in 1981 and served as its CEO for over four decades, leading the company until Trent Green's appointment in June 2025, at which point he transitioned to Chairman of the Board. Prior to founding NRC Health, Hays served for seven years as a Vice President and Director at SRI Research Center, Inc., which is now known as the Gallup Organization.

Helen Hrdy, Chief Operating Officer

Helen Hrdy serves as the Chief Operating Officer for NRC Health. She has extensive experience with National Research Corporation, spanning over two decades, having risen through the ranks in roles focused on customer relations and growth initiatives.

Jordan N. Freeman, Chief Accounting Officer

Jordan N. Freeman was named the Chief Accounting Officer, joining the company in April 2025 as Vice President, Finance Operations. Freeman's professional background includes significant experience in accounting and finance, having held various roles at Nelnet, Inc., a publicly traded company, ranging from Director of Accounting to Segment Controller. She is also a Certified Public Accountant with previous experience at HBE Becker Meyer Love, LLP, and as a Senior Audit Associate with Deloitte & Touche LLP.

The key risks to National Research Corporation's (NRC) business are:

1. Declining Revenue and Earnings Contraction: National Research Corporation has experienced a notable slowdown in revenue and a contraction in earnings. In Q3 2025, GAAP net income decreased by 27.5%, and revenue saw a 3.4% year-over-year dip. The trailing twelve months (TTM) revenue also showed a decline of 3.51%, indicating challenges with existing clients. This trend includes an 82% decrease in operating income and a net loss in Q2 2025 compared to the prior year. Over the past five years, earnings have declined by 11.8% annually, signaling an earnings contraction cycle characterized by falling sales, margin pressure, and limited opportunities for reinvestment.

2. Highly Competitive Market and Industry Consolidation: The company operates within a highly competitive healthcare information and market research services industry, which can lead to increased price pressure and potential loss of market share. Furthermore, ongoing consolidation within the healthcare industry reduces the number of potential clients and grants remaining clients greater leverage in pricing negotiations. The market is characterized by "commodity products" and "excess supply," contributing to lower margins and slower capital turnover for businesses in this sector.

3. Reliance on Existing Clients and Client Retention: A significant risk for NRC is its dependence on existing clients for revenue. A slowdown in revenue from these clients is a core concern, exacerbated by rising costs and a challenging regulatory environment. The company experienced a $1.3 million reduction in recurring revenue from existing clients in Q2 2025. Client contracts are often cancelable on short notice without penalty, meaning that any failure of clients to renew or defer their agreements could materially impact the company's financial results. A substantial portion of NRC's revenue, historically around 14-15%, comes from its ten largest clients, highlighting the risk associated with client concentration.

The public company National Research (symbol: NRC), known as NRC Health, operates in the healthcare IT sector, providing patient experience and engagement solutions, including surveys, analytics, and improvement tools for healthcare providers.

A clear emerging threat for NRC is the **rapid advancement and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) for sentiment analysis and real-time patient insight generation.** Historically, NRC's core business relies heavily on structured patient surveys (e.g., CAHPS, HCAHPS) and proprietary data collection methodologies. However, increasingly sophisticated AI and NLP technologies enable new entrants, existing competitors, or even large hospital systems themselves to analyze vast amounts of unstructured patient data—such as online reviews, social media comments, call center transcripts, patient portal messages, and clinician notes—to derive real-time sentiment, identify pain points, and understand the patient journey more comprehensively and continuously. This capability could commoditize traditional survey data, shifting the value proposition towards dynamic, AI-driven insights from a broader spectrum of data sources, potentially diminishing the unique value of NRC's survey-centric offerings.

Another clear emerging threat is the **increasing integration of patient experience and feedback tools directly into major Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems.** As dominant EHR vendors like Epic and Cerner continuously enhance their platforms, they are incorporating more robust patient engagement features, communication tools, and feedback mechanisms directly within their native systems and patient portals. Healthcare providers, seeking to streamline their technology stack and reduce costs, may increasingly opt for these "good enough" integrated EHR solutions for basic patient feedback and experience management, thereby reducing their reliance on or need for specialized third-party patient experience vendors like NRC Health. This trend could lead to a "platform lock-in" effect where a unified EHR system becomes the preferred hub for all patient-related interactions, including experience measurement.

National Research Corporation (NRC Health) focuses on providing analytics and insights to healthcare organizations, primarily in the United States and Canada, to improve patient and employee experiences and increase patient engagement and customer loyalty. Their main products and services encompass several key areas, each with an addressable market.

Here are the estimated addressable market sizes for NRC Health's main products and services:

• Patient Engagement & Experience Solutions:
  • The global patient engagement solutions market was valued at approximately USD 27.63 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 86.67 billion by 2030, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 20.97% from 2025 to 2030.
  • Another estimate places the global patient engagement solutions market at USD 28.69 billion in 2025, expected to reach USD 54.79 billion by 2030.
  • The patient experience technology market, a component of this, is projected to reach USD 1.16 billion by 2030 from USD 0.66 billion in 2025 globally.
  • In North America, the patient engagement solutions market was valued at USD 11.1 billion in 2023.
  • The U.S. patient engagement solutions market size was USD 7.40 billion in 2025 and is predicted to grow to approximately USD 25.21 billion by 2034.
• Healthcare Analytics:
  • The global healthcare analytics market was estimated at USD 52.98 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 198.79 billion by 2033, with a CAGR of 14.85% from 2025 to 2033.
  • Other estimates show the global market at USD 35.41 billion in 2024, expected to reach USD 205.5 billion by 2032, or USD 44.83 billion in 2024, projected to reach USD 133.19 billion by 2029.
  • North America is a dominant region in healthcare analytics, holding a revenue share of 48.0% in the global market in 2024.
• Healthcare Survey Tools (for patient feedback and performance measurement, including CAHPS programs):
  • The global healthcare survey tools market is estimated to be USD 2.5 billion in 2025, growing at a CAGR of 15% from 2025 to 2033.
  • Another report indicates the global healthcare survey tools market size was approximately USD 1.2 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach around USD 3.5 billion by 2032.
  • North America currently holds the largest market share in this sector.
• Consumer Experience Solutions (aligned with the broader Consumer Healthcare Market):
  • The global consumer healthcare market size was calculated at USD 330.89 billion in 2024 and is expected to hit around USD 708.44 billion by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 7.91% from 2025 to 2034.
  • North America dominated the market in 2024.
• Employee Engagement and Physician Engagement:
  • Specific addressable market sizes for healthcare-focused employee and physician engagement solutions are not readily available as distinct, standalone markets in the provided search results. These services are often integrated within broader human resources technology, patient experience platforms, or healthcare consulting services, for which specific market sizes for NRC Health's offerings cannot be isolated.

Share Repurchases

• In May 2022, the Board of Directors approved a new stock repurchase authorization of 2,500,000 shares of common stock.
• During the fourth quarter of 2024, the company repurchased approximately 393,000 shares for about $7.3 million.
• For the first nine months of 2025, National Research repurchased shares totaling $20.2 million.

Share Issuance

• In the third quarter of 2025, there was an issuance of 75,283 shares of common stock related to the exercise of stock options.

Capital Expenditures

• In 2023, capital expenditures amounted to $15.8 million, primarily focused on computer software development for Human Understanding solutions and headquarters building renovations.
• In 2022, capital expenditures were $9.8 million, mainly for computer software development ($3.6 million) and headquarters building renovations ($5.1 million).
• Expected capital expenditures for headquarters building renovations are estimated at $11.6 million for 2024 and $1.4 million for 2025.