Bryan Lewis
Analyst · Northland Securities
Thanks, Gar, and good afternoon to everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'll start by doing something I always try to do, be direct about what drove the quarter, which was impacted in part by the macro environment. Then I will get to the numbers that showed significant EBITDA growth, marking our fourth quarter in a row of positive EBITDA and our third quarter in a row of positive net income. The first quarter of 2026 played out against one of the more challenging macroeconomic backdrops that we have seen in several years. The military conflict in Iran, which intensified in the first quarter, created a genuine economic ripple effect across virtually every sector of our economy. Oil prices surged, pushing gasoline prices toward $4 and above in many markets. This is one of the factors that impacted consumer confidence and consequentially affected our retail customers. Additionally, as evidenced by reporting on multiple news outlets, mortgage rates climbed to their highest levels in 7 months as financial markets absorbed the geopolitical shock. And consumer confidence, which I just noted was already trending in the wrong direction, deteriorated further. And inflation, which had appeared to be normalizing at around 2.4% early in the quarter, reaccelerated sharply to 3.2% year-over-year in March. For Intellicheck specifically, these forces created headwinds in 3 of our verticals. In retail, that is now approximately 30% of our revenue, consumer belt tightening continued to weigh on transaction volumes. Our retail clients scan fewer IDs when foot traffic declines, and foot traffic clearly slowed in Q1 for our customers as consumers pulled back in addition to the normal Q4 to Q1 holiday decline. In automotive, U.S. auto sales are estimated to have fallen 5% to 6% year-over-year in Q1 as high borrowing costs, record vehicle purchases and economic uncertainty kept buyers on the sidelines, impacting scanning volumes at some of our auto dealer clients. On the title insurance side, the combination of rising rates and geopolitical uncertainty slowed mortgage origination activity. Despite all of these economic factors, I am pleased to report that Intellicheck continued its growth trajectory with growth of approximately 13% year-over-year. I believe this underscores the wisdom of our decision to expand into other verticals. Our first quarter revenue was approximately $5.5 million versus $4.9 million in Q1 2025. We delivered adjusted EBITDA of $935,000, representing a margin -- EBITDA margin of approximately 17% versus our adjusted EBITDA of negative $17,000 1 year ago. This marks our fourth consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA. This is a milestone that I believe speaks directly to the operating leverage we have built into this model. We had earnings per share of $0.03, marking our third quarter in a row of profitability and ended the quarter with over $10 million in cash and $0 debt. I will tell you, delivering 13% revenue growth in this macro environment with 17% EBITDA margin is something I am generally proud of. Now let's walk through our vertical performance. Banking and lending remain our core growth engine and represented over 50% of our quarterly revenue growing strongly in Q1. This mix shift has fundamentally changed the resilience of this business. Our largest regional banking client with a 3-year contract valued in the very high 7 figures is now fully implemented throughout all their bank branches. Their team is not just ramping volumes. They are in active conversations with us about expanding the use of Intellicheck's technology in additional use cases and departments. The ROI and fraud prevention at these banks is not subtle. Account takeover losses average approximately $2,300 per incident. Some clients tell us they experienced monthly fraud losses north of $40,000 before they implemented Intellicheck. The payback on our technology is often measured in days, not months. And in addition to stopping fraud, we also help them onboard good customers faster, a significant and valuable attribute that I believe is frequently overlooked. Beyond our major bank relationships, our new desktop delivery method is opening meaningful new doors with smaller banks and credit unions. This clearly reflects the benefits of our desktop delivery of our core services. This delivery service requires no integration with the bank's core platform and implementation is immediate. You may recall that credit unions and smaller banks have historically been hampered by long technology integration queues with their core technology providers. I am pleased to report that we are seeing strong inbound interest for our desktop product that is designed to address this issue. We believe this product has the potential to materially expand our addressable market without requiring a third party to facilitate the growth. Implementing this desktop technology, we have signed 3 new clients with several others in review. While these are smaller deals, they can get up and running quickly. That being said, bank platform partnerships are also very important. I'm also excited to share that our new partnership with Alloy is starting to generate early traction. Our partnership here is a valuable one given it is one of the leading identity and fraud prevention platforms in the banking and fintech space. Their customer network is substantial. We believe being embedded in our platform significantly reduces buying friction for institutions already operating within the Alloy ecosystem. These kinds of strategic partnerships are an important element in how we grow this component of the banking vertical from here. Retail represented approximately 30% of 2025 revenues, and as I discussed earlier, was certainly challenging during the first quarter. We saw year-over-year declines in scanning volumes that was similar to the sequential period last year, and we believe that it is entirely consistent with the consumer confidence and macro headwinds I described. Through our active diversification efforts, we are no longer dependent on retail for growth. If consumer sentiment improves as the macro picture settles, any recovery in retail volumes will be an incremental upside for us. Also, as I previously discussed, our title insurance vertical was impacted in Q1 by the mortgage rate environment. However, I want to call out a milestone that I am genuinely excited about. First American Title successfully launched their digital e-commerce identity verification capability in Q1. You may remember, we told you this was coming on the last quarter's call. This is a meaningful expansion of how our technology is embedded in their platform. It is exactly the kind of deepening of the relationship that drives long-term value. When rates normalize and real estate volumes recover, we believe this vertical has substantial upside potential. We're also seeing growth in our other verticals. Our age-related and background check verticals continue to grow steadily. The nationwide rollout with our food manufacturer client addressing cargo freight fraud is showing good progress as well. That account is now running in the low 6-figure annual contract value range. Additionally, our foreign auto manufacturer clients and their supplier networks continue to expand. In the stadium concessions market vertical, we added a few additional clients, although these are starting at very low volumes. While this remains a long-term opportunity, we are building the foundation for further growth. On the product and technology front, our team continues to execute at a high level. As I shared with you, our desktop application is gaining solid traction. We are also seeing progress with our mobile SDK, hub reporting console and portal delivery method. As a reminder, our customers like our hardware-free solutions that are quick and easy to implement. And here's the thing I keep coming back to. Our core differentiation is unique and it is durable. We can verify the authenticity of a government-issued ID in less than a second with 99% decisioning. We do this by checking against the exact bar code specification embedded by each state DMV at the time of issuance. Keep in mind that no competitor has access to these specifications. This is because we continue to be the trusted test lab for state DMV systems, a relationship we've had for more years than I can count. This exclusivity is key as we see threats continue to evolve at an extraordinary pace. AI-generated fakes are becoming more sophisticated every quarter, which I believe will become an increased problem for our competitors. Synthetic identity fraud skyrocketed 300% in just the first quarter. Deepfake-driven fraud was up over 1,000%. Visual template checks, which is what most of our competitors rely on, cannot stop these fakes. We can. That is not going to change, and it gets more valuable every year. Our marketing initiatives are continuing to make a difference as they continue generating lead activity. The agency we brought on board is sharpening our messaging and building brand awareness. Our IDN threat report has been an effective thought leadership piece across banking, title, automotive and the cargo freight audiences. This original data documenting the fraud trends we observed in 2025 positions us as a credible source of industry data and intelligence. Our podcast content, white papers and industry conference presence continue to build Intellicheck's brand as the definitive authority in real-world ID verification. In closing, I'm continuing to be mindful as to how 2026 is unfolding. Clearly, the macro environment remains uncertain. The Iran conflict, elevated interest rates and consumer caution are real factors that will continue to influence some of our verticals in the near term. We are watching that carefully every day. But here's what gives me added confidence. Our banking and lending vertical is driven by fraud prevention. This is mission-critical, nondiscretionary spending for every bank and credit union we work with. This category does not soften in a difficult economy. If anything, it becomes more urgent. Keep in mind, this is now more than half of our business. We believe that we have opportunities to continue growth with our existing clients in addition to signing new clients. We believe that we are at the inflection point in our business model to profitability. At our current run rate, virtually every incremental revenue dollar flows meaningfully to the bottom line. We have over $10 million in cash, no debt and a product that we believe genuinely cannot be replicated. Without providing formal guidance, we believe EBITDA margins will remain positive, and we see potential acceleration in the back half of the year. Looking forward, we believe that we are well positioned to deliver positive net income for the full year 2026. This would be a significant milestone for this company. We also continue to advance our Investor Relations initiatives and expect to participate in a number of upcoming investor conferences, including the Sidoti Microcap Virtual Conference next week. In June, we will be participating in the RBC Financial Technology Conference in New York, the D.A. Davidson Conference in Nashville and the Planet MicroCap Showcase in Las Vegas. These events provide valuable opportunities to further expand awareness of Intellicheck and communicate our strategic priorities and long-term growth objectives. In addition, they provide valuable platforms to keep you, our shareholders, informed while at the same time engaging with the broader investment community. The headwinds we faced in Q1 are real, but so is the trajectory we are on to maintain and expand profitability. We are a fundamentally different company than we were 24 months ago, and I am confident in where the business is going. Now I will turn it over to Adam.