Earnings Labs

Magnite, Inc. (MGNI)

Q1 2016 Earnings Call· Tue, May 3, 2016

$12.88

-0.69%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to The Rubicon Project First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded and will be available for replay from the Investor Relations section of Rubicon Project's website following this call. After the call's presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the conference over to Eric Randerson, Vice President of Investor Relations for Rubicon Project. Please go ahead, sir.

Erik Randerson - Vice President-Investor Relations

Management

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Rubicon Project's 2016 first quarter earnings conference call. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. Joining me today are Frank Addante, CEO and Founder; 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, competitive differentiation, 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, as well as 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. Reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP metrics for our reported results…

Operator

Operator

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. And our first question comes Mark Kelley of Citigroup. Please go ahead.

Mark Kelley - Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.

Analyst

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. So, take rate (27:28) nice step up again in the quarter and you noted in your prepared remarks that a lot of that has to do with higher real-time bidding and Buyer Cloud versus last year. But, I'm just curious, if you can quantify how much Chango contributed to the sequential increase since orders actually grew a little bit ahead of RTB? And then, secondly, can you talk a little more about FastLane and Google, how should we think about your compliance with AMP in terms of growth rates for mobile and access to inventory? I know it's early days since you guys just announced it, but anything there would be helpful. Thanks. Todd L. Tappin - Chief Operating Officer / Chief Financial Officer: Hi, Mark. Thanks. With regard to take rate, you're correct. Most of the increase year-on-year was product mix that has been in the past. Certainly, RTB has contributed to that. And with respect to Buyer Cloud, we don't breakout that separately. I will say that the RTB component did actually grow on its own, a little bit in terms of take rate, although we wouldn't guide investors to think about that as some sort of trend, because that can be a combination of multiple items such as the mix of the various publishers or applications as well as number of other things. And as we have talked about in the past, well, it hasn't yet come to fruition. We do expect it over time take rates will come down simply because we do believe that orders will eventually contribute a larger percentages of the overall mix, which carry lower take rates compared to RTB, but with higher CMPs will contribute greater absolute non-GAAP net revenue. And then, we are…

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Brian Pitz of Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Timothy O'Shea - Jefferies LLC

Analyst · Jefferies. Please go ahead

Yes. Hi. Tim O'Shea for Brian, thanks for taking my question. Just looking at mobile for the quarter accounted for 30% of managed revenue, it's actually a tick down from last quarter and I'm pretty sure this is the first time we've seen mobile penetration decline on a quarter-over-quarter basis. So, I'm just curious if there's anything worth calling out that maybe drove that trend and perhaps if you think mobile might stabilize around this 30% level or do you expect mobile to continue to account for a larger part of the business going forward? Thanks. Todd L. Tappin - Chief Operating Officer / Chief Financial Officer: Hi, Tim. Actually we don't think a 1% change quarter-on-quarter is meaningful and we shouldn't expect a very specific linear growth quarter-on-quarter. To answer the question more specifically, we do expect mobile to continue to grow as a percentage and really remember, that we're a marketplace and we're providing the opportunity for marketers to reach audience. And so, we're reaching that audience wherever it is and that's one of the competitive advantages we have to a complete solution is that (32:46) we offer the ability now to reach across desktop, mobile, web, mobile apps and so it's really where the audience is, but we do expect mobile to continue to grow as a percentage overall and we don't really feel that the difference coming off (33:02) very, very strong Q4 versus the Q1 1% is meaningful.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Kerry Rice of Needham. Please go ahead. Kerry Rice - Needham & Co. LLC: Thanks a lot. Maybe going back to guidance just for a second. I guess, the questions I would ask is, is there any specific shifts you've seen pushing the ad spending to the second half of the year, anything you would call out? And then, as it relates to again the guidance, it didn't sound like it, but just wanted to kind of clarify around trends going from Q1 to Q2. Typically you see some sequential increase at the midpoint of your guidance, it's pretty flat. Anything that you would say is different between Q2 of 2015 and what you're looking at in terms of Q2 2016? And then finally, was there any more seasonality that you felt, I mean, I know Q4 was strong, but any more severe seasonality in Q1 that you would highlight? Thanks. Todd L. Tappin - Chief Operating Officer / Chief Financial Officer: Thanks, Kerry. Obviously, we're coming off of still a very strong quarter. We grew 71% (34:20) year-on-year on a net revenue basis. I think you're on target with timing and that is if we do see some strong Q1 spend that probably if we were to look at it as a 1H or first half of the year basis, had some shift with respect to that move in (34:36) between Q1 and Q2. And likewise, the same is on the expense line, we outlined some of the operating expenses that we did plan to spend in Q1, which we now are spending in Q2. And so, as a result, we do have we believe some shift in the revenue between Q1 and Q2 and shift in expenses between Q1 and Q2. One thing I think it's really important to highlight is that if you look at the slide that I referenced on our financial highlights presentation or website, you would see that on page eight, we show you the historical allocation. And for the last four years, Q2 has been very, very consistent for all four years. You can see it in the bar chart as it averages between 22% and 23% of the year and our guidance for Q2 is really right on top of that.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Matthew Thornton of SunTrust. Please go ahead.

Matthew C. Thornton - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc.

Analyst · SunTrust. Please go ahead

Yeah. Good afternoon. And thanks for taking the question, guys. I guess, maybe just to start up on the Mediaocean. Greg, you talked about a little bit, I guess is there any update there just in terms of timing as to when that partnership goes live? And I guess, I have a follow up to that. Gregory R. Raifman - President & Director: Yeah, Matt, good question. We are in the midst right now of working to get collectively the two teams, the two technology teams to combine our technologies, which we foresee will be taking the next quarter or two, and then once completed, we will then go into market with our combined technology. So, we'll keep you posted on updates as we go forward. But right now, we're in the midst of combining technologies.

Matthew C. Thornton - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc.

Analyst · SunTrust. Please go ahead

Got you. Perfect. And then, I guess – coming back to a political spend I guess for the year. Any updated thoughts on how that's kind of playing out this year and again what kind of contribution you might see from the political ad spend outlook? Todd L. Tappin - Chief Operating Officer / Chief Financial Officer: Thanks, Matt. (36:38) that we are really in a great position with regard to political spend. And we believe that a lot of that will go to social publishers, specifically, Twitter, Facebook and the like. So, we don't really expect a lot with regard to political campaign spending there to go through us.

Operator

Operator

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

Brett Huff - Stephens, Inc.

Analyst · Stephens. Please go ahead

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. Two quick questions, one is can you quantify how much of the expense shifting from 1Q to 2Q, just to give us a better sense of what the fundamental upside was? And then, my second one, I'll go ahead and ask it, and then get off the line. You guys grew a little over 60% organically, net revenue in 4Q, mid-50%s in 1Q and yet the net revenue organic still implies 20%. I get the Q2 guidance and that revenue might shift around in between quarters, but I'm still confused about what trends might be changing to get us sort of deceleration the 20%? And thanks for the – answering those questions. Todd L. Tappin - Chief Operating Officer / Chief Financial Officer: Sure, Brett, as far as the amount of shift, it's roughly in the neighborhood of $4 million to $7 million somewhere in there on the expense side. With regard to the sequential, again, we're looking at the full year without a change. And if we look at the historical trends, as we've pointed out, our Q2 guidance is right on top of that and we think that what we had provided previously and actually from six months ago with regard to our full year is still really our best estimate of where we think the year comes out. So, as we sit here today and look at the sometime shifting perhaps between Q1 and Q2, we just don't feel there's anything to change with regard to the full-year.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Jason Helfstein of Oppenheimer. Please go ahead. Jason Helfstein - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Broker): Thanks. Can we talk a little bit about managed revenue? In the quarter it grew 26%. It has been decelerating, I guess, as you get bigger, right, your growth will approach the market and we know you are managing ultimately (38:59) net revenue and gross profit, which is the right way to run the business, but how should we think about kind of, how fast the market is growing, kind of what that 26% means, does that actually mean that your managed revenue is still growing faster than, effectively the programmatic market? You know, was it really kind of, where you are choosing to focus and the value-added side of it and so, again focus on that growth, ultimately the net revenue, not that managed revenue number? Thanks. Todd L. Tappin - Chief Operating Officer / Chief Financial Officer: Thanks, Jason. Well, first of, I think as you look at the 26% as you mentioned, yes you're coming off of a much larger denominator. I think the other thing to point out, is don't forget that Q1 2015 was actually a very, very strong quarter as well, so there is a higher base comparative to which we're drawing that growth rate. In comparison to industry growth, it has been something that's difficult for us, because we know the size of the programmatic business as provided by analysts, but you had to break that down into so many different ways, what's desktop versus mobile versus RTB. And so I'm not sure that we have a perfect answer for you on that, if we look at some of the growth rates with regard to say online display as measured by IDC (40:21) they would have a 2015 to 2016 growth of 19%. That might suggest that we're still solidly ahead. We know certainly, as we compare Mobile, when you look at the Mobile growth rates, clearly our growth rates there have been well in excess of the market and Orders is still very new. So I think it's a difficult question to answer, but you do have to break it down to the components.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Sameet Sinha of B. Riley. Please go ahead. Sameet Sinha - B. Riley & Co. LLC: Yes. Thank you very much. First question around the trends that you spoke about between quarter-to-quarter, can you give us a flavor of what sort of ad spend kind of moved from Q1 to Q2, was there anything that you can point to, any specific vertical maybe, or any type of media that moved from Q1 to Q2? And secondly, I wanted to talk about International, you kind of pointed out, Japan – also the character – I mean, do you see that all the geographies where you open up offices generally follow the same trend, and I remember that you opened up a data center in Japan, is that kind of a prerequisite to kind of scaling those geographies? And if yes, then when can we expect new kind of data center builds over the next, let's say, 12 months to 24 months? Todd L. Tappin - Chief Operating Officer / Chief Financial Officer: Hi, Sameet, thanks for the question. With regard to the ad spend, we do track what advertisers or marketers are spending over our platform. I'm not sure that what we would provide to you would be meaningful with regard to anything from an industry trend or even from a business trend, for the following reasons. One is that 78% (41:59) of our business in this quarter, it still came from real-time bidding. And our direct customers for real-time bidding are primarily demand-side platforms. And those demand side platforms are allocating spend across a large swath of agencies and brands. And when you think about the fact that there are approximately 300 plus or minus demand side platforms that are using our marketplace and…

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Andrew Bruckner of RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Andrew Bruckner - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead

Thank you for the time. I want to talk a little bit about cash, and how you think about how much working capital you need on the balance sheet, now that you are building cash and cash flow positive, potential for any sort of buybacks? And then finally, just where you expect the CapEx to be for the year and going forward. Thanks so much. Todd L. Tappin - Chief Operating Officer / Chief Financial Officer: Thanks for your question, Andrew. Right, well, we closed out with $166.9 million of cash from liquid assets, and there is $6.9 million of free cash flow in this particular quarter. As we look at that balance in relation to our overall balance sheet, remember that the balance sheet is driven more by our managed revenue, which exceeded $1 billion last year. So in that context, we don't really feel that we are overcapitalized. We will spend about $30 million to $35 million in CapEx this year. And as we think about what to do on that the capital, we certainly have recognized that we may have some opportunities with regard to M&A. We're looking at a lot of those, that is a potential use of the capital. We don't know that buying back at this stage is sensible; we still have a flow that is a little bit on the smaller side. The market continues to grow substantially and investing in that growth is still very prudent, naturally also making sure that we are mindful of the bottom line. So right now, we think that the balance is a strong balance, it's not an over-capitalized balance. We're not sure that the use of funds to buy back shares is sensible. And we do think that investing in growth is.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from the Aaron Kessler of Raymond James. Please go ahead. Aaron M. Kessler - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.: Great, guys. Couple of questions. First, just in terms of the managed revenue growth. Any updates you saw in April, is it similar trends that you saw Q1 or do you see some re-acceleration there? Second is for Todd, I made a share count, I think you guide to close to about 55 million for Q1, it looks like it was 48 million; maybe misreading that. But just can you give us a sense kind of why the delta? And third is the expenses, with the uptick in Q2, did you see kind of where you constrained a little bit on the hiring environment in Q1, or just a little more detail there. Thank you. Todd L. Tappin - Chief Operating Officer / Chief Financial Officer: Thanks, Aaron. First of all, I think, we're going to stay away from giving monthly guidance, and as you know, we don't give guidance on managed revenue. We'll stand behind the guidance we provided for Q2 and the full year. With regard to share count, right, we did have that delta, because of two things. One was the estimated share price to determine treasury stock in the forecast. And the other is the timing of the issuance of shares, since it's weighted average we obviously assumed earlier issuance then we actually had. So hence why we had fewer shares than what we had forecasted. As far as the expenses are concerned, hiring was part of it. I wouldn't say that it was quote-unquote troubled. However, just the timing is such that we are seeing some of those hirings taking place more in Q2 than Q1.

Operator

Operator

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

Jason Kreyer - Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Analyst · Craig-Hallum. Please go ahead

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. Just wondering if we can dig into Buyer Cloud a little bit, if you can talk about kind of what you're seeing there, maybe specifically trends that you're seeing in take rate. And then Todd, I think you mentioned you had some initiatives like the transparent pricing that would shift into the second half of the year, I want to make sure I heard that correctly, and then, if you can give us some sense of why you expect that to shift out a little bit? Thanks. Gregory R. Raifman - President & Director: Okay. Hey, this is Greg. Let me give you a quick update on Buyer Cloud and then I'll turn it over to Todd. As we've talked about for some time now, we believe that a complete offering or a solution for both buyers and sellers is a point of differentiation for us. And so, we have, with that in mind, been continually growing our capabilities on the buyer side to provide – to make it easier and easier for all buyers of any kind to participate in our marketplace, whether they be DSPs or trading desks or agent or agencies or advertisers. Whatever buyer we want to be able to provide those capabilities to make it as easy as possible for them to spend in our marketplace. So one of the reasons behind why we acquired Chango, moved into the performance marketing, because it was an area that we didn't see a lot of spend and we wanted to enhance it. So this is how it will work out; we've completed the acquisition, we've moved into selling by channels now, we had been selling by products and now we've moved into selling by the channels that I've talked about, and we expect to see continued efficiencies in that regard, as well as growth for Buyer Cloud over the next couple of quarters.

Jason Kreyer - Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Analyst · Craig-Hallum. Please go ahead

Thank you, covered it.

Operator

Operator

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to management for any closing remarks.

Erik Randerson - Vice President-Investor Relations

Management

Thank you, everyone for your time today and we'll look forward to seeing you on the conference circuit in the coming weeks.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.