Opera's 2026 Outlook: AI-Enhanced Browser Suite Scales High-Monetization User Base

Picture the person who needs a browser to be more than a simple gateway to the web--someone who demands a gaming-optimized interface or an AI-integrated workspace that feels less like a legacy application and more like a productivity engine.

Opera (NASDAQ:OPRA) serves that niche. By pivoting from broad user growth to a high-revenue-per-user strategy, it has transformed itself into a leaner, more profitable platform. The stock currently trades at $18.58 as of Sept. 16, 2026, and despite a 6% decline over the past year, it has delivered strong operational results as it scales its AI-enhanced suite.

Our proprietary Hidden Gems scoring system assigns Opera an overall Superscore of 78 out of 100, placing it in the Strong category. The Superscore is an AI-powered score that evaluates a company's overall strength by combining financial performance, product market position, technological capabilities, leadership quality, and relative valuation. It represents the unification of all our scores into a single score for public companies, with five rating bands: Exceptional (90-100), Strong (75-89), Above Average (60-74), Average (40-59), and Cautious (0-39).

A 78 places Opera in the Top ~14% of every company we score, ahead of roughly 86 out of every 100 companies in our database. This score is a data-driven signal worth investigating, and this article pairs the reasons the score is high with the reasons it is not higher, so you can weigh both sides before doing your own work.

Why OPRA Has a 78 Superscore

• Strategic average revenue per user (ARPU) growth: Management successfully shifted its focus to high-monetization users in Western markets, driving a 25% year-over-year increase in annualized ARPU to $2.46 in Q2 2026.
• AI product momentum: The integration of agentic AI capabilities and browser-based assistants like Opera One has transformed the product from a passive tool into an active digital workspace.
• Disciplined operating leverage: Opera demonstrated scalability by growing revenue 25% year over year in Q2 2026 while maintaining a consistent 24% adjusted EBITDA margin.
• Shareholder capital returns: The company supports investors through a semi-annual dividend program and an active share repurchase program, including $11 million in buybacks during Q2 2026 alone.
• Niche market defensibility: By focusing on engaged segments, such as gamers with Opera GX, the company has cultivated a loyal user base that provides stable, first-party advertising inventory.

Why Is OPRA's Superscore Not Higher?

• Search partnership reliance: The company depends heavily on search distribution agreements with Google and Yandex, creating a structural risk if those revenue-sharing terms shift after 2026.
• Gross margin compression: Gross margin declined to 64% in 2025 as the product mix shifted toward more cost-intensive services, such as gaming and AI infrastructure.
• Controlling shareholder influence: A significant concentration of voting power in the hands of Kunlun Tech and its leader, James Yahui Zhou, limits minority shareholders' influence.
• Valuation multiple: The stock trades at a trailing P/E of 13.4x, which reflects skepticism regarding the sustainability of its pivot into higher-cost platform services.

Hidden Gems Database Scores at a Glance

Is OPRA Right For Your Portfolio?

This stock warrants a closer look if...

• You want exposure to the big 6 media companies and other advertising-focused compounders that prioritize capital returns.
• You appreciate a business that has successfully carved out a profitable niche with specialized products like Opera GX.

You may want to keep researching before buying if...

• You are uncomfortable with a company that relies on external search giants to drive the vast majority of its query revenue.
• You prefer companies with a decentralized governance structure rather than those dominated by a single controlling shareholder.

The Superscore is one data-driven signal worth investigating, not a stand-alone recommendation. Please weigh it against your own research, financial goals, and risk tolerance before taking any action.

My 5-year prediction for OPRA stock

The stock's low valuation relative to earnings gives investors the chance to outperform the market if the company can continue to expand revenue. However, declining margins could be a headwind, and the company's reliance on third-party search engines for revenue makes the long-term growth less certain.

Still, the declining margin is by design. Opera is seeing higher ARPU as users spend more time in the browser. This reflects user engagement with its Opera GX gaming browser and AI-powered features. Declining margins shouldn't be a reason to avoid the stock, as rising ARPU offsets them.

Moreover, the company says its addressable market has expanded to 700 million users, up from 500 million previously, as it forms new partnerships with AI service providers.

Opera has a user base of nearly 300 million people, which is quite large. By remaining an independent, platform-agnostic browser with connections to multiple AI services, including Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's ChatGPT, Opera is benefiting from technological shifts rather than being disrupted by them. This can be viewed as a competitive advantage over browsers offered by big tech giants that steer users to their services.

For these reasons, I expect the stock to outperform the market over the next five years. Analysts expect the company's earnings to grow around 19% annually, which makes the stock's current price-to-earnings multiple of 13x look quite attractive.

The Hidden Gems Superscore reflects The Motley Fool's proprietary AI-driven evaluation of a company across product, financial, leadership, and valuation pillars as of the article date and may change over time. Performance figures are point-in-time. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

John Ballard has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.