Earnings Labs

Red Violet, Inc. (RDVT)

Q4 2021 Earnings Call· Wed, Mar 9, 2022

$38.13

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Red Violet's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Earnings Conference Call. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode, later we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. [Operator Instructions]. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Camilo Ramirez, Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Camilo Ramirez

Analyst

Good afternoon, and welcome. Thank you for joining us today to discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2021 financial results. With me today is Derek Dubner, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Dan McLaughlin, our Chief Financial Officer. Our call today will begin with comments from Derek and Dan, followed by a question-and-answer session. I would like to remind you that this call is being webcast live and recorded. A replay of the event will be available following the call on our website. To access the webcast, please visit our Investors page on our website, www.redviolet.com. Before we begin, I would like to advise listeners that certain information discussed by management during this conference call are forward-looking statements covered under the Safe Harbor provisions of Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied by our forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business. The company undertakes no obligation to update the information provided on this call. For a discussion of risks and uncertainties associated with Red Violet's business, I encourage you to review the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the most recent annual report on Form 10-K and the subsequent 10-Qs. During the call, we may present certain non-GAAP financial information relating to adjusted gross profit, adjusted gross margin, adjusted EBITDA margin and adjusted EBITDA. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measure are provided in the earnings press release issued earlier today. In addition, certain supplemental metrics that are not necessarily derived from any underlying financial statement amounts may be discussed and these metrics and their definitions can also be found in the earnings press release issued earlier today. With that, I am pleased to introduce Red Violet Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Derek Dubner.

Derek Dubner

Analyst

Thanks, Camilo, and good afternoon to those joining us today to discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2021 results. We are pleased to announce yet another solid quarter, which closes out an incredible 2021. It was a year of once again achieving major milestones in the business while topping all key financial metrics compared to prior year. Today, I will first touch on our financial performance in the quarter and full year. Next, I'll be discussing a transaction involving a key customer that impacted revenue in the fourth quarter. Then I will be highlighting a key customer win, one of the largest contractual commitments we have received to date. Lastly, I will be discussing our continued execution against our goals of bolstering our foundation for growth over the next few years. And relatedly, provide you some color around how we view the business and our 3-year base case outlook for the business, which Dan will elaborate on. Now to the quarter. Total revenue increased 26% over prior year to $11.3 million. Platform revenue increased 25% to $10.8 million. Services revenue increased 31% to $0.5 million. Adjusted gross profit increased 33% to $8.3 million. Adjusted gross margin increased to 74% from 70% compared to the same period of 2020. Adjusted EBITDA increased 9% to $1.3 million. We generated $2 million in cash from operations, and we finished the quarter with $34.3 million in cash and cash equivalents. For the full year, total revenue increased 27% to $44 million. Platform revenue increased 31% to $42.5 million. Services revenue decreased 25% to $1.5 million. Adjusted gross profit increased 41% to $32.8 million. Adjusted gross margin increased to 75% from 67%. Adjusted EBITDA increased 85% to $10.9 million. Net income was $0.7 million compared to a loss of $6.8 million in prior year.…

Daniel MacLachlan

Analyst

Thank you, Derek, and good afternoon. 2021 was another great year for Red Violet. We are extremely pleased with our strong revenue growth across the board, continued margin expansion at both the gross and adjusted EBITDA level and, of course, achieving GAAP profitability. We continue to prove the unique capabilities and leverage of our business model, which allows us to grow a healthy top line, while also expanding margins at the bottom line. We see secular tailwinds in the markets we serve and strong demand for our solutions and the use cases they solve for. As we reflect a bit on where we stand today, I do want to provide some color on what the business will look like financially over a three-year time horizon. As Derek discussed earlier, we have a very strong balance sheet and are generating cash flow. We have never been in a better position as a business than where we are today. We are now leveraging our strong balance sheet and healthy cash flow to reinvest in the business, with the purpose of accelerating our growth and market penetration in 2022 and beyond. This investment will mostly be in the form of human capital. As we look to capture market share of medium and larger enterprise customers, now is the time to expand the capabilities, depth and efficiency of our team. Our accomplishments as a team over the last several years have been impressive, but even more so when you consider the bandwidth within the organization during that time. In 2022, we are adding to our product development and infrastructure teams with a focus towards condensing the time it takes to deliver our robust product road map to market. We are expanding our go-to-market capabilities in a number of key strategic areas, including identity, property…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question come from the line of Walter Bellinger from Mayflower Capital. You may begin.

Walter Bellinger

Analyst

Hey guys, thanks for taking my question. So I see you included through your outlook and your earnings release and had some commentary around that in the earnings call today. It's obviously very exciting to think that you can get this business to $100 million in revenue with 40% EBITDA margins in the next three-years. This is the first time that I'm aware of, though, that you've provided any kind of target or outlook for the business. So I guess, I was just kind of wanted to understand your thinking on providing that.

Derek Dubner

Analyst

Sure. Thanks, Walter. Thanks for the question. It's Derek. You are correct. Traditionally, we have not and do not provide guidance. With that said, we do want to provide the investment community with management's targets over the next three years, and how the operational leverage of the business will continue to expand as we approach $100 million in annual revenue. Although we're making investments in personnel in 2022, these investments will create a foundation for our business that will provide a new baseline of operations and will afford us tremendous leverage in 2023 and 2024 to incrementally expand margins as we outlined in our base case outlook.

Walter Bellinger

Analyst

Great. That’s helpful. Thanks guys.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Brandon Osten from Venator. You may begin.

Brandon Osten

Analyst

Hey guys, how are you doing?

Derek Dubner

Analyst

How are you Brandon?

Brandon Osten

Analyst

Good, thanks. So just looking at the customer that was acquired. So that was -- there's a $300,000 impact in the quarter. Were those -- was that like -- was that a customer that contributed like every quarter? Are they like a Q4 customer? Or how do I think about that on an annualized basis?

Daniel MacLachlan

Analyst

Yes. And this is Dan. Thanks for the question. So on an annualized basis, they were contributing about $0.6 million a quarter. So when you think about it from an annualized basis, that's kind of really what the potential impact would be. In fourth quarter, we talked about $0.3 million in negative impact to the revenue line. First quarter, we would expect to see a little bit more than that. We're still in their waterfall. So we still are earning revenue from that customer. But because they've moved us down in the waterfall, we would expect a little bit more impact in Q1 as a result.

Brandon Osten

Analyst

Okay. But you guys said that you think you're already on pace for a record Q1 anyways?

Derek Dubner

Analyst

It's Derek, Brandon. So nice to talk to you again. Yes, as of the first two-months of the year closed out, we are on pace for record revenue quarter.

Brandon Osten

Analyst

Okay. So you guys must be doing really well to make up for that because you're talking of a record revenue quarter or record Q1.

Derek Dubner

Analyst

Record revenue quarter. Obviously, we're excited, Brandon. The business is coming along. And like I said in our commentary that business is business, and this will happen. Companies get acquired. As we all know, the first thing they do is look for exploiting some synergies. And sometimes there's nothing you can do about it until perhaps the opportunity arises again.

Brandon Osten

Analyst

Right. Okay. Okay. So it's just -- it's impressive given what you're going to be lapping from last year with a $0.5 million headwind or something. And then your multiyear target there. Am I reading that right? So that's indicative of like a 30% annualized growth rate you guys are hoping for?

Daniel MacLachlan

Analyst

Yes, this is Dan. That's correct. That's correct.

Derek Dubner

Analyst

That is a base case outlook, Brandon, that's a base case for us. Obviously, we're running the business to exceed that. But we feel comfortable putting that out as a base case. And again, so the investment community can get a little bit of insight into how we view the business and the operational leverage of the business.

Brandon Osten

Analyst

Okay. Like that's a pretty high Rule of 40 combined number that you guys are suggesting as possible in 2024. That puts you up there with the best of them.

Derek Dubner

Analyst

Yes. I don't know to say other than as far as building these companies before, we've seen those type of numbers and those type of margins. And so if we're executing the way we expect to be executing and how we're planning, then we hope to meet or exceed that.

Brandon Osten

Analyst

Okay. And where does the added staffing come in? So I guess you guys said you still hope to do 20%, 25% EBITDA this year. Does the added staffing come in the capitalized software development part of the equation? Or where is -- where are you guys adding people?

Daniel MacLachlan

Analyst

Yes. So this is Dan. So Brandon, a portion of that will come in the capitalized software side because we are adding product development and a portion of that product development is capitalized through internal developed software. But other areas, of course, is infrastructure and kind of sales and go-to-market resources. So when we look at 2022, the expectation is we're looking to add more than 50 members to the team over the course of 2022. So a good portion will come through G&A expense, then some will come through selling expense.

Brandon Osten

Analyst

Okay. And you guys didn't give a range for 2022 on the top line, right? Just the bottom line?

Daniel MacLachlan

Analyst

We did not give a range in 2022 on the top line. The only guidance, if you will, we gave is kind of where EBITDA margins are going to be in 2022.

Brandon Osten

Analyst

And I mean you guys sort of threw a 30% annualized growth rate out there, like is it going to go -- is that going to be linear? Or not to put you fine points on it?

Daniel MacLachlan

Analyst

Yes. I think today, we're not going to put too finer point on it, if you will. I think looking at the business on average around a 30% growth marker year-over-year is a good way to look at it. I think, obviously, each year, as you grow off a bigger base, that percentage becomes a little bit difficult, if you will, to continue to make. But with that said, looking at our prospect pipeline and really what we're looking at from kind of a medium and larger-sized enterprise prospect today, I think a 30% year-over-year kind of average from a linear standpoint is a good way to look at it.

Brandon Osten

Analyst

Okay. And just a semi off topic, but did you guys see the announcement out of match.com today the Tinder guys. So they basically said that they're now doing a background search online background search with a company called Garbo that I've never heard of. I don't know if you guys saw that, but is that the type of service that you guys would ever think you could do for maybe even like their competitors or something where you use like an instant background check for people before they go on dates or whatever?

Derek Dubner

Analyst

Yes. Thanks, Brandon. It's Derek. It is something that we've looked at. You should know that today, we do power online investigative systems out there in both business and the consumer segment. So we're already in that space. When it comes to this criminal search, if you will, in the dating space, we have all the capabilities to provide that now and could easily do so. It's just a matter of opening it up to a consumer search and a dating site like that, which has its own risks and rewards I might add.

Brandon Osten

Analyst

Sure. Yes. I'm like maybe just call Bumble tomorrow or something, but all right. All right, that’s good. Thanks guys.

Derek Dubner

Analyst

Always good to talk to you Brandon. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

And that's all the time we have for Q&A today. I'll turn the call back over to Derek for any closing remarks.

Derek Dubner

Analyst

Thank you. The Red Valley team delivered yet another terrific year. It was a year of achieving major milestones while executing upon our strategic plan for future growth with a strong balance sheet, generating free cash flow. We are well positioned for expansion of our business with an eye towards acceleration of growth in the coming years. Our unique assets in the way of our cloud-native platform, unified data assets, and innovative solutions continue to be recognized by the marketplace as we expand into larger enterprises. As always, thank you to our team members, our customers and our shareholders for their support. Good afternoon.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.