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Earnings call · FY2022 Q3
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Thank you, Jackson. Good afternoon. Welcome to Health Equity's Third Quarter FY2022 Earnings Call. My name is Richard Putnam, I do Investor Relations for Health Equity. Joining me today is Jon Kessler, President and CEO, Dr. Steve Neeleman, our Vice Chair and founder of the Company, Tyson Murdock, the Company's Executive Vice President and CFO, and Ted Bloomberg, our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Before I turn the call over to Jon, I have two important reminders. First, a press release announcing our financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2022 was issued right after the market closed this afternoon. The metrics reported in the press release include the contributions from our wholly-owned subsidiary WageWorks and the accounts that it administers. The press release also includes a definition of certain non-GAAP financial measures that we will reference here today. A copy of today's press release, including reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures with comparable GAAP measures and a recording of this webcast can be found on our Investor Relations website, which is ir.healthequity.com. Second, our comments and responses to your questions today reflect management's view as of today, December 6, 2021, and will contain forward-looking statements as defined by the SEC, including predictions, expectations, estimates, or other information that might be considered forward-looking. There are many important factors relating to our business which could affect the forward-looking statements made today. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results to differ materially from statements made here today. We caution you against placing undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, and we also encourage you to review the discussion of these factors and other risks that may affect our future results, or the market price of our stock that are detailed on our latest annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent periodic reports filed with the SEC. We assume no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. And that's the conclusion of our prepared remarks. We will turn the call over to the operator to provide instructions and to host our Q&A. And I will turn the call over to our CEO, Jon Kessler.
Thank you, Richard, and hello everyone. Thank you for joining us today as we report on Health Equity's fiscal third quarter results, which ended on October 31st. Core HSA sales accounts and assets have continued to grow strongly throughout fiscal 2022, although the ancillary consumer-directed benefits administration has slowed, impacting our operating performance. I will discuss both aspects of the Q3 results, and Tyson will provide financial details for the quarter along with updated guidance for the full fiscal year 2022. Steve and Ted will also join us for your questions. Let's start with the five key metrics that drive HealthEquity's business. In Q3, our revenue was $180 million, up slightly from $179.4 million in the same quarter last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $61.1 million, remaining flat year-over-year, while total accounts at the end of the quarter reached 13.3 million, a 6% increase compared to last year. HSA members also grew to 6.2 million, a 14% increase, driven by 11% organic growth along with new HSA members from our transition with Fifth Third's portfolio before the quarter's end. HSA assets reached $16.4 billion, a 32% increase from last year, bolstered by 28% organic growth and approximately $490 million from the Fifth Third assets transition. Fueled by total solution and cross sales, we've captured a larger share of HSA growth than we did during the pandemic-impacted fiscal 2021 and have achieved record organic HSA openings and asset growth in the first three quarters of fiscal 2022. Team Purple achieved a record 151,000 new HSAs in fiscal Q3, a 45% increase from 104,000 new HSAs in Q3 of last year. Over the first three quarters of fiscal 2022, we've welcomed 446,000 new HSA members through our various sales channels, which is 41% more than the same period in fiscal 2021 and 29% more than the same period in pre-pandemic fiscal 2020. The migration from Fifth Third Bank added an additional 160,000 HSAs, complementing our strong sales results. HSA assets grew by nearly $1 billion during the quarter, including assets transferred from Fifth Third. The number of investing HSA members increased by an impressive 43%, with invested assets growing by 74% compared to last year. The average HSA account balance for Health Equity members grew by 16%, indicating that members are increasingly valuing long-term health savings and linking health with financial stability. HealthEquity's performance in organic and total year-over-year HSA growth and asset growth in Q3 was strong compared to recent industry data, with Devenir estimating 6% account and 26% asset growth market-wide for the year ending June 30th. HealthEquity achieved 14% account and 32% asset growth year-over-year in Q3. Comparison with Q3 reports from publicly traded HSA peers shows that our team continues to capture market share, maintaining a trend we've seen for over a decade. Our approach remains straightforward: we offer a comprehensive HSA solution, combining the services clients desire, proprietary technology for connectivity with partners, and the high-level service and education our members need. As you may recall, HealthEquity acquired WageWorks' leading CDB capabilities and client base two years ago to support core HSA growth, and that goal has been realized. However, we've found that CDBs are more susceptible to short-term external factors than we expected. While we anticipate these challenges to lessen as the pandemic's economic impact diminishes, Q3 results from the administration of FSAs, COBRA, and commuter accounts were notably affected, leading to lower-than-expected interchange and service revenue, with an overall revenue decrease of $5 to $10 million compared to our previous guidance. Let me elaborate on these points. The biggest surprise was the interchange revenue, which grew just 8% year-over-year in Q3, down from 23% growth in Q2. FSA spending on our debit cards and platform in Q3 declined more than we anticipated due to seasonal factors and the final filing deadlines for calendar 2020 and 2019 FSAs. We'd expect improvement to depend on member choices during open enrollment and new sales enrollments made this year. We believe members who did not add to their balance for calendar 2021 will do so for calendar 2022, leaving us cautiously optimistic for the upcoming fiscal year. Service fees from COBRA administration similarly reversed after gains in Q2. Following the end of one-time revenue from the Federal COBRA subsidy—a situation we anticipated and discussed last quarter—COBRA enrollment fell more than we expected post-subsidy. The current tight labor market and economic conditions have led to increased COBRA eligibility without a corresponding rise in fees. We saw a slight increase in commuter account fees for the first time since the pandemic began, which is welcome. However, for Q3, commuter fees remained lower than the previous year as employers have been slow to return to in-office work. Additionally, our decision to discontinue certain legacy CDB administrative engagements for services that don't align with our future platform will ultimately streamline operations but will negatively impact short-term service revenue. Nonetheless, our scaled CDB capabilities are fueling robust core HSA growth. The team is eager to advance past the integration of CDB and the pandemic's various revenue impacts. We will focus even more on enhancing our revenue-generating abilities through strong sales, mergers and acquisitions, and product innovation. I previously mentioned the remarkable sales results stemming from the transition of the Fifth Third HSA portfolio completed in Q3. After the quarter closed, we announced the successful acquisition of Further's HSA business, which adds approximately 580,000 HSAs and $1.9 billion in HSA assets. This acquisition broadens our HSA partnership reach and strengthens our commitment to the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and its health plans, and introduces technology that will deepen Health Equity’s integration into partner products. You can expect to see tangible examples of this deeper integration in the coming quarters. This morning, we also announced the acquisition of a portfolio with $1.3 billion in HSA assets from Health Savings Administrators, a prominent firm in marketing HSAs to individual investors and small employers. I'm pleased to report that initial member interest in our innovative enhanced rates offering is exceeding our expectations, which will help support custodial yields and the overall profitability of HSAs moving forward. Fiscal year 2023 will mark the third year of the declining custodial yield cycle that started around the pandemic's onset, a trend we hope will conclude. While we remain focused on our HSA core, we are also streamlining our operations elsewhere. The transition of business from redundant legacy CDB platforms acquired with WageWorks is expected to mostly complete in the fourth quarter and fully in the new year. As previously mentioned, we decided to discontinue one-off services that won't contribute to our growth and have also agreed with the sellers of Further to terminate our agreement to purchase the Veeva accounts, an ancillary and severable aspect of the Further acquisition. This move releases $45 million of corporate funds for core growth opportunities. I will now hand the call over to Tyson for further details on Q3 and year-to-date operating performance, along with our updated guidance for the current fiscal year.
Thank you, Jon. I will review our third quarter GAAP and non-GAAP financial results. A reconciliation of GAAP measures to non-GAAP measures is found in today's press release. Third quarter revenue, as Jon indicated, was up less than 1% year-over-year. It was service revenue that declined, partially offsetting growth in custodial and interchange revenue. Service revenue declined 2% to $102.8 million, representing 57% of total revenue in the quarter. Service revenue in the third quarter was aided by 10% growth in average HSA accounts, offset by CDB service revenue declines at FSAs, commuter, and COBRA services. Lower CDB revenue and continued success in our bundling and cross-selling efforts led to lower service revenue per account. Custodial revenues grew 1% to $49 million in the third quarter compared to $48.5 million in the prior year's second quarter. 16% growth in average HSA cash with yield more than offset a 36 basis points decline in the yield on HSA cash from the comparable quarter of last year. The annualized interest rate yield was 172 basis points on HSA cash with yield during the third quarter of this year. This yield is a blended rate for all HSA cash with yield during the quarter. As Jon mentioned, our HSA members continue to invest their balances, which resulted in 81% growth in average HSA investments with yield. The HSA assets table of today's press release provides additional details. Interchange revenue grew 8% to $28.2 million, representing 16% of total revenue in the quarter. As Jon indicated earlier, FSA spend decreased as 2019 and 2020 rollover FSA accounts were depleted and closed faster than we expected. Gross profit was $103.3 million compared to $104.6 million in the third quarter of last year. Gross margin was 57% in the quarter. Operating expenses were $103.7 million or 58% of revenue. Amortization of acquired intangible assets and merger integration expenses together represented 18% of revenue. Net loss for the third quarter was $5 million or a loss of $0.06 per share on a GAAP EPS basis. Our non-GAAP net income was $29 million for the third quarter of this year compared to $32.2 million a year ago. Non-GAAP net income per share was $0.35 per share compared to $0.41 per share last year. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $61.1 million and adjusted EBITDA margin was 34% compared to $61.1 million in a 34% margin in the same quarter last year. Consistency of those numbers is an indication of the Health Equity team's focus on improving the efficiency of our operations and carefully managing costs toward the ongoing profitability of the business. For the first nine months of fiscal '22, revenue was $553.3 million, up 1% compared to the first 9 months of last year. GAAP net loss was $11.5 million or $0.14 loss per diluted share, non-GAAP net income was $93.2 million or $1.12 per diluted share, and adjusted EBITDA was $185.6 million, up 1% from the prior year, resulting in a 34% adjusted EBITDA margin for the first 3 quarters of this fiscal year. Turning to the balance sheet. As of October 31, 2021, we had $649 million of cash and cash equivalents with $930 million of debt outstanding, net of issuance costs, with no outstanding amounts drawn on our line of credit. The cash balance, of course, still includes $455 million of cash that was used to close the Further acquisition on November 1st. As a result of the sale of unsecured debt and reduction and rollover of secured debt during fiscal '22, the tenor of our outstanding debt has been dramatically extended, reducing risks and giving us the flexibility to invest in growth opportunities. The new debt will obviously increase interest expense by about $4 million a quarter. Based on where we ended the third quarter and our current view of the economic environment, we are revising our guidance for fiscal '22 to include revenue for fiscal '22 to range between $750 million and $755 million, non-GAAP net income to be between $108 and $112 million, resulting in non-GAAP diluted net income between $1.30 and $1.35 per share based upon an estimated $83 million shares outstanding for the year, and adjusted EBITDA to be between $230 million and $235 million. Today's guidance includes our most recent estimate of service custodial and interchange revenue based on results to date. Our guidance includes a more conservative outlook for service and interchange revenue to reflect fewer commuter and FSA accounts and lower balances through calendar 2022, and we’d like to continue conservative spend patterns that we saw in Q3 for the remainder of this year. Guidance also includes the addition of Further which closed at the beginning of Q4 and also reflects a ramp-up in service costs associated with onboarding new clients and members for both Further and Health Equity as a whole. Our guidance assumes a rate on HSA cash with yield of approximately 175 basis points for the full fiscal 2022 year and includes the migration of Further assets to Health Equity, depository, and insurance partners at prevailing rates. Guidance also includes the benefit of $75 million of run rate synergies achieved from WageWorks to date. As we finalize the placement of HSA cash assets into depository contracts, we will be able to provide initial interest rate guidance for fiscal year 2023. This outlook also includes certain costs Health Equity expects to incur as a result of President Biden's executive order on ensuring adequate COVID safety protocols for federal contractors, referred to as the Federal Contractor Mandate. As you may know, the Federal Contractor Mandate is more stringent than the wider OSHA Mandate. The Federal Contractor Mandate brings with it significant costs for compliance assurance and for recruitment and training of team members to replace those who can neither provide proof of vaccination nor eligibility for exemption under the President's order. The outlook for fiscal '22 assumes a projected statutory income tax rate of approximately 25% and a diluted share count of 83 million as we have had fewer equity awards exercised this year than expected. As we have done in recent reporting periods, our full-year guidance includes a detailed reconciliation of GAAP to the non-GAAP metrics provided in the earnings release, and a definition of all such items is included at the end of the earnings release. In addition, while the amortization of acquired intangible assets is being excluded from non-GAAP net income, the revenue generated from those acquired intangible assets is not excluded. With that, I will turn the call back over to Jon for some closing remarks.
Thank you. We've always tried to humanize these calls with plain talk, and today's results are mixed. Our core HSA outcomes were very strong and the very is written in capital letters, so that's why I'm saying it like that, but also because it's true. Our ancillary CDB services performance was not very strong. We're taking action on both results to deliver the long-term growth, profitability, and visibility that we know you rightly expect. We truly welcome your tough questions on our results and on our plan. Let's get to it.
Hi guys.
Anne, happy holidays.
Happy holidays, and thank you for your question. You moved through the details a bit quickly; could you provide more information on what occurred with the interchange? You mentioned that you expect a shift in dynamics and have cautious optimism for next year. What changes are you anticipating? Thank you.
Thank you for the question, Anne. The interchange revenue and spending were the main areas of concern. On the HSA side, we have significantly more accounts, which is positive, especially regarding interchange. However, on the FSA side, we've noticed a quicker decline in the number of accounts from 2019 to 2020 than we anticipated. This not only impacts the service fee but also the interchange since there are fewer funds available for spending. We observed a considerable increase in interchange spending and revenue in the second quarter, which we expected to continue more strongly than it did. As these figures decreased in the months of the third quarter, we found ourselves needing to adjust our fourth-quarter expectations. The fourth quarter typically sees higher spending, particularly in December, and with accounts being replenished in January, it's been one of our biggest challenges regarding interchange. Jon, do you have any additional insights on that?
No. I think you hit it.
Great. That's really helpful. Thank you.
Thank you.
I would like to add that our cautiously optimistic outlook can be summarized by the strong impact we saw, especially in Q2, which was partly due to the unique situation of having two years of balances to draw from. As we approach the third quarter and into December and January, these periods will reflect decisions made concerning the elections. While we are observing early indications, we will provide more details in our fiscal '23 outlook later. We remain optimistic about a potential rebound compared to the election decisions made during the more difficult times of the pandemic last year. This reflects our cautiously optimistic stance.
That's great. Thanks, guys.
Good afternoon.
Mr. Peters.
Yes.
Hello from title town.
Unfortunately, the stock is struggling in the aftermarket, and I understand you've already mentioned some reasons for the mixed results. Could you elaborate on custodial revenue and the outlook for that area? The three-year jumbo CD rate has remained unchanged, and it appears there isn't much new loan demand. This makes me question your comment about the possibility of hitting a trough next year. Additionally, you've invested significantly in Further, and I'm curious about the positive impact of that investment on future results. That's my question.
Okay. Those are great. I'll take the first question on rates, and Tyson, you can add to the second question about Further. Regarding rates, both Tyson and I have shared our outlook for the future. If you remember, when this cycle began, we mentioned that we have a three-year ladder, which has provided us with time. For instance, this quarter, even though yields are down by 35 basis points, our custodial revenues actually increased, and our overall EBITDA remained flat year-over-year. Fiscal year '23 will mark the third year of this cycle. We've noted before that the lowest rates we experienced historically were around 150 or 152 basis points after the 2008 crisis once our ladder unwound. We're approaching those same levels, and we've indicated that this is likely where we'll end up. However, we feel more confident about this now than we did three months ago. We don't claim to predict perfectly, but I want to explain our rationale. It’s not due to any special foresight or assumptions about overnight rate hikes. We don’t incorporate those predictions into our strategies. Instead, it’s based on what we've shared over the past few quarters. Our new enhanced rates product has generated two significant benefits: it has helped us achieve higher yields and spreads, and it has increased competition for money, reducing our reliance on placing marginal bank funds. For these reasons, we believe we are better positioned regarding our placement terms as we move into fiscal '23 and then into '24. We feel more certain and optimistic about fulfilling the commitments we've made regarding the likely direction of these yields. That’s the foundation of our outlook.
I want to emphasize again how important it is to consider where we placed our assets a year ago compared to now. We have assets coming forward, and with our Cordell in place, we know the rates, which are higher for FDIC. We achieved a favorable rate placement on November 1st with the Further assets, and although we had begun enhancing rates earlier, the real push occurred when those Further assets were integrated. These rates are higher than what we saw in the first part of the year. This is due in part to good negotiations by our treasury team, who are actively competing rates against one another. Additionally, there is a bit of positive momentum with discussions about upcoming rate shifts, which is encouraging. I wish this shift was happening in December instead of March, but it is what it is. The long-term outlook for rates on assets seems positive, helping us in the coming year even though we placed at higher rates two or three years ago. As John mentioned, we aim to avoid falling back to the all-time lows from the last recession, but it takes time to recover from that, especially given our laddering approach. While increases may be gradual, they contribute to the inherent profitability from enhanced rates, and we are seeing improvements based on our strategies.
That's great. And then was there an earlier question which I didn't get the answer to, on how you're thinking about HDHPs for this enrollment season, for a lot of companies, they've gone through it. What are you seeing in terms of that shift?
We'll discuss this further in January during the JP Morgan conference. As I mentioned earlier, the Q3 results provide some insight since they reflect companies that have early enrollment cycles, particularly in September, which were strong. Looking back a year, there was a question of whether the market would grow by closer to 3 million or less than 2 million like it did during the pandemic. I acknowledged uncertainty at the time, but I argued that the broader forces driving market growth are more sustainable compared to those during the pandemic and continue to persist. Therefore, I'm inclined to believe we are experiencing a more typical enrollment cycle this year. High employment plays a positive role, though we are still not at pre-pandemic employment levels. However, we are getting closer, and the increased participation in the labor force is very beneficial. My fundamental perspective is that we have long suggested the market would grow between 2.5 million to 3 million accounts, and after the unusual circumstances of 2020, I expect this year to resemble our usual trends more than that exception.
That's great. Thank you so much.
Thank you for your insightful and challenging questions, as well as for engaging with us today. I wish everyone happy holidays. As mentioned earlier, these are indeed unusual times for us at Health Equity. We are experiencing a unique holiday season that brings both joy from a return to normalcy and some unease due to Omicron. Many employers, including federal contractors, are navigating the Federal Contractors Mandate. While we understand the complexities involved, our responsibility is to comply, and we are committed to doing so. I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to our team members who have tackled this challenge, focusing on compliance, and also to acknowledge those who have made different choices. I appreciate our team for working diligently to prepare for Q4 so that we can provide the best service possible during these unusual circumstances. We care deeply about this issue and recognize the impact on our team from the mandate. We will not overlook the reality of losing some personnel and the challenges that presents. The healthcare sector, including many of our partners and federal government clients, is facing similar challenges. I truly value the efforts of every team member who is helping us navigate through these extraordinary times. Happy holidays, and I look forward to seeing everyone soon.
SEC filing · Item 2.02
Filed Dec 6, 2021 · complete as-filed document
SEC periodic report
Filed Dec 9, 2021 · complete as-filed document