LendingTree Provides Favorable Preliminary Second Quarter 2020 Results

Rhea-AI Summary

LendingTree, Inc. (NASDAQ: TREE) reported better-than-expected Q2 2020 results, with projected revenues between $182 - $186 million, exceeding previous estimates. The anticipated GAAP net loss stands at ($10) - ($8 million). Variable marketing margin is expected to reach $79 - $83 million, while Adjusted EBITDA is forecasted at $28 - $32 million. CEO Doug Lebda highlighted resilience amid economic challenges, particularly in the Home segment driven by low interest rates. Guidance for Q3 will be detailed in the upcoming earnings release.

Positive

• Revenue projections increased to $182 - $186 million from $160 - $175 million.
• Variable marketing margin expected to rise to $79 - $83 million from $65 - $75 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA forecast improved to $28 - $32 million from $12 - $18 million.

Negative

• GAAP net loss from continuing operations projected at ($10) - ($8 million).
• Consumer segment continues to face challenges due to tight unsecured credit.

CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- LendingTree, Inc. (NASDAQ: TREE), the nation's leading online financial services marketplace, today provided a business update regarding better-than-expected second quarter 2020 financial results.

Q2 2020 Preliminary Results

• Revenue is now anticipated in the range of $182 - $186 million vs prior range of $160 - $175 million.
• GAAP net loss from continuing operations is anticipated to be ($10) - ($8) million.
• Variable marketing margin is now anticipated to be $79 - $83 million vs prior range of $65 - $75 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA is now anticipated to be $28 - $32 million vs prior range of $12 - $18 million.

"Due to the magnitude of outperformance relative to our prior outlook for the second quarter, we are providing a preliminary update for investors," said Doug Lebda, Chairman and CEO.  "I continue to be incredibly proud of how our company has navigated this challenging environment and our financial performance is a testament to the team's hard work and the strategic moves we've made over the last several years.  While some of our businesses remain  challenged as a result of the economic environment, others are performing exceedingly well and enabling us to remain strategically focused on investing in both sides of our marketplace to drive market share gains."

J.D. Moriarty, CFO, added, "We're thrilled to announce such a positive outcome on the quarter in light of the many challenges we're all facing.  Across our three reportable segments, much of the strength was driven by our Home segment where low interest rates have driven robust consumer interest in refinancing and product innovation has enabled us to retain greater capacity with our lenders than we've historically seen.  The Insurance segment performed largely as anticipated, recovering from traffic challenges early in the quarter and gaining momentum as we head into the second half.  And our Consumer segment remains challenged as unsecured credit remains tight with limited visibility into the true health of consumer balance sheets and small businesses continuing to struggle.  We intend to discuss the quarter's performance in greater detail and issue guidance for the third quarter when we formally release earnings in a few weeks."

LENDINGTREE'S RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES TO GAAP

Variable Marketing Expense

Below is a reconciliation of selling and marketing expense to variable marketing expense. See "Lending Tree's Principles of Financial Reporting" for further discussion of the Company's use of this non-GAAP measure.

	Preliminary Quarter Ended June 30, 2020
	Low	High
	(in millions)
Selling and marketing expense	$	116		$	114
Non-variable selling and marketing expense (1)	(12)		(12)
Variable marketing expense	$	104		$	102

(1)		Represents the portion of selling and marketing expense not attributable to variable costs paid for advertising, direct marketing and related expenses. Includes overhead, fixed costs and personnel-related expenses.

LENDINGTREE'S RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES TO GAAP

Variable Marketing Margin

Below is a reconciliation of net income from continuing operations to variable marketing margin. See "LendingTree's Principles of Financial Reporting" for further discussion of the Company's use of these non-GAAP measures.

	Preliminary Quarter Ended June 30, 2020
	Low	High
	(in millions)
Net income from continuing operations	$	(10)		$	(8)
Adjustments to reconcile to variable marketing margin:
Cost of revenue	13		13
Non-variable selling and marketing expense (2)	12		12
General and administrative expense	28		28
Product development	11		11
Depreciation	3		3
Amortization of intangibles	14		14
Change in fair value of contingent consideration	9		9
Severance	—		—
Litigation settlements and contingencies	(1)		(1)
Interest expense, net	5		5
Other (income) expense	—		—
Income tax (benefit) expense	(5)		(3)
Variable marketing margin	$	79		$	83

(1)		Represents the portion of selling and marketing expense not attributable to variable costs paid for advertising, direct marketing and related expenses. Includes overhead, fixed costs and personnel-related expenses.

LENDINGTREE'S RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES TO GAAP

Adjusted EBITDA

Below is a reconciliation of net income from continuing operations to adjusted EBITDA. See "LendingTree's Principles of Financial Reporting" for further discussion of the Company's use of these non-GAAP measures.

	Preliminary Quarter Ended June 30, 2020
	Low	High
	(in millions)
Net income from continuing operations	$	(10)		$	(8)
Adjustments to reconcile to adjusted EBITDA:
Amortization of intangibles	14		14
Depreciation	3		3
Non-cash compensation	13		13
Change in fair value of contingent consideration	9		9
Litigation settlements and contingencies	(1)		(1)
Interest expense, net	5		5
Income tax (benefit) expense	(5)		(3)
Adjusted EBITDA	$	28		$	32

LendingTree's Principles of Financial Reporting

LendingTree reports Variable Marketing Margin and Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization, as adjusted for certain items discussed below ("Adjusted EBITDA") as non-GAAP measures supplemental to GAAP.

Variable Marketing Margin is defined as revenue less Variable Marketing Expense. Variable Marketing Expense is defined as the expense attributable to variable costs paid for advertising, direct marketing and related expenses, including the portion of cost of revenue attributable to costs paid for advertising re-sold to third parties, and excluding overhead, fixed costs and personnel-related expenses. The majority of these variable advertising costs are expressly intended to drive traffic to our websites and these variable advertising costs are included in selling and marketing expense on the company's consolidated statements of operations and consolidated income. When advertising inventory is re-sold to third parties, the proceeds of such transactions are included in revenue for the purposes of calculating Variable Marketing Margin, and the costs of such re-sold advertising are included in cost of revenue in the Company's consolidated statements of operations and consolidated income and are included in Variable Marketing Expense for purposes of calculating Variable Marketing Margin. Variable Marketing Margin is a measure of the operating efficiency of the Company's operating model, measuring revenue after subtracting variable marketing costs that directly influence revenue. The Company's operating model is highly sensitive to the amount and efficiency of variable marketing expenditures, and the Company's proprietary systems are able to make rapidly changing decisions concerning the deployment of variable marketing expenditures (primarily but not exclusively online and mobile advertising placement) based on proprietary and sophisticated analytics. Variable Marketing Margin is a primary metric by which the Company measures the effectiveness of its marketing efforts.

EBITDA is defined as net income from continuing operations excluding interest, income taxes, amortization of intangibles and depreciation. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA excluding (1) non-cash compensation expense, (2) non-cash impairment charges, (3) gain/loss on disposal of assets, (4) restructuring and severance expenses, (5) and litigation settlements and contingencies, (6) acquisitions and dispositions income or expense (including with respect to changes in fair value of contingent consideration), and (7) one-time items. Adjusted EBITDA is a primary metric by which LendingTree evaluates the operating performance of its businesses, on which its marketing expenditures and internal budgets are based and by which management and many employees are compensated.

The most directly comparable GAAP measure for both Variable Marketing Margin and Adjusted EBITDA is net income from continuing operations.

LendingTree endeavors to compensate for the limitations of these non-GAAP measures by also providing the comparable GAAP measures with equal or greater prominence and descriptions of the reconciling items, including quantifying such items, to derive the non-GAAP measures. However, LendingTree is not able to provide a reconciliation of projected Variable Marketing Margin or Adjusted EBITDA to the most directly comparable expected GAAP results due to the unknown effect, timing and potential significance of the effects of legal matters, tax considerations, and income and expense from changes in fair value of contingent consideration from acquisitions.  Expenses associated with legal matters, tax consequences, and income and expense from changes in fair value of contingent consideration from acquisitions have in the past, and may in the future, significantly affect GAAP results in a particular period. These non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

The matters contained in the discussion above may be considered to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations or anticipations of LendingTree and members of our management team including, among other things, the preliminary statements in this press release regarding results that LendingTree expects to announce following the completion of its quarter-end review process, as well as statements about our future operational and financial performance. Factors currently known to management that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include the following: uncertainty regarding the duration and scope of the coronavirus referred to as COVID-19 pandemic; actions governments and businesses take in response to the pandemic, including actions that could affect levels of advertising activity; the impact of the pandemic and actions taken in response to the pandemic on national and regional economies and economic activity; the pace of recovery when the COVID-19 pandemic subsides; adverse conditions in the primary and secondary mortgage markets and in the economy, particularly interest rates; default rates on loans, particularly unsecured loans; demand by investors for unsecured personal loans; the effect of such demand on interest rates for personal loans and consumer demand for personal loans; seasonality of results; potential liabilities to secondary market purchasers; changes in the Company's relationships with network lenders, including dependence on certain key network lenders; breaches of network security or the misappropriation or misuse of personal consumer information; failure to provide competitive service; failure to maintain brand recognition; ability to attract and retain consumers in a cost-effective manner; the effects of potential acquisitions of other businesses, including the ability to integrate them successfully with LendingTree's existing operations; accounting rules related to contingent consideration and excess tax benefits or expenses on stock-based compensation that could materially affect earnings in future periods; ability to develop new products and services and enhance existing ones; competition; allegations of failure to comply with existing or changing laws, rules or regulations, or to obtain and maintain required licenses; failure of network lenders or other affiliated parties to comply with regulatory requirements; failure to maintain the integrity of systems and infrastructure; liabilities as a result of privacy regulations; failure to adequately protect intellectual property rights or allegations of infringement of intellectual property rights; and changes in management. These and additional factors to be considered are set forth under "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2019, in our Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2020, and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. LendingTree undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results or expectations.

About LendingTree, Inc.

LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE) is the nation's leading online marketplace that connects consumers with the choices they need to be confident in their financial decisions. LendingTree empowers consumers to shop for financial services the same way they would shop for airline tickets or hotel stays, by comparing multiple offers from a nationwide network of over 500 partners in one simple search and choosing the option that best fits their financial needs. Services include mortgage loans, mortgage refinances, auto loans, personal loans, business loans, student refinances, credit cards, insurance and more. Through the My LendingTree platform, consumers receive free credit scores, credit monitoring and recommendations to improve credit health. My LendingTree proactively compares consumers' credit accounts against offers on our network and notifies consumers when there is an opportunity to save money. In short, LendingTree's purpose is to help simplify financial decisions for life's meaningful moments through choice, education and support.

LendingTree, Inc. is headquartered in Charlotte, NC. For more information, please visit www.lendingtree.com

Investor Relations Contact:
Trent Ziegler
trent.ziegler@lendingtree.com
704-943-8294

Media Contact:
Megan Greuling
megan.greuling@lendingtree.com
704-943-8208

 

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SOURCE LendingTree, Inc.

FAQ

What are LendingTree's Q2 2020 revenue projections?

LendingTree's Q2 2020 revenue is projected to be between $182 million and $186 million.

What is the expected Adjusted EBITDA for LendingTree in Q2 2020?

The expected Adjusted EBITDA for Q2 2020 is between $28 million and $32 million.

How is the Home segment performing for LendingTree?

The Home segment is performing well, driven by low interest rates and increased consumer interest in refinancing.

What challenges does LendingTree face in its Consumer segment?

The Consumer segment is facing challenges due to tight unsecured credit and limited visibility on consumer balance sheets.