Earnings Call Transcript - ALRM Q2 2024

Matthew Zartman, Vice President, Strategic Communications, Investor Relations

Thank you, Kevin. Good afternoon everyone and welcome to Alarm.com's Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. Please note that this call is being recorded. Joining us today are Steve Trundle, our CEO; and Steve Valenzuela, our CFO. During today's call, we will be making forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, estimates, and other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. We refer you to the risk factors discussed in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q and our Form 8-K which will be filed shortly with the SEC, along with the associated press release. The call is subject to these risk factors, and we encourage you to review them. Alarm.com assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements or other information which speaks as of their respective dates. In addition, several non-GAAP financial measures will be discussed on the call. A reconciliation of the GAAP to the non-GAAP measures can be found in today's press release on our Investor Relations website. I will now turn the call over to Steve Trundle. Steve?

Steve Trundle, CEO

Thank you, Matt. Good afternoon, and welcome to everyone. We’re pleased to report financial results for the second quarter that exceeded our expectations. SaaS and license revenue in the second quarter grew to $155.9 million and adjusted EBITDA was $42.8 million. During the quarter, Alarm.com and our service provider partners continued to drive organic growth in the commercial, international, and Energy Hub businesses. We also increased our balance sheet flexibility with a $500 million convertible notes offering. I want to thank our service provider partners and our employees for their contributions to our results. On today's call, I will cover recent developments in our residential and commercial businesses. In the second quarter, we continued to see that churn in the residential account base remained below the historical averages. This is consistent with our expectations and in-line with our experience in prior periods of economic softness. With mortgage rates remaining elevated, people are moving less. Instead, they are investing into their existing home and staying put. We believe that an additional factor contributing to lower residential churn in the last few quarters has been the fact that a higher percentage of systems today include a number of capabilities that are used routinely by the consumer. System engagement and the attachment of advanced devices or capabilities like video and video analytics, smart Alarm.com thermostats, and smart locks significantly increase account survival and lifetime value over time. So we are pleased to see that the attachment rate of video services on new residential accounts nudged higher to 53% during the second quarter. This followed several quarters of the rate hovering around 50%. Since launching our video analytics solution in the fourth quarter of 2018, the video attachment to new accounts has increased more than 2.5 times. Several recent new products, including our 750 video doorbell and our new floodlight camera combined with our enhanced remote video monitoring central station integrations, appear to be well received by the residential markets we serve. To better service our partners who are delivering these more advanced systems to the market, we recently introduced a generative AI capability to our service provider support platform. We trained a large language model on our complete database of product information, support, installation, and training content. The chat-based interface we created is accessible to technicians in our mobile tech app. This allows technicians to seamlessly access synthesized information from all our support resources while they are in the field actively engaged in installations or supporting subscribers. Nearly 2,000 of our partners have adopted and used this capability since its release. Now let me shift to an update on our commercial business. We believe that the commercial market remains fragmented and is in the early stages of a significant transition to cloud-based solutions that are more capable across the enterprise, less expensive to maintain, and easier to install and use. As this market shift unfolds, we’re leveraging our competitive advantages in SaaS software, reliability, and our service-oriented partner business model to capture share. Our commercial offering is a purpose-built end-to-end solution that unifies intrusion, access control, and video capabilities. We are also enabling integrated solutions for fleet management and active shooter response. I'm particularly pleased with the progress we have made with our Access Control solution which we brought to market several years ago. The team has worked closely with our partners to drive a steady cadence of enhancements like mobile credentials, which allow users to access a property using just their smartphone. We also added elevated enterprise management so that larger commercial customers can create and manage access plans that align with their more complex organizational structures. And we launched Cell Connector so that our Access Control solution can operate without the challenges of deploying connected devices on the customer's IT network. This quarter, we also began to introduce elevator control with our Access Control solution. The steady work by our Access Control team has expanded our product debt and our partners have successfully introduced our solution in more sales cycles. As a result, we surpassed a few nice milestones in the second quarter. Our access control platform now powers over 100,000 doors and 2 million active user credentials. We’ve a diverse base of access control customers across approximately 30 different worldwide markets. They range from small businesses with two to three doors to large-scale enterprise customers with hundreds of doors to manage. One of our multi-location accounts includes nearly 1,000 doors. Another commercial account manages over 15,000 employee access credentials through our service. We are pleased that our service provider partners and our platform can serve such a wide market and are excited to continue advancing our solution and driving growth in this area. Before I hand things over to Steve Valenzuela, I want to touch upon the convertible senior notes offering that we closed during the second quarter. We took advantage of what we felt was a strong convertible bond market to put more dry powder into our business, so that we can continue to be opportunistic in our corporate development initiatives. We are pleased with the strong market interest in our bond offering and the terms we secured, including the 2.25% interest rate. As I have indicated in the past, our corporate development strategy is to be deliberate in pursuing acquisitions that are consistent with our strategy and support our partners. The convertible bond transaction included a $75 million stock buyback and a cap call transaction to reduce future dilution. We anticipate continuing buyback activity from time to time, consistent with our Board's authorization. In summary, I'm pleased with our quarterly results and the growth we continue to see across the business. I want to thank our service provider partners and our team for their hard work and our investors for their continued trust in our business. With that, I'll hand things over to Steve Valenzuela to review our financials.

Steve Valenzuela, CFO

Thanks, Steve. I'll begin with a review of our second quarter 2024 financial results and then provide our updated guidance before opening the call for questions. Second quarter SaaS and license revenue of $155.9 million grew 11% from the same quarter last year. Our SaaS and license revenue visibility remains high with a revenue renewal rate of 94% in the second quarter, at the higher end of our historical range. Hardware and other revenue in the second quarter was $77.9 million, up from $72.9 million in Q1 2024, mainly due to some strengthening in video camera sales. Total revenue of $233.8 million for the second quarter grew 4.4% year-over-year. SaaS and license gross margin for the second quarter was 85.8%, up about 120 basis points year-over-year. Hardware gross margin was 24% for the second quarter, up from 22.4% in the year ago quarter, mainly due to product mix with increased commercial hardware product contribution. Total gross margin was 65.2% for the second quarter, up from 61.4% for Q2 2023 due to increased SaaS and hardware margins and a higher mix of margin-rich SaaS and license revenue. Turning to operating expenses. R&D expenses in the second quarter were $65.7 million compared to $60.9 million in the second quarter of 2023. We ended the second quarter with 1,155 employees in R&D, up from 1,053 employees in Q2 2023. Total headcount increased to 2,033 employees for the second quarter compared to 1,909 employees in the year ago quarter. Sales and marketing expenses in the second quarter were $27.8 million or 11.9% of total revenue, up from $23.8 million or 10.6% of revenue in the same quarter last year, mainly due to conference expenses and more marketing program spending. Our G&A expenses in the second quarter were $26.1 million, down from $28.8 million, mainly due to lower legal expenses. In the second quarter, GAAP net income was $33.5 million, up from GAAP net income of $15.8 million for Q2 2023. Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter was $42.8 million up 17.8% from $36.4 million for Q2 2023. Non-GAAP adjusted net income was $32 million or $0.58 per diluted share in the second quarter compared to $26.6 million or $0.49 per share for the second quarter of 2023. Turning to our balance sheet. We ended the second quarter with $1.1 billion of cash and cash equivalents, up from $697 million at December 31, 2023. During the quarter, we issued $500 million in convertible notes that mature in June 2029. As part of the transaction, we used $75 million to repurchase 1.1 million shares of our common stock at $67.14. We also used $63 million to purchase cap calls to bid up the convertible bond conversion premium from 30% to 100% for an effective conversion price of $134.28. As a reminder, our original $500 million convertible bonds mature in January 2026. Turning to our financial outlook. For the third quarter of 2024, we expect SaaS and license revenue of $157.3 million to $157.5 million. Our third quarter guidance includes a $1.25 million reduction in SaaS and license revenue resulting from the CrowdStrike outage that temporarily impacted some of our operations. For the full year of 2024, we’re raising our expectations for SaaS and license revenue to be between $626.8 million to $627.2 million up from our prior guidance of $624.5 million to $625 million. We are projecting total revenue for 2024 of $920.8 million to $931.2 million increase from our prior guidance of $914.5 million to $931 million, which includes estimated hardware and other revenue of $294 million to $304 million. We estimate that adjusted EBITDA for 2024 will be between $165 million to $167 million up from our prior guidance of $164 million to $166 million. Non-GAAP net income for 2024 is projected to be $119.5 million to $120.5 million or $2.06 to $2.07 per diluted share compared to our prior guidance of $118.5 million to $119.5 million or $2.14 to $2.16 per diluted share. As a reminder, our new convertible bond issuance increased the total number of diluted shares outstanding. EPS is based on an estimate of 58.1 million weighted average diluted shares outstanding. We currently project our non-GAAP tax rate for 2024 to remain at 21% under current tax rules. We expect full year 2024 stock-based compensation expense of $51 million to $53 million. In summary, we are focused on executing on our business plan and investing in our long-term strategy while continuing to deliver profitable growth. And with that operator please open the call for Q&A.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our first question comes from Adam Tindle with Raymond James. Your line is open.

Adam Tindle, Analyst

Okay. Thanks. Good afternoon. Steve Trundle, I wanted to ask on the topic of Gen AI as you get more insight. You mentioned in your prepared remarks the concept of utilizing it for text, which makes a lot of sense. Just curious, is that something that you are monetizing separately? Or are you bundling that into the app? And then on a broader topic, as you kind of think about Gen AI, where does it go from here in areas that you think you could potentially monetize and how Alarm.com can differentiate? Thanks.

Steve Trundle, CEO

Good question. Yes, the implementation that supports our technicians is included in the mobile tech application. It is designed to help them quickly find answers while on the go, primarily for more routine questions. If a technician encounters a very complex issue on a job site, we still provide assistance over the phone, and it can often take one or two hours to resolve complicated commercial installations. However, for routine inquiries, the large language model significantly speeds up their response times, and we've observed good usage of this feature. More broadly, we plan to integrate these capabilities with our video offerings, particularly in remote video monitoring. For example, if I were an operator monitoring camera feeds, there may come a time when I need to communicate with someone engaging in suspicious activity. We see potential in streamlining this process for operators in central stations, which is one of the several areas we are aiming to improve.

Adam Tindle, Analyst

Got it. Makes sense. And congrats on the convert, you're now flushed with cash. I think near $1 billion even after some of the things that you had to do with the convert. So I wonder if you could maybe just in light of that, talk about priorities, and in particular, if we were to potentially even use that in one fell swoop for example, for a larger acquisition. As you kind of think through that potential, what would be the key criteria that you would need to look for? Or do you think it's more likely this would be kind of piecemeal and maybe do more tuck-in type? Thanks.

Steve Trundle, CEO

We wanted to be able to pursue more substantial acquisitions rather than just smaller ones. We have a good history with a few smaller acquisitions over time, such as ObjectVideo and Energy Hub, along with a larger one, and we are looking to consider even larger opportunities. We believe it's a favorable time to have cash available, and we see ourselves as a preferred acquirer in the security industry. We are exploring various possibilities in the IoT space, particularly those that align with our goal of enhancing safety and convenience in daily life. While we are open to larger opportunities, we will also continue to pursue smaller acquisitions as suitable chances arise. Our main criterion is to assess opportunities as a shareholder would, ensuring that our actions are beneficial to shareholders over the long term and align with our performance goals. While I can't discuss any specific opportunities, we are actively and thoughtfully evaluating our options.

Adam Tindle, Analyst

Yes. I think investors certainly appreciate that mindset. Thank you.

Steve Trundle, CEO

Thank you.

Saket Kalia, Analyst

Okay. Great. Hi guys. Thanks for taking my questions here. Steve Trundle, maybe just to start with you. I really appreciated the commentary just on commercial in your prepared remarks. Can you just maybe go one level deeper into what would a dealer have to rip and replace to bring their platform onto Alarm? And how do you sort of think about that can that you're going after?

Steve Trundle, CEO

Good question, Saket. The amount of necessary replacement is actually becoming less frequent. Our team at OpenEye has supported a wide range of cameras for a long time, with some of that support provided through a standard known as ONVIF. This allows us to assist a variety of cameras, not just our own. This enables us to approach potential commercial customers and onboard them without necessitating a complete overhaul of their existing systems, allowing them to benefit from our cloud services. Newer cameras and models offer enhanced functionality, particularly in analytics, where more processing is being done at the camera level. While new equipment provides greater capabilities, we aim to establish a relationship and then expand from there. We have integrated this capability into the full Alarm.com platform, which includes broader camera support. Regarding access control, we are utilizing widely accepted standard readers that are typically found next to doors. This allows our service provider partners to take over existing readers and offer improved services without significant replacement requirements. We are increasingly focused on avoiding the need for a complete overhaul, especially with larger commercial customers, as that approach tends to be less successful. As for the total addressable market, we believe we are still in the early stages of penetrating it. The total addressable market generally encompasses every small business or enterprise in North America. In terms of the North American market, we estimate there are approximately 4.5 million to 5 million sites available, and we are consistently making progress in that area.

Steve Valenzuela, CFO

Sure, Saket. Yes, the growth initiatives continue to do very well. We've actually refined it a bit. We've looked at North American residential video and actually pulled that out of the growth initiatives because it was actually understating North America. So if you look at the growth initiatives, which we include in commercial, international Energy Hub, those represent about 1/4 of our total SaaS and we are growing about 20% to 25% year-over-year.

Darren Aftahi, Analyst

Great. Can you hear me?

Stephen Trundle, CEO

Yes, hey Darren.

Darren Aftahi, Analyst

Hi, how are you? Thanks for taking my questions. Just two, if I may. On the Gen AI initiative, I'm curious if that's going to result in cost savings relative to some of the kind of help. You said you'd have to provide longer term? And then on international, I know you guys have made some acquisitions in the past and I'm kind of curious how those acquisitions kind of play into kind of manifesting some new international markets as we maybe go forward into 2025. Thanks.

Steve Trundle, CEO

The Gen AI initiative is expected to gradually reduce our in-person call volume. Currently, we are managing routine calls with AI that typically would have required 1 to 2 minutes of human support. We take pride in providing excellent support to our service provider partners, ensuring they feel secure in developing or adopting new products and technologies. Therefore, while we don’t anticipate a significant reduction in our capacity to support partners, there may be some positive benefits over time. Regarding international markets, you are referring to our acquisition of EBS made about 1.5 to 2 years ago. We have been working on that since the acquisition, and we are now close to launching a lower-cost communication product compatible with a variety of international panels. This product is expected to start appearing in the market in the second half of this year. We should monitor its progress and plan to provide further updates by year-end as we begin to roll out this integrated technology.

Unidentified Analyst, Analyst

Hi, guys. Thanks for the questions. For the first, can you provide us with some color on the macro front, maybe what you're seeing? I think existing home sales bonds got all-time lows. And then on the second, in your prepared remarks, you noted commercial contribution was greater on the hardware side, which led to the margin improvement. Can you maybe elaborate on whether you are seeing varying behavior from residential versus commercial customers on the hardware side? Thanks.

Steve Trundle, CEO

Sure. Good questions. On the macro side, we saw things generally as we expected in the second quarter. As mentioned earlier, higher revenue retention is noticeable due to fewer residential moves, which is supported by your housing data. For consumers buying in the second quarter, we observed a slight return to our planned sizes for the systems they are purchasing and the amount of hardware involved in each installation. This trend is also visible on the commercial side. Following our Q1 report, we noted some softness in that area and among small to medium businesses. However, in the second quarter, installations aligned closely with our expectations. We experienced a recovery in hardware, with more access control and cameras included in the average installation. Overall, the macro situation appears to have improved slightly for both residential and commercial sectors in the second quarter.

Stephen Sheldon, Analyst

Hi, thank you for taking my questions. I have just one. I would like to know how you view Alarm.com's commercial capabilities and what the rank order of opportunities might be that could significantly impact growth over the next two to three years with regard to monetization. Specifically, which applications are you most optimistic about?

Steve Trundle, CEO

Hi, Stephen, I’d rank them video first and foremost, including analytics, upside on the SaaS line with improvements constantly on the analytics level and then with remote video monitoring capabilities. So I'd rank that first, I would then rank in terms of our growth, access control as the second piece of commercial that is growing nicely, a little further down would be intrusion and then active shooting detection and fleet monitoring and all things that have promise. But I probably think the bigger drivers are really what we are doing with video and access control. And then over time, we may introduce additional products into that category. But the big two right now and the big one is really video. And then after that, a lot of the other pieces sort of support the video installation. Good. Thank you, Stephen.

Operator, Operator

And I'm not showing any further questions at this time. So this does conclude today's conference and presentation. You may now disconnect, and have a wonderful day.

Steve Trundle, CEO

Thank you.

Steve Valenzuela, CFO

Thank you.