Operator
Operator
Good day and welcome to the QuinStreet Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2015 Financial Results Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I’d like to turn the conference over to Ms. Erica Abrams. Please go ahead Ma’am.
QuinStreet, Inc. (QNST)
Q4 2015 Earnings Call· Mon, Aug 3, 2015
$13.30
+1.10%
Same-Day
+1.37%
1 Week
-4.27%
1 Month
-6.14%
vs S&P
+0.71%
Operator
Operator
Good day and welcome to the QuinStreet Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2015 Financial Results Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I’d like to turn the conference over to Ms. Erica Abrams. Please go ahead Ma’am.
Erica Abrams
Management
Thank you Melissa, good afternoon ladies and gentleman, thank you for joining us today to report QuinStreet's fourth quarter and fiscal year 2015 financial results. Joining me on the call today are Doug Valenti, CEO, and Greg Wong, CFO of QuinStreet. This call is being simultaneously webcast on the Investor Relations section of our website at www.quinstreet.com. Before we get started, I would like to remind you that the following discussion contains forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or financial performance and involve risks and uncertainties. QuinStreet's actual results may vary materially from those contemplated by the forward looking statements discussed here. Factors that may cause the results to differ from our forward-looking statements are set forth in today’s press release and in our most recent 10-Q filing with the SEC which was filed on May 7, 2015. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and the Company does not intend to and undertakes no duty to update this information to reflect future events or circumstances. Today we will be discussing both GAAP and non-GAAP measures. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures are included in today's earnings press release, which is also available on our Investor Relations website. Now I will turn the call over to Doug, CEO of QuinStreet. Please go ahead.
Doug Valenti
Management
Thank you, Erica. And thank you all for joining us today. We are pleased to report fiscal year 2015 and June quarter results. Fiscal 2015 was a pivotal year for QuinStreet. Our initiatives to revitalize the business with new products and with the diversification of media and markets returned the Company to annual growth in the last two quarters of the year. The initiatives also put us on a path that we believe will allow us to sustain renewed growth and re-expand adjusted EBITDA margin. The June quarter or fiscal Q4 saw a continuation of recent trends with year-over-year revenue growth driven primarily by more stability in our education client vertical, and strong growth in auto insurance and other client verticals. Education revenue grew year-over-year in the quarter for the first time in 14 quarters, due to increased contributions from new products, from non-for-profit clients, and from international markets. Stepping back to look at our progress in fiscal 2015, one key area that led to improved performance was media and market diversification enabled and accelerated by partnerships. We entered into a record number of important and impactful new partnerships last year. These partnerships fall into three main areas. One, partnerships with large high-quality media companies and properties where we have been able to create or significantly increase performance marketing revenue results for the partner. These partnerships jaw on our uniquely effective technologies and expertise in performance marketing and weave us more broadly and deeply into high-quality stable Internet media sources based on our value add. Two, partnerships with not-for-profit schools and third-party enablers of their online programs where we provide or manage media and marketing services, and match our large media flows of student prospects to their offerings and in so doing, help scale both their programs and our share…
Greg Wong
Management
Thanks, Doug. Hello and thanks again for joining us today. We are pleased with our results in the fourth quarter, which wraps up a solid fiscal 2015 for QuinStreet. In all, we executed well across our growth initiatives throughout the year and grew revenue each of the last three fiscal quarters. We are beginning to see the results of our investments over the last two to three years show up in our financials. For the fourth quarter, we reported $70.9 million of revenue, up 5% compared to the same quarter last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $2.9 million or 4% margin. Adjusted net income for fiscal Q4 was $479,000 or $0.01 per share. For fiscal 2015, we reported $282.1 million of revenue, which was flat compared to the prior year. Through the year, we grew revenue from down 10% in Q1 to up 1% in Q2 to up 5% in both Q3 and Q4. We believe this is the beginning of an up into the right trend that we expect to continue to accelerate in fiscal 2016. Adjusted EBITDA was $10 million or 4% margin and adjusted net income was $2.5 million or $0.06 per share. Please see the supplemental data sheets available at the Investor Relations page of our corporate website. They provide essentially all of the figures and details on that review. For revenue by client vertical, our education client vertical represented 39% of Q4 revenue and grew 1% compared to the year ago quarter to $27.4 million. This performance reflects our continued success offsetting declines from traditional lead generation to U.S. for-profit schools, a strong growth from new products, not-for-profit clients and international markets. These new products and markets now comprise the majority of the overall revenue in education. In products, included better matched and qualified needs, which…
Operator
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] We’ll take our first question from John Campbell with Stephens Incorporated.
John Campbell
Analyst
Hey, guys. Good afternoon.
Doug Valenti
Management
Hey, John.
Greg Wong
Management
Hey, John.
John Campbell
Analyst
Hey. As far as guidance, I’m not trying to put too [indiscernible] when you guys say, you expect the adjusted EBITDA margin expansion in the back half of the year, is that margin expansion sequentially kind of as you move through the year or are you talking about on a year-over-year basis?
Greg Wong
Management
Both. We expect to see both.
John Campbell
Analyst
Got it. Okay. That’s helpful. And then I mean you guys obviously beat our adjusted EBITDA projection this quarter, and I think that was the first year-over-year margin expansion we’ve seen obviously in several quarters, but I think it implies about 34 so percent incremental margin and I know you guys are going to start from a relatively low point in FY1Q, I think you said low single digits, but if we just assume that expense throughout the year and you guys get continued kind of top line growth, is it outside the realm of possibility to kind of hold that 30% to 40% incremental margin throughout FY15?
Greg Wong
Management
We haven’t looked at it that way, John. So I don’t know if that calculation -- I don’t know if that’s a calculation that makes sense to me or not. In general, incremental revenue comes in on average closer to 40% margin. So if you look at a top line leverage model, which I think we’ve shared with you and others, that’s kind of the number that I would use as incremental revenue coming in at about that margin on pretty close to the same other fixed and semi-fixed cost base and that’s kind of how the leverage model works for us. It’s a little different angle I think on the same question, but I haven’t looked at the math the way you just described it.
John Campbell
Analyst
No. I think that’s exactly right. I think that will make sense. A return in top line growth and 40% incremental margins on a carry forward basis, that’s a good recipe. So that’s helpful. And I jumped on a little late to the call, so I apologize if I missed this, but what was the total insurance growth, did you guys provide that? I heard auto and some other pieces, but did you guys provide what the total insurance growth was year-over-year?
Greg Wong
Management
We didn’t. For the year, John, it was 11% year-over-year over the last three quarters of the year. We grew 22% in auto insurance.
Doug Valenti
Management
And just to clarify John, you’re asking about auto insurance or are you asking intentionally about auto life and health?
John Campbell
Analyst
Total insurance.
Doug Valenti
Management
All insurance. Greg just gave you the numbers for auto insurance. We don’t -- we did not pull out and we don’t pull out separately just insurance. As you know, we have financial services, which for the year, grew I think about 5%. Greg is looking at the number now.
Greg Wong
Management
6% for the year.
Doug Valenti
Management
6% overall for the year for total financial services, but we didn’t cluster just insurance in that mix. We certainly could get that and send that out when we report it next time.
John Campbell
Analyst
Okay, that’s fine. I appreciate it. And then just last one for me Greg, what type of run rate interest expense should we think about just given the debt reduction?
Greg Wong
Management
It’s about 3%.
John Campbell
Analyst
Got it. Okay. I appreciate it guys.
Doug Valenti
Management
Great. Thanks, John.
Greg Wong
Management
Thanks, John.
Operator
Operator
Thank you. We will take our next question from Stephen Ju with Credit Suisse.
Yoni Yadgaran
Analyst · Credit Suisse.
Hey, guys. This is Yoni on for Stephen.
Greg Wong
Management
Hey, Yoni.
Yoni Yadgaran
Analyst · Credit Suisse.
Hey. So we were hoping you could help us better understand the impetus for restructuring your debt facility. So we’re wondering if there is any read through with respect to how you guys are thinking about, I don’t know, potentially strategic options, including acquisitions as you go in to ‘16?
Doug Valenti
Management
No. Yoni, if you don’t -- and we’ve talked about this historically, if you look at our business model, we’re still generating a positive normalized free cash flow and so as we evaluated the situation, this new line better fits our existing capital needs, because we are cash flow generative, while at the same time, allows us to save a lot of money and cash interest expense for frankly capital we weren’t going to access or use and that was kind of the main point of the restructuring.
Yoni Yadgaran
Analyst · Credit Suisse.
Got it. That makes sense. And I guess as a follow-up, curious, so you guys talked a bit about how O&O grew slightly in fiscal 2015, and you guys expect it to continue to grow again next year. Well, curiously – so obviously O&O has a higher – better margin profile relative to some of your other businesses. But as we look into new media revenue and some of the growth that you’re seeing there, curious if that’s something that’s accretive or dilutive to gross margins?
Doug Valenti
Management
We expect that in combination, it will be pretty neutral to gross margin. I think the thumb rule of altogether the media will come in at an average of – on a weighted average basis of about 40% is probably a pretty good rule of thumb to use on top a pretty stable other cost base. So I think that’s still right. The owned and operated media does come in at a higher margin though it does also come in with higher demands on other expenses. You have to have more people to do owned and operated than you do to do purely partner. But the partner revenue will come in lower, obviously media margin to acquire [ph] fewer people, but I think the general rule of 40% on average media margin on top of a flat other fixed and semi-fixed cost base is a safe one and a good one to use, but they are moving parts on that underneath [ph] as I just described. But that’s still a good rule to use.
Yoni Yadgaran
Analyst · Credit Suisse.
Fair enough. Thanks very much guys.