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Magnite, Inc. (MGNI)

Q3 2015 Earnings Call· Tue, Oct 27, 2015

$13.06

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Transcript

Erik Randerson - Vice President-Investor Relations

Management

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Rubicon Project's 2015 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. Joining me today are Frank Addante, CEO, Founder and Chief Product Architect; Greg Raifman, President; and Todd Tappin, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Before we get started, I'd like to remind our listeners that our prepared remarks and answers to questions will include expectations, predictions, estimates and other information that might be considered to be forward-looking statements, including but not limited to, guidance we are providing and other non-historical statements related to our anticipated financial performance, operating and strategic plans, expectations regarding new initiatives, our relationships and business with buyers and sellers using our platform, fees and take rate, capital investment and organizational development, our competitive position and market conditions and trends and growth expectations, including growth in Orders, Mobile and Video and in our Buyer Cloud operations. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions and actual results may differ significantly from the results suggested by forward-looking statements for various reasons, including without limitation, if such risks or uncertainties materialize or assumptions prove to be inaccurate. Further, we may adjust our plans and expectations in response to market conditions or other factors. Reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance. A discussion of these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions is set forth in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, including under the headings Risk Factors and Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements or relevant risks. Our commentary will include non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP metrics for our reported…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Please limit yourselves to one question and one follow-up. And our first question comes from Kerry Rice of Needham. Please go ahead. Kerry Rice - Needham & Co. LLC: Thanks a lot. Nice solid quarter. I guess my one question, I'll try to limit it to that is maybe around Video. Greg, you mentioned Mobile Video, what about Video just as a whole? Are we going to see more programmatic or the ability to buy that, or more supply? Maybe not in Q4 but maybe if you think about 2016, any comments there? Frank Addante - Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Product Architect: Thanks, Kerry. First, I want to say that we are happy with the results of this quarter. Looking at non-GAAP net revenue, surpassing expectations by about 8% and adjusted EBITDA, surpassing by about 110%. Yeah, I think that through the course of our last quarter and previous quarters, we have been developing our Video product. Obviously, we haven't provided any allocation with regard to managed revenue, but one thing we've noticed is that the tracking with respect to our development on Video has been very close to that with respect to our tracking on Mobile and mobile development. And so with respect to how is our market developing, Mobile Video has been one area of particular emphasis and has been an area where we've seen some of the strongest growth. That said, we certainly are also developing a product – we have revenue being generated, of course, across the Desktop as well. Greg might want to comment a little further on Video. Gregory R. Raifman - President & Director: Yeah, Kerry, Greg here. Just to reiterate what we've said in prior quarters, we are committed to Video for the long term. We look at Video as a premium ad format that we think will be sold quite effectively in our Orders platform. And what I tried to highlight in my rather lengthy notes were that – or script rather, were that we're seeing a lot of growth in the mobile environment for Video. So I did emphasize Mobile Video more so than I did Video in general, but we still are committed to (29:53) Video like we did in Mobile a few quarters (29:55) after the fact that we had built quite a substantial Mobile business, and we have seen actually growth in Video, at this point in its trajectory grow faster than we originally saw in Mobile. So any other questions? Yeah? Good. Kerry Rice - Needham & Co. LLC: No. That's it. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Aaron Kessler of Raymond James. Please go ahead. Aaron M. Kessler - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.: Yes. Hi, guys. Congrats on this quarter. Just on that EBITDA guidance, if you can help us understand those incremental expenses you expect in Q4, given the strong outperformance in Q3, should that be more on the cog side, maybe increased sales and marketing expenses to get to your EBITDA, which I would think would flow through a little more? Thanks. Frank Addante - Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Product Architect: All right, thanks, Aaron. Our EBITDA guidance actually has not changed for Q4 as it was in the prior quarter, and we do expect some of the hiring that we didn't have in Q3 to catch up in Q4. Clearly, the revenue outperformance was one of the leading reasons for our strong EBITDA performance against expectations in Q3. So with regard to Q4, we'll have now a full quarter of our acquisitions behind us in Q3. So we'll see, again, a full quarter impact of that. A lot of that we'll see on the sales and marketing side, as you know our Buyer Cloud is focused on selling to buyers on that end. So we think that will be one area and G&A will probably not have a tremendous amount of growth. And as we've said before, we will continue to spend on the technology and engineering front, commensurate with past performance as well as with revenue trajectory. Aaron M. Kessler - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.: Great. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Heath Terry of Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Unknown Speaker

Analyst

Hi. Thanks. It's Devonne (31:52). Frank, appreciate your perspective on ad blocking. You mentioned you're rolling out tools to help publishers speed up page load times and improve user experience. I'm wondering if you could help give us a sense of timing for when publishers will be able to implement these tools and also just a little bit more clarity on what these tools are? Frank Addante - Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Product Architect: Sure. Absolutely. So yeah, as I mentioned before, ad blocking is not a new concept but we do believe that this opens up a tremendous opportunity to really focus on accelerating the consumer's experience. And this is something that the company has been thinking about really from its inception. So in the early days we were focused on making sure the consumers were protected from advertisements like malware or spyware and over time we've also provided tools and capabilities and data capabilities to improve the consumer's experience by connecting them with advertising that is more relevant to them. I think what we're really talking about here is how do we make the consumer an active participant in this marketplace where sellers and buyers have traditionally existed? And ultimately if you think about it, the sellers are developing content and applications to attract the consumers and you've got the buyers, the advertisers, the agencies who are ultimately trying to place advertising on content, websites and applications that they feel are attracting the kinds of consumers that they're looking for. So our place in this is that we've now connected the buyers and the sellers and the consumers into a real-time marketplace where the data, the controls, all those things exist to really decide and control on an impression-by-impression basis, who sees what, who sells what, who buys what. So those are the types of technologies and tools that we're working on. We're not prepared at this point to make any product announcements and along with that, timing announcements as well. But I can tell you that these are things that have been top of mind for us well in advance of ad blocking even becoming an issue. So while I won't give you specific dates, I could tell you that it's in the near future that you will see something and just as we've led with – in the past we've led the industry with other automation capabilities, we intend to lead the industry with consumer solutions as well.

Unknown Speaker

Analyst

That's helpful. Thanks, Frank. Frank Addante - Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Product Architect: Thank you.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Jason Helfstein from Oppenheimer. Please go ahead. Jason S. Helfstein - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Broker): Thanks. Two questions. So it seems right now investors are looking for size and scale which there's a belief that that reduces risk of an individual client loss or take rate pressure. Can you talk, would there be merits for you buying or merging with one or two of the other larger players out there, focused on the supply side? And then secondly, Todd, can you just repeat what you said about the accounts payable timing and why the reported number was not – did not follow the normal track back? Frank Addante - Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Product Architect: Sure. Thanks, Jason. First of all, on size and scale, the first color we have (35:12) is we have built and believe we have built in accordance to a strategy that we think is successful, which is a comprehensive and complete advertising automation solution. And when we do that, we should be able to continue as an independent in growing that size and scale because when we are providing the ability to monetize any type of inventory across any type of ad unit, across any type of channel, for a direct connection to both buyers and sellers, then we should be able to provide the right type of critical mass and hence grow scale from that. And we believe it's a very strong competitive position and we think our results have demonstrated that. So to answer to the first question, is it essential, we'd say absolutely not. With respect to looking at the landscape, and one of the things that you look at in anyone who is participating in similar types of solutions is what is…

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Rohit Kulkarni of RBC. Please go ahead.

Rohit R. Kulkarni - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst

Thank you. And thank you for the 2016 guidance as well. So, Todd, one question on that, margins imply 60, 70, 80, 90 basis points decline year-on-year. Any particular investments or incremental spend opportunities that you would call out? And I know, just one quick question to you, Todd or Greg, AppNexus reported its transactions fell 65%, that's a pretty big number, because of fraud in their inventory. Any particular reaction to that from your side? Todd L. Tappin - Chief Operating & Financial Officer: Sure, Rohit. Thanks. With regard to 2016 guidance, we're looking at about 20% on 2015 which is up about 15% in 2014 so continued growth on that front. I think if you look at the absolute dollar basis, you're looking at an increase of about $10 million as we go from about $43 million or so guided this year to about $53 million or so guided next year. So I think we're really right now focused on growing the absolute number. There's certainly the potential for us to continue to find the cost efficiencies that we found in 2015 and if we are able to do that and carry that over to 2016 then there might be margin expansion. At the same time obviously you've seen the revenue guidance, it's at a wider range right now. And we'll look to narrow those ranges when we provide our Q4 earnings results. Frank Addante - Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Product Architect: Hi, Rohit. It's Frank, here. So on your other question about AppNexus, look, we – AppNexus is obviously not a public company and we're not inside their business. But I can tell you that our focus has been on providing a well-lit, clean environment. As we've shown you in the past, we've taken extremely proactive steps in building technology to ensure the safety for both buyers, sellers and the consumers. And it's something that's always been a strength of ours and an area that we believe we have – that we have taken a leadership position in the industry and will continue to do so. Gregory R. Raifman - President & Director: And following up on that, Frank, one thing we should point out which I mentioned in the script was that Rubicon Project was just rated as the top tier for quality in both Desktop and Mobile by Pixalate. So this is – this initiative we've been talking about on virtually every earnings call and so we're quite pleased where we are with respect to our inventory quality.

Rohit R. Kulkarni - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst

Okay. Great. Thanks. (40:18). Good quarter.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Jason Kreyer of Craig-Hallum. Please go ahead.

Jason Michael Kreyer - Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Analyst

Hey. Thanks, guys. Just wanted to go back to the ad blocking topic and see if you could just talk about if there's any changes in your business or anything noticeable since the iOS 9 release which allowed ad blocking in browser on iOS devices? Frank Addante - Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Product Architect: Sure. Well, I think first the numbers speak for themselves. As Todd mentioned, you had 8% net revenue beat. Our Mobile business has grown twice as fast as the rest of the industry. And so from an economic standpoint, it's had little to no effect on the business. What it does do is it does provide us a tremendous opportunity to take some of these solutions that we've been contemplating to market faster because I think it is something that is making the consumer choice something that is top-of-mind. Certainly in the media, it's something that the publishers and application developers are thinking about, something that advertisers are thinking about, and anytime there's any kind of volatility or disruption in the market, it opens up people's minds to be more accepting of solutions that are brought into the market. So from that standpoint, we're excited about it because it's going to pave the way for us to bring some of these new consumer solutions to market.

Jason Michael Kreyer - Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Analyst

Okay. And then is there any way you can provide the net revenue-only number that you provided last quarter? Frank Addante - Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Product Architect: The net revenue-only guidance, is that what you're asking for?

Jason Michael Kreyer - Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Analyst

The net revenue only transaction number. Frank Addante - Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Product Architect: We don't break that out. As you know, we have consolidated the Chango acquisition to our Buyer Cloud. We now have Buyer Cloud is an integrated part of operations, and as we have historically, we don't break out Seller versus Buyer economics.

Jason Michael Kreyer - Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Analyst

Okay. Thanks.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Todd Van Fleet of First Analysis. Please go ahead.

Todd Van Fleet - First Analysis Securities Corp.

Analyst

Hey, guys. I think this is the first time since coming public that you haven't handled a beat on the topline, so I was wondering what your thoughts were specifically on that issue. And in light of I think your comments on the 8% net revenue beat, which I guess I'm going to have to assume came through mainly on the publisher side of the business. Thanks. Frank Addante - Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Product Architect: Actually, I think we would respectfully disagree. The – albeit we didn't provide our net revenue guidance last time we provided guidance, but what we're telling you had we done that, we would have seen a surpassing of expectations by 8%. And if you were to look back historically, all of our measurements have been on exactly the same thing, which has been on net revenue and you would see that our delta to revenue has been pretty consistently somewhere in that 7% to 15% range. So actually we would view this quarter as being very, very consistent with our ability to beat expectations, almost identically as we have many other quarters, with considerable surpassing of expectations on the bottom line. And as I said, some are in the 5% to 15%, surpassing expectations on the top line. The GAAP revenue number versus net revenue number, remember, can shift just based on how you recognize revenue, whether it be gross or net. So I wouldn't read anything into the performance with respect to those two things. And hence the reason why we're moving toward providing net revenue guidance going forward. We'll also provide GAAP because guidelines require us to, but we think that the much better measure of our business will be continuing to measure on a net revenue basis. So in answer directly the question, yeah, we're seeing continued strong performance.

Todd Van Fleet - First Analysis Securities Corp.

Analyst

So, Todd, sorry, just to expand on that then. If you beat on a net revenue basis, does it hold that the estimates on what would have been the add-back to get to gross, you somehow undershot that? Or I'm just trying to understand that dynamic a little bit better. Frank Addante - Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Product Architect: I wouldn't call it an undershot or overshot. It just might be the difference in where how revenue was recorded in gross versus net. I think the other thing you can look at is you can certainly see the leverage in the model, because with that 8% in surpassing of expectations in the topline, it obviously is the major contributor to the 110% beat on the adjusted EBITDA line.

Todd Van Fleet - First Analysis Securities Corp.

Analyst

Thanks.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Brett Huff of Stephens, Inc. Please go ahead.

James Rutherford - Stephens, Inc.

Analyst

Yeah. Thanks. And congrats on a nice quarter. This is Jim Rutherford, in for Brett. Just a quick question on the competitive landscape. I was hoping to get an update there, particularly on the Orders product. Just given the opportunity you're seeing, are you seeing any competitors starting to move into that product more so? I know Google at one point had launched a product, and it didn't seem to do super well in the market. But I was curious if you're seeing any more activity from that competitor or from others. Thanks. Gregory R. Raifman - President & Director: From a competitive standpoint, we continue to see great growth in our Orders product. We've talked about this over the last several quarters about how we are investing heavily in our direct order automation as a part of the future. It unlocks a lot of spend for Video. It unlocks spend for Mobile. So you need to look at it in a context of, in some ways, a cross-platform strategy. And to date, we haven't seen any of our fellow colleagues in the industry with the kind cross-platform approach to orders that we have. I mentioned in my script the kind of growth that we've seen over the last year or year-over-year for Orders and for quarter-over-quarter. So from that standpoint I think we're pretty pleased with what we're seeing in the industry. Frank Addante - Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Product Architect: Yeah. I'll add to that is the Orders product is an area of the market where we did lead and pioneer. Again, Orders didn't exist until we developed that technology. As you might recall, we acquired two companies to advance that. So we have grown this both organically and inorganically. And we did that because we…

James Rutherford - Stephens, Inc.

Analyst

Great. Thank you so much.

Operator

Operator

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to management for closing remarks.

Erik Randerson - Vice President-Investor Relations

Management

Thank you all for joining us on the call today. We look forward to seeing many of you at investor conferences in the coming weeks.

Operator

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.