Release – SelectQuote, Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2024 Results

Research News and Market Data on SLQT

02/07/2024

Second Quarter of Fiscal Year 2024 – Consolidated Earnings Highlights

  • Revenue of $405.4 million
  • Net income of $19.4 million
  • Adjusted EBITDA* of $67.4 million

Raising Fiscal Year 2024 Guidance Ranges:

  • Revenue expected in a range of $1.23 billion to $1.3 billion vs prior range of $1.05 billion to $1.2 billion
  • Net loss expected in a range of $45 million to $22 million vs prior range of $50 million to $22 million
  • Adjusted EBITDA* expected in a range of $90 million to $105 million vs prior range of $80 million to $105 million

Second Quarter of Fiscal Year 2024 – Segment Highlights

Senior

  • Revenue of $247.5 million
  • Adjusted EBITDA* of $78.7 million
  • Approved Medicare Advantage policies of 234,576

Healthcare Services

  • Revenue of $111.7 million
  • Adjusted EBITDA* of $3.0 million
  • Over 62,000 SelectRx members

Life

  • Revenue of $37.4 million
  • Adjusted EBITDA* of $4.6 million

Auto & Home

  • Revenue of $10.5 million
  • Adjusted EBITDA* of $4.7 million

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– SelectQuote, Inc. (NYSE: SLQT) reported consolidated revenue for the second quarter of fiscal year 2024 of $405.4 million, compared to consolidated revenue for the second quarter of fiscal year 2023 of $319.2 million. Consolidated net income for the second quarter of fiscal year 2024 was $19.4 million, compared to consolidated net income for the second quarter of fiscal year 2023 of $22.5 million. Finally, consolidated Adjusted EBITDA* for the second quarter of fiscal year 2024 was $67.4 million, compared to consolidated Adjusted EBITDA* for the second quarter of fiscal year 2023 of $63.6 million.

Chief Executive Officer Tim Danker stated, “The second quarter marked SelectQuote’s eighth consecutive quarter of performance ahead of expectations, and we remain confident that our strategy to prioritize predictable and cash efficient growth will continue to generate value for both our customers and shareholders. We are also pleased with our progress on operating cash flow and now anticipate that SelectQuote will approach positive free cash flow in fiscal 2024.”

“SelectQuote drove strong results throughout the annual enrollment period for Medicare Advantage where our Senior business grew revenues by double digits, and our second quarter Adjusted EBITDA margin of 32% remains attractive. These strong Senior operating results were a function of higher tenured agent productivity and solid policyholder persistency, which we expect to benefit SelectQuote in the open enrollment period as well.”

“Additionally, Healthcare Services, and our SelectRx business specifically, drove substantial growth in excess of our original forecast. As of the end of the second quarter, SelectRx members have surpassed 62,000, which is in excess of our original expectation for the full year. More importantly, the business was again Adjusted EBITDA profitable.”

Mr. Danker continued, “We are pleased to increase our fiscal year 2024 outlook based on the strength of both businesses year-to-date.”

Segment Results

We currently report on four segments: 1) Senior, 2) Healthcare Services, 3) Life, and 4) Auto & Home. The performance measures of the segments include total revenue, Adjusted EBITDA,* and Adjusted EBITDA Margin.* Costs of revenue, cost of goods sold-pharmacy revenue, marketing and advertising, selling, general, and administrative, and technical development operating expenses that are directly attributable to a segment are reported within the applicable segment. Indirect costs of revenue, marketing and advertising, selling, general, and administrative, and technical development operating expenses are allocated to each segment based on varying metrics such as headcount. Adjusted EBITDA is calculated as total revenue for the applicable segment less direct and allocated costs of revenue, cost of goods sold, marketing and advertising, technical development, and selling, general, and administrative operating costs and expenses, excluding depreciation and amortization expense; gain or loss on disposal of property, equipment, and software; share-based compensation expense; and non-recurring expenses such as severance payments and transaction costs.

Combined Senior and Healthcare Services – Consumer Per Unit Economics

The opportunity to leverage our existing database and distribution model to improve access to healthcare services for our consumers has created a need for us to review our key metrics related to our per unit economics. As we think about the revenue and expenses for Healthcare Services, we note that they are derived from the marketing acquisition costs associated with the sale of an MA or MS policy, some of which costs are allocated directly to Healthcare Services, and therefore determined that our per unit economics measure should include components from both Senior and Healthcare Services. See details of revenue and expense items included in the calculation below.

Combined Senior and Healthcare Services consumer per unit economics represents total MA and MS commissions; other product commissions; other revenues, including revenues from Healthcare Services; and operating expenses associated with Senior and Healthcare Services, each shown per number of approved MA and MS policies over a given time period. Management assesses the business on a per-unit basis to help ensure that the revenue opportunity associated with a successful policy sale is attractive relative to the marketing acquisition cost. Because not all acquired leads result in a successful policy sale, all per-policy metrics are based on approved policies, which is the measure that triggers revenue recognition.

The MA and MS commission per MA/MS policy represents the LTV for policies sold in the period. Other commission per MA/MS policy represents the LTV for other products sold in the period, including DVH prescription drug plan, and other products, which management views as additional commission revenue on our agents’ core function of MA/MS policy sales. Pharmacy revenue per MA/MS policy represents revenue from SelectRx, and other revenue per MA/MS policy represents revenue from Population Health, production bonuses, marketing development funds, lead generation revenue, and adjustments from the Company’s reassessment of its cohorts’ transaction prices. Total operating expenses per MA/MS policy represents all of the operating expenses within Senior and Healthcare Services. The revenue to customer acquisition cost (“CAC”) multiple represents total revenue as a multiple of total marketing acquisition costs, which represents the direct costs of acquiring leads. These costs are included in marketing and advertising expense within the total operating expenses per MA/MS policy.

The following table shows combined Senior and Healthcare Services consumer per unit economics for the periods presented. Based on the seasonality of Senior and the fluctuations between quarters, we believe that the most relevant view of per unit economics is on a rolling 12-month basis. All per MA/MS policy metrics below are based on the sum of approved MA/MS policies, as both products have similar commission profiles.

Total revenue per MA/MS policy increased 37% for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, compared to the twelve months ended December 31, 2022, primarily due to the increase in pharmacy revenue. Total operating expenses per MA/MS policy increased 23% for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, compared to the twelve months ended December 31, 2022, driven by a 100% increase in operating expenses related to SelectRx due to the growth of the business, offset by a 3% decrease in other operating expenses driven by a decrease in marketing and advertising costs for the second half of fiscal year 2023 compared to the second half of fiscal year 2022.

*See “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below.

Earnings Conference Call

SelectQuote, Inc. will host a conference call with the investment community today, Wednesday, February 7, 2024, beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET. To register for this conference call, please use this link: https://www.netroadshow.com/events/login?show=3bad4d79&confId=59966. After registering, a confirmation will be sent via email, including dial-in details and unique conference call codes for entry. Registration is open through the live call, but to ensure you are connected for the full call we suggest registering at least 10 minutes before the start of the call. The event will also be webcasted live via our investor relations website https://ir.selectquote.com/investor-home/default.aspx.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This release includes certain non-GAAP financial measures intended to supplement, not substitute for, comparable GAAP measures. To supplement our financial statements presented in accordance with GAAP and to provide investors with additional information regarding our GAAP financial results, we have presented in this release Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin, which are non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures are not based on any standardized methodology prescribed by GAAP and are not necessarily comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies. We define Adjusted EBITDA as income (loss) before interest expense, income tax expense (benefit), depreciation and amortization, and certain add-backs for non-cash or non-recurring expenses, including restructuring and share-based compensation expenses. The most directly comparable GAAP measure is net income (loss). We define Adjusted EBITDA Margin as Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue. The most directly comparable GAAP measure is net income margin. We monitor and have presented in this release Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin because they are key measures used by our management and Board of Directors to understand and evaluate our operating performance, to establish budgets and to develop operational goals for managing our business. In particular, we believe that excluding the impact of these expenses in calculating Adjusted EBITDA can provide a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our core operating performance.

We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures help identify underlying trends in our business that could otherwise be masked by the effect of the expenses that we exclude in the calculations of these non-GAAP financial measures. Accordingly, we believe these financial measures provide useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results, enhancing the overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects. Reconciliations of the differences between the non-GAAP financial measures included herein and their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are set forth below beginning on page 12.

Forward Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, future events and our financial performance. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “predict,” “potential,” “believe,” “will likely result,” “expect,” “continue,” “will,” “anticipate,” “seek,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “projection,” “would” and “outlook,” or the negative version of those words or other comparable words or phrases of a future or forward-looking nature. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management’s beliefs and certain assumptions made by management, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and beyond our control. Accordingly, we caution you that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, assumptions and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date made, actual results may prove to be materially different from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

There are or will be important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and any other public health events, our reliance on a limited number of insurance carrier partners and any potential termination of those relationships or failure to develop new relationships; existing and future laws and regulations affecting the health insurance market; changes in health insurance products offered by our insurance carrier partners and the health insurance market generally; insurance carriers offering products and services directly to consumers; changes to commissions paid by insurance carriers and underwriting practices; competition with brokers, including exclusively online brokers and carriers who opt to sell policies directly to consumers; competition from government-run health insurance exchanges; developments in the U.S. health insurance system; our dependence on revenue from carriers in our senior segment and downturns in the senior health as well as life, automotive and home insurance industries; our ability to develop new offerings and penetrate new vertical markets; risks from third-party products; failure to enroll individuals during the Medicare annual enrollment period; our ability to attract, integrate and retain qualified personnel; our dependence on lead providers and ability to compete for leads; failure to obtain and/or convert sales leads to actual sales of insurance policies; access to data from consumers and insurance carriers; accuracy of information provided from and to consumers during the insurance shopping process; cost-effective advertisement through internet search engines; ability to contact consumers and market products by telephone; global economic conditions, including inflation; disruption to operations as a result of future acquisitions; significant estimates and assumptions in the preparation of our financial statements; impairment of goodwill; potential litigation and other legal proceedings or inquiries; our existing and future indebtedness; our ability to maintain compliance with our debt covenants and meet our scheduled repayment obligations under out debt arrangement; our ability to access to additional capital on acceptable terms; failure to protect our intellectual property and our brand; fluctuations in our financial results caused by seasonality; accuracy and timeliness of commissions reports from insurance carriers; timing of insurance carriers’ approval and payment practices; factors that impact our estimate of the constrained lifetime value of commissions per policyholder; changes in accounting rules, tax legislation and other legislation; disruptions or failures of our technological infrastructure and platform; failure to maintain relationships with third-party service providers; cybersecurity breaches or other attacks involving our systems or those of our insurance carrier partners or third-party service providers; our ability to protect consumer information and other data; failure to market and sell Medicare plans effectively or in compliance with laws; and other factors related to our pharmacy business, including manufacturing or supply chain disruptions, access to and demand for prescription drugs, and regulatory changes or other industry developments that may affect our pharmacy operations. For a further discussion of these and other risk factors that could impact our future results and performance, see the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent periodic reports filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and, except as otherwise required by law, we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

About SelectQuote:

Founded in 1985, SelectQuote (NYSE: SLQT) provides solutions that help consumers protect their most valuable assets: their families, health, and property. The company pioneered the model of providing unbiased comparisons from multiple, highly-rated insurance companies allowing consumers to choose the policy and terms that best meet their unique needs. Two foundational pillars underpin SelectQuote’s success: a strong force of highly-trained and skilled agents who provide a consultative needs analysis for every consumer, and proprietary technology that sources and routes high-quality leads.

With an ecosystem offering high touchpoints for consumers across insurance, medicare, pharmacy, and value-based care, the company now has four core business lines: SelectQuote Senior, SelectQuote Healthcare Services, SelectQuote Life, and SelectQuote Auto and Home. SelectQuote Senior serves the needs of a demographic that sees around 10,000 people turn 65 each day with a range of Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplement plans. SelectQuote Healthcare Services is comprised of the SelectRx Pharmacy, a Patient-Centered Pharmacy Home™ (PCPH) accredited pharmacy, and Population Health which proactively connects consumers with a wide breadth of healthcare services supporting their needs.

Source: SelectQuote, Inc.

Investor Relations:
Sloan Bohlen
877-678-4083
investorrelations@selectquote.com

Media:
Matt Gunter
913-286-4931
matt.gunter@selectquote.com

Source: SelectQuote, Inc.

Aon Bets $13.4 Billion on Mid-Market Insurance Growth

Insurance brokerage and consulting powerhouse Aon (AON) unveiled a definitive agreement on December 20th to acquire middle-market peer NFP in an all-cash $13.4 billion deal. NFP focuses on property and casualty brokerage, benefits consulting, wealth management and retirement plan advisory specifically for mid-sized clients.

The landmark transaction allows Aon to aggressively expand into the lucrative mid-corporation segment amid an economic landscape stoking demand for recession-resistant insurance policies. With NFP expecting 2022 revenues nearing $2.2 billion and a roster of over 7,700 client organizations, the bolt-on acquisition provides Aon a launching pad towards deepening its presence among growth-oriented middle-market enterprises.

Tap Exploding Market for Mid-Sized Firms

Several tailwinds have powered extraordinary growth within insurance brokerages catering to mid-cap corporations. As middle-market companies strive for enhanced risk management oversight amid volatile conditions, they increasingly seek broker partners delivering customized guidance on property/casualty and employee benefits policies.

NFP’s singular mid-market focus perfectly aligns with this surging addressable market. The brokerage brings specialized consulting capabilities around financial, health, and retirement offerings that resonate powerfully among mid-sized organizations. After closing in mid-2024, NFP’s offerings significantly broaden and diversify Aon’s middle-market resources.

The opportunistic move also builds on Aon’s existing relationship with mid-market insurance access point Businessolver. By consolidating NSM Insurance and now NFP, Aon assembles an unrivaled mid-corporation product portfolio spanning risk management, human resources, payroll, and compliance functionality.

Betting on Consistent Insurance Demand

Aon’s bold acquisition reflects confidence that commercial insurance spending will continue rising despite recessionary warnings. Employer-sponsored health plans, property policies, casualty coverage, and other risk transfer solutions retain fundamental necessity for corporations of all sizes. With mid-sized companies facing substantial human capital and operational exposures, brokerages like NFP and Aon constitute trusted partners for navigating complex risk landscapes.

The sector’s recession resilience and anti-cyclical behaviors produce reliable revenues amid broader economic uncertainty. Aon has witnessed only one year of revenue declines over the past decade. The industry giant averaged yearly sales growth of 8.4% since 2013.

Strategic Growth Play

From a financial perspective, NFP dramatically strengthens Aon’s growth trajectory. Adding the brokerage’s high-single-digit annual revenue gains provides immediate scale. In an investor presentation, management projected total company sales expansion of 8% in 2024 and 14% in 2025 post-acquisition. Significant cross-selling opportunities and global expansion of NFP’s capabilities should spur ongoing upside.

Aon expects to realize $150 million in cost synergies by 2025. The combination presents chances to eliminate redundant corporate structures and leverage joint capabilities in technology, data analytics and digitization to drive efficiency gains. Ensuing margin expansion would magnify bottom-line profit growth produced by the increased revenues.

Although the transaction costs require $7 billion in new debt, NFP is projected to start contributing towards deleveraging by 2025. While 2024 margins may compress initially, management reinforced commitment towards long-term margin expansion. From 2013-2021, Aon’s margins grew from 16.4% to record 35.7% levels.

Risks and Costs

Despite projected profitability gains, Aon’s stock dropped nearly 8% on the announcement as shareholders weigh risks around significant integration costs and execution challenges. Management forecasts $400 million in one-time transaction and integration expenses associated with consolidating the sizable acquisitions.

There are additionally risks tied to client retention. As occurred with some Willis Towers Watson customers after Aon’s failed merger attempt in 2021, certain NFP accounts may reevaluate relationships depending on changes in account management or service model adjustments.

Overall, however, investor reception remains positive. The deal continues an active era defined by transformative combinations as large brokers fight for differentiation. Aon has now spent nearly $30 billion on M&A to distinguish its portfolio. Adding NFP crucially now arms the brokerage giant to increasingly capitalize on lucrative mid-market tailwinds in coming years.

Watch AON’s NobleCon19 presentation: Cybersecurity – Is Your C-Suite Ready for 2024?