John Wagner
Analyst · Mayank Tandon with Needham. You may proceed
Thank you, Jayme, and good afternoon everyone. I'll start by discussing our financial results for the second quarter and then provide guidance for the third quarter and updated guidance for the full year of 2022. Our total revenue for Q2 of $101.9 million, a decline of 3% year-over-year exceeded our guidance range provided last quarter, as growth in consumer volume and demand from non-carrier customers partially offset reductions in monetization. The reductions in monetization were related to the industry-wide pullback in auto insurance, carrier advertising, that is affected demand and pricing from our direct carrier customers within our auto insurance vertical. As anticipated, our auto insurance vertical decreased 6% year-over-year to at $1.4 million. While the auto insurance industry's challenges were evident in a significant year-over-year reduction in carrier revenue and pricing, we benefited from a 28% year-over-year growth in overall consumer quote requests this quarter. This reflects our success in generating consumer traffic and the potential to increase our share of insurance shopping consumers now and position as well for the time when the auto insurance carrier market challenges are overcome. Apart from our direct carrier customers, revenue from all other insurance distribution channels increased year-over-year, including DTCA, which grew over 300% to $13.1 million. Within our marketplace distribution, third party local agents continue to show resilience with revenue growing slightly year-over-year and contributing 40% of revenue. Revenue from our other insurance verticals, which includes home and renters Life and Health Insurance grew 10% year-over-year to $20.5 million for the second quarter. These non-auto insurance verticals represented 20% of second quarter revenue, with a notable contribution from our direct-to-consumer agency within our health insurance vertical. Variable marketing margin or VMM, defined as revenue less advertising expense was $33.1 million for the second quarter, up slightly year-over-year and above our guidance range provided last quarter. VMM in absolute dollars and as a percentage of revenue were at near record levels due to region auctions and acquisition costs and contribution from DTCA. We've benefited from a competitively more favorable advertising landscape and by aggressively applying our analytical and operational advantage to lower costs per consumer quote request by 26% year-over-year, also driving higher volume. Although we had fully anticipated pricing reductions in our own monetization, the upside in our margin performance reflects rapid adjustments made by our traffic teams to uncover opportunities and efficiencies, and to recalibrate our marketplace acquisition in a rapidly changing advertising environment. Turning to our bottom-line, GAAP net loss was $3.8 million in the second quarter, and adjusted EBITDA was a positive $1.4 million, exceeding our guidance range provided last quarter. Our favorable VMM performance translated directly into adjusted EBITDA as we continue to manage operating expenses tightly and look for opportunities to reduce expenses. We ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents on the balance sheet of $41.3 million. During the quarter, we consumed $3.5 million in operating cash, primarily to fund the growth and DTCA. While our auto insurance vertical was facing reduced demand from careers, we expect to continue to use cash in operations as we grow DTCA. Just after the quarter ended, we announced the renewal of our debt facility, expanding our line of credit by $10 million to $35 million, extending maturity by three years and adding a $10 million deferred draw term loan. We have no funds drawn against this facility and believe our cash balance combined with this facility renewal, continues to provide us sufficient liquidity. Turning to our outlook and building on Jayme's comments regarding the market conditions within the auto insurance industry. We believe carriers are cautiously forecasting continued increases in claims losses, given recent reporting on inflation, as a result, carrier pricing remains down and continues to be volatile. This volatility has included recent pullbacks and pauses in marketplace bids from some carriers. We believe carriers are on a defensive footing, and we are not seeing signs of an early recovery within the auto insurance industry. As a result, we continue to manage intently to the current environment to optimize our marketplace business. As we enter the second half of the year, we anticipate that auto carrier pricing will continue to place pressure on margin and revenue as it has since Q3 of last year. Our reaction is to continue to focus on execution and opportunities to leverage our advantages. We are driving growth from distribution channels less affected by auto carrier pricing, such as third-party and first-party agents and our health insurance vertical. We are managing for efficiency in our advertising and operating costs, which has allowed us to remain adjusted EBIT up positive. And we are increasing our share of consumer shopping for insurance by growing consumer volumes despite a difficult market. We expect manages similar manner in the second half of the year and are placing a greater focus on efficiency and bottom-line results as it becomes more apparent that an auto insurance recovery will stretch into 2023. Turning to guidance for Q3. We expect revenue to be between $90 million and $95 million a year-over-year decrease of 14%. At the midpoint. We expect VMM in the quarter to be between $24 million and $27 million, a year-over-year decrease of 21% at the midpoint. And we expect adjusted EBITDA to be between negative $6 million and negative $3 million. This guidance reflects depressed auto insurance carrier pricing continuing to impact our largest vertical. For the full year, we are narrowing our guidance for revenue and improving our VMM and adjusted EBITDA guidance as a result of our stronger than expected q2 performance in our margins. We expect revenue to be between 400 and $410 million a year-over-year decreased 3%. At the midpoint, we expect the amount of $122 million a year-over-year decrease of 8% at the midpoint and we expect adjusted EBITDA of between negative $7 and negative $1 million. In summary, we delivered results better than our guidance for the second quarter despite continued pressure from the current auto insurance cycle. by reflecting our ability to dynamically manage the economics of our marketplace and capture growth from areas of diversification, and resilience. We continue to execute well in a difficult market and are poised to capitalize on areas of strategic focus, and are well positioned for the time when the auto insurance carriers begin to normalize their acquisition spending. Jayme and I will now answer your questions.