Release Date: April 25, 2024
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
Q & A Highlights
Q: Can you help us understand the second quarter deceleration on the platform side? Is 30% the new level now?
A: (William J. Lansing - CEO) Yes, we've seen many quarters of over 50% growth, and now we're in the 30s. This is a reasonable and sustainable level for the foreseeable future. We anticipated some level of slowing as the number gets bigger. There's nothing significant causing concern; it's mostly timing issues around various deals.
Q: How did mortgage origination volumes come in this quarter versus your expectations? And what were the moving pieces in the guidance raise?
A: (Steven P. Weber - CFO) We guide conservatively and don't bank on rates getting better anytime soon. Our guidance doesn't expect improvements within our fiscal year. If rates do come down, we'll enjoy that benefit, but we don't put a timeline on it.
Q: What are you seeing on the card and auto side in terms of volumes versus pricing?
A: (William J. Lansing - CEO) We haven't adjusted our expectations significantly; what we're seeing is in line with what we expected and is a function of the macro environment. We're down a bit in auto and a bit more in credit card and other, but it's not surprising given the current economic conditions.
Q: How should we think about the pace of buybacks in the back half of the year?
A: (William J. Lansing - CEO) We remain committed to buybacks, intending to continue spending at least our free cash flow and often in excess of our free cash flow on buybacks every year. Our leverage has slipped a bit as our earnings have gone up, which might reflect in increased buyback.
Q: Can you break down the 32% platform ARR growth in the quarter between new business wins and wallet penetration from existing customers?
A: (Steven P. Weber - CFO) It's hard to break down the details between use cases and usage. A lot of our growth is coming from expansion because initial use cases are usually small, and they expand from there.
Q: In Scores, you're catching up from 30 years of frozen pricing. To what extent can pricing in autos and cards close the gap at the same pace as mortgages over time?
A: (William J. Lansing - CEO) We evaluate our entire portfolio every year, thinking through the elasticity of demand for each type of score. You can continue to expect variations in how we adjust pricing across different scores.
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
