Earnings Call Transcript - HQY Q4 2023

Operator, Operator

Good afternoon and welcome to the HealthEquity Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Richard Putnam. Please go ahead.

Richard Putnam, Investor Relations

Thank you, Gary, and happy first day of spring to everyone and welcome to HealthEquity's fourth quarter and fiscal year-end 2023 earnings conference call. My name is Richard Putnam. I do Investor Relations for HealthEquity and joining me today I have Jon Kessler, who is our President and CEO, Dr. Steve Neeleman, our Vice Chair and Founder of the company, and Tyson Murdock, the company's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before I turn the call over to Jon, I have two important reminders. First, a press release announcing our financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2023 year-end was issued after the market close this afternoon. The financial results and the press release include the contributions from our wholly owned subsidiaries and accounts that they administer. The press release also includes definitions of certain non-GAAP financial measures that we will reference today. A copy of today's press release, including reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures with comparable GAAP measures and a recording of the webcast can be found on our Investor Relations website. Second, our comments and responses to your question today reflect management's view as of today, March 21, 2023, and will contain forward-looking statements as defined by the SEC, and that includes 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 here today. These forward-looking statements are subject to risk and uncertainties that may cause the actual results to differ materially from statements made here today. We caution 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. We assume no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, we will open up the call for Q&A. And then I have one final announcement before we hear from Jon; we plan to hold our next Investor Day on July 11, later this year. We hope that you'll be able to make plans to join us and please stay tuned for more details as they come available. Jon, over to you.

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

That was fun. That last part. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I am going to report on key metrics as always, and then discuss management's view of fiscal '24 in light of current conditions. Tyson similarly will touch on Q4 and fiscal '23 before detailing our revised guidance for fiscal '24 and of course, Steve is here for Q&A. For fiscal 2023, we are pleased to report double-digit year-over-year growth across revenue, which is plus 14%, adjusted EBITDA, which is plus 15%, HSA members plus 11%, and HSA assets plus 13%. Total accounts grew 4% and were muted by CDB underperformance and a change in methodology with no revenue impact. HealthEquity ended fiscal '23 with nearly 15 million total accounts, including eight million HSAs, more than $22 billion in HSA assets, nearly a million new HSAs opened in the year, record numbers of clients and network partners, strong year-end service, thank you team, and number one market position. As a result of all that, we are able today to raise our outlook for fiscal '24, which Tyson will detail. We expect revenue to again grow double digits, EBITDA growth to accelerate to around 20%, even faster growth in non-GAAP net income and a return to positive GAAP net income, which is good. Our outlook factors in HealthEquity's inherently strong visibility to future performance as well as our belief that the current crisis underscores the valuable stability of HSA balances combining as they do the stickiness of individual small balance accounts and individual tax-advantaged accounts. While US commercial bank deposits fell 0.9% in the first two months of calendar '23, for example, HealthEquity's HSA cash grew by 6% in that same period and that growth has continued through the banking crisis that began on March 08. Meanwhile, overall job creation continues its strong rebound from pandemic lows, which contributes to new HSA openings. As Tyson will detail, our outlook does reflect current interest rate expectations and a more neutral rate of job creation going forward and of course, we're closely monitoring the condition of bank and credit union participants in our basic rates program, insurers in our enhanced rates program, bank holders of client-held CDV funds, and holders of HealthEquity operating cash to ensure that all continue to meet our strength thresholds. With that, I will turn it over to Tyson to detail the results and guidance.

Tyson Murdock, Executive Vice President and CFO

Thank you, Jon. I will highlight our fourth quarter and fiscal year-end GAAP and non-GAAP financial results, and there's a reconciliation of GAAP measures to non-GAAP measures to be found in today's press release. Fourth quarter revenue increased 15% year-over-year. Service revenue was $114.2 million, up 2% year-over-year. Custodial revenue grew 44% to $83.5 million in the fourth quarter. The annualized interest rate yield on HSA cash was 211 basis points during the fourth quarter of this year, which brought our full-year average to 190 basis points. Interchange revenue grew 10% to $36.1 million. Gross margin was 57% in the fourth quarter this year versus 52% in the year-ago period. Net loss for the fourth quarter was $0.2 million, which rounds to $0.00 per share on a GAAP EPS basis. Our non-GAAP net income was $31.3 million for the fourth quarter this year and non-GAAP net income per share was $0.37 per share compared to $0.20 per share last year. While higher interest rates increased revenue, they also increased the rate of interest we pay on the remaining $341 million term loan A to a stated rate of 6.3%. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $73.6 million and adjusted EBITDA margin was 31%. For the full year of fiscal '23, revenue was $861.7 million, up 14%; GAAP net loss was $26.1 million or $0.31 per diluted share. Non-GAAP net income was $114.5 million or $1.36 per diluted share. And adjusted EBITDA was $272.3 million up 15% from the prior year, resulting in a 32% adjusted EBITDA margin for the fiscal year. Turning to the balance sheet, as of January 31, 2023, we had $254 million of cash and cash equivalents with $925 million of debt outstanding, net of issuance costs. This includes the $341 million of variable rate debt I mentioned earlier. We have an undrawn $1 billion line of credit. So we have a strong balance sheet with a recurring revenue model, and now we expect the following for fiscal '24. We expect to generate revenue in a range between $960 and $975 million, and we expect GAAP net income to be in a range of $0 to $11 million. We expect non-GAAP net income to be between $152 million and $163 million, resulting in non-GAAP diluted net income between $1.74 and $1.87 per share based upon an estimated 87 million shares outstanding for the year. We expect adjusted EBITDA to be between $320 million and $335 million. As a reminder, beginning in fiscal '24, we are basing future interest rate assumptions embedded in guidance on forward-looking market indicators such as the secured overnight financing rate and mid-duration treasury forward curves and fed funds futures. We now expect an average yield on HSA cash of approximately 230 basis points in fiscal '24, up about 40 basis points from last year. We continue to assume that the average crediting rates our HSA members receive on HSA cash will increase by five basis points per quarter in fiscal '24. Our guidance reflects the expectation of higher average interest rates on HealthEquity and billable rate debt versus last year, consistent with the current forward-looking market indicators. We assume our projected statutory income tax rate of approximately 25% and a diluted share count of 87 million shares, which now includes common share equivalence as we anticipate positive GAAP net income this year. As we have done in recent reporting periods, our full fiscal 2024 guidance includes a 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 excluded from non-GAAP net income, the revenue generated from those acquired intangible assets is not excluded. With that, we now know you have a number of questions. So let's go right to the operator for Q&A.

Operator, Operator

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Our first question is from Anne Samuel with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Anne Samuel, Analyst

Hey guys. Congrats on that terrific quarter and thanks for taking the question. My first one was, I was just hoping you could speak a little bit to the enhanced rates product. I don't think I heard you say, what proportion of deposits are in it now. And just maybe, where is that expected to go over time? How are you thinking about that as a potential tailwind for yields or as just a stabilizer? Thanks.

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

Thank you for the question, Anne. It's great to hear from you. We finished the year with more than 20% of our HSA cash in enhanced rates, exceeding our goal. Importantly, we also expanded our partnerships in this area with large, reputable insurers. We believe there is demand for this product, and our members are supportive of it as well. We expect this product to continue growing, targeting around 10% of our HSA cash growth each year, depending on factors like overall HSA cash growth rates. I think it's reasonable to anticipate we will exceed 30% by the end of this year. Based on our observations, this product not only presents a significant growth opportunity due to higher yields compared to our basic rates product, but it also offers stability. We’ve noticed that during periods when bank rates were declining, the premium for this product remained high, while it was lower during rapid rate increases. Overall, this dynamic provides stability in our custodial yield, which is our aim. So, we are moving forward with this product confidently.

Anne Samuel, Analyst

That's really helpful, thanks. And then I was just maybe hoping you could touch on how some of the recent banking volatility might impact your business. I realize you don't have any depositories that are impacted, but you often speak about the primary driver of yield being competition for deposits. So just wondering how this might impact that.

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

It's interesting. You've got it exactly right. What we've seen during this period is the value of stable deposits and that value of being a good, in our case, a good customer of these depository institutions. Well, as reported, you saw these banks and other institutions that were heavily dependent on corporate deposits, see big flows. That's not what we saw. Our members were extremely steady for all the right reasons. These are long-term tax-advantaged accounts. They're small balance, they're FDIC insured at the member level, etc., and so forth, and there are real penalties to moving your money. What I think this crisis on the banking side has shown is that all deposits aren't equal. We offer a great source of funds for institutions that have real loan demand, not created in money markets or the like. That's who we do business with, and we feel really good about how we've responded, in terms of both how our members have responded. As a team, we went into the same kind of crisis management mode as everyone else to make sure that things were okay. But I can't tell you how much this demonstrates to us, and I think ultimately to our partners across the banks and insurance companies, that this is why this is a very stable source of liquidity when they need it.

Operator, Operator

The next question is from Greg Peters with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Greg Peters, Analyst

Well, good afternoon everyone. I guess I'd just like to build on your answer from the last question about the chaos that's unfolded in the bank channel. Not only have bank prices gotten killed, and there've been some companies that have been called into question, we've seen pressure in the life insurance industry. So I know you were talking about the value of your deposits from the perspective of how your depository partners might look at it. But can you talk to us for a moment about the credit risk that you're considering as you established these partnerships, not only with the depositories but also with the life insurance companies, and maybe how that might have changed in the last couple of weeks?

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

I think the primary concern for us isn't even about asset quality. It's more about ensuring that the liability side of the insurance balance sheet is robust, indicating that these liabilities are genuinely illiquid. We've developed strong coordination in this area, which influences the type of insurers we choose to work with. As you know, we have intentionally avoided partnering with newer entrants in the insurance market, particularly those backed by private equity and focused on rapid accumulation. Instead, we've prioritized collaborating with experienced partners who have a long-standing presence in the industry, often spanning decades or even centuries, and this strategy has proven beneficial for us. We're able to monitor the situation closely due to the vast amount of real-time data we receive from the insurance sector. We've tracked the issues mentioned regarding the banking sector, observing that those institutions have performed as we expected. The greater challenges tend to arise with newer institutions experiencing rapid balance sheet growth. Similar to my previous comments about banks, we are cautious when partners view us as a means to rapidly expand their business plans, as regulators prefer us to provide stability rather than facilitate quick growth. This approach is also beneficial in our dealings with insurers, aligning with our ultimate goal of delivering the best outcomes for our members while maintaining stability.

Greg Peters, Analyst

Well okay. That's helpful. I guess the other question that comes to mind, there's the credit side, but then there's also the business side of what's going on. Can you, as we think about the selling season for HSAs and the other accounts, can you talk to us for a minute about how you might have exposure to different industries, say the banking industry versus start-up tech companies? You have almost eight million HSAs. Can you give us a sense of how that is spread across different sub-sectors of the economy? And when we think about the selling season, if there's layoffs in the tech space, is that going to affect your outlook more disproportionately than if there are layoffs in the banking space?

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

Sure. Maybe I'll make that a two-parter. Steve, I appreciate if you would chime in here. Steve's in Washington today, and I assume you can nonetheless get reception and is on this call. We're not on TikTok here. So I assume you can nonetheless get reception and is on this call. Maybe you can talk a little bit about how our prospects and our health plans have reacted to what's going on in the last few weeks. And then I'll sort of address the broader client concentration question.

Stephen Neeleman, Vice Chair and Founder

Sure. Thanks Jon. Hey, Greg. Good to hear your voice. I think that anytime there's instability, people always pause a little bit, but I think the good news for us is that we've seen this movie before. We've been through the GFC, we went through COVID, and the one thing that just keeps coming back around is that when employers are worried about their bottom lines, they look for ways to save money for not just their own premiums but more importantly for the people that work for them. They know that HSAs can do that. It can help them get a lower cost premium, save money on taxes, and prepare their folks. With our 130 health plan partners and another 40 different types of partners, we have such a wide variety that we're not that concentrated in any specific industry. It's pretty amazing. There's been some tech, but thankfully, the tech companies we've been working with have not been heavily adversely affected. So we can never say never that it's going to impact us, but I think we're pretty well diversified and hedged from that perspective. Recession could be in front of us, but this is the best time to help employees understand that when dollars are tight, let's get you into a lower cost premium plan, lower tax rate, and help you start saving. We've seen, Greg, a strong RFP season as we're starting to gear up as we ever had, consistent with what we were able to do last year, having a record year of almost a million health savings accounts. We're always productively paranoid around HealthEquity, but on the other hand, we're enthusiastic that we're going to keep the momentum going.

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

Yeah, look, I sometimes know how it feels; you took my half of the answer too. I'll only add that our guidance reflects a neutral view of job creation, which is a fair way to look at the full year. It’s reasonable to say that, whether or not we go into recession, job creation will likely slow down. That’s the way we've constructed guidance.

Greg Peters, Analyst

Great. I appreciate the answers.

Stephen Neeleman, Vice Chair and Founder

See, I haven't said one thing to in any way tease you. I'm playing it right down the middle.

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

I was just going to add for the clothing requirement for your Investor Day, maybe we can include some Bermuda shorts. That seems to be popular.

Stephen Neeleman, Vice Chair and Founder

It's great that you brought that up. It will be included in the invitation. Let's just say it will be held in a warm place, Salt Lake City, and I’m sharing that early. We are indeed going to Salt Lake and bringing the people from Utah. It's definitely happening, and it’s going to be enjoyable. We truly hope everyone can attend.

Operator, Operator

The next question is from Sean Dodge with RBC Capital. Please go ahead.

Sean Dodge, Analyst

Yep. Thanks. Good afternoon. Jon, just going back to your comments about the benefits or the stability of your HSA deposits becoming increasingly attractive, given all that's transpired, just maybe to put a finer point on that; is that something you can monetize going forward in the form of generating higher yields on those types of placements, kind of all else equal? Can you get a little bit more of a premium because of that?

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

I think the answer to your question is yes, the key point being all else being equal. I look at it like our newly appointed treasurer and say, this is making my introductions to institutions that the company has dealt with for many years a lot more friendly. Presumably that good feeling will last. I also think it's true that the fact that we were not in the mode of moving this money around willy-nilly during the week of March 08 indicates stability. The fact that we were able to do that breeds confidence and is the kind of thing we want to be as a partner. So when those renewals come up, they are likely to be more effective renewals. When you think about the long-term durability of the premiums that we've generally been able to earn on relative to what banks have been willing to pay elsewhere, this is a nice event from that perspective.

Sean Dodge, Analyst

Okay, great. On the enhanced product, you said looking ahead, the goal is to shift around 10% of your portfolio over there per year. You also said both demand and supply are there, so what's keeping you from shifting more of it in any given year? Is it just because there's a limited number of partners still and so only so much demand for those types of deposits, or is it more on the individual account holder side and just getting them on board and the mechanicals of what you need from the account holder to shift?

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

There are two important factors to consider. First, we want to avoid creating instability; if a significant portion of our deposits were to shift rapidly in one year, it could raise concerns later about how we would redeploy those assets. That wouldn’t be beneficial for our business management or our shareholders. Second, we are learning from our experience, and it's evident that partner demand for this program is greater than it was a year ago. Additionally, the sources of these assets, aside from new contributions to HSAs, include existing members. We have to carefully manage our FDIC commitments, which means our bank deposit obligations. In this cycle, we deployed less into banks than we would have without the enhanced rates, allowing us to be more selective. However, we need to maintain adequate liquidity to fulfill our minimum commitments. With these considerations, we feel we are making progress. While member interest has always been strong, if our main goal were to expand as quickly as possible, we would focus heavily on marketing. But we don’t believe that is necessary at this time. We are pleased to have a multi-year advantage that will help ensure long-term stability.

Operator, Operator

The next question is from David Larsen with BTIG. Please go ahead.

David Larsen, Analyst

Hi, congrats on a good quarter. Can you talk about the increase in the revenue and EBITDA guidance? What are the main drivers of that? Also it looks like the interchange revenue increased sequentially from about $33 million up to $36 million. What was the main driver of that, and was that ahead of or in line with your expectations? Thank you.

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

Tyson, you want to take those?

Tyson Murdock, Executive Vice President and CFO

Yes. So from a revenue perspective, when we gave guidance back on December 06, you look at for example, the average jumbo CD rates and LIBOR rates, they were actually lower then. So we got a tailwind from those that we would be putting into the yield rate as well as the revenue top line. The bottom line lift comes from the flow down of custodial revenues. You see why that’s improving as well. The second question regarding interchange; there were more accounts and the typical seasonality in Q4. We sold a lot of accounts and brought those online this time around, so it was much more normal than in the last couple of years. We feel like that's stabilized.

David Larsen, Analyst

So when you say seasonality, do you mean more people are going to the hospital using their health card? So utilization has increased, so that's where that increase came from?

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

No. It's more about the normal seasonality of those card usages. When you think about, for example, the 'use it or lose it' nature of an FSA towards the end of the year, people are going to use up those funds. Thinking about when an HSA is funded by an employer, people typically utilize those funds at that time. You have a normal seasonality in Q4 that occurs there, and you sort of have that flow into Q1, and then you get a much softer Q2 and Q3. That would be the more normal rep of the business that we haven't necessarily seen over the pandemic era.

Tyson Murdock, Executive Vice President and CFO

I think David, one of the things about the nature of our fiscal year being January 31, is you got that January month where people begin a new plan year and haven't met their out-of-pocket maximum.

David Larsen, Analyst

Okay, great. And then for the $22 billion of managed assets, is all of that FDIC insured, every single one of those accounts?

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

No. If I look at our overall custodial assets, about $14 billion of it is what we call extra cash, and the remainder is invested. The invested assets are not FDIC insured; they're in mutual funds and the like at the member's discretion. If I look at the cash component, it has two elements. The bulk is in our basic rates product, and all of those funds are in FDIC member institutions that offer pass-through insurance to our members, subject to the usual $200,000 limit. Generally, an HSA is not going to reach that limit. With the enhanced rates product, these are not FDIC insured; they're not deposits. These are group annuities insured by highly rated insurers at the direction of the members. All of those have in common that we do not bring principal risk onto HealthEquity's balance sheet.

Operator, Operator

The next question is from Stan Berenshteyn with Wells Fargo Securities. Please go ahead.

Stanislav Berenshteyn, Analyst

Hi, thanks for taking my questions. I'd love to get an update on your MaxEnroll product. I think it's probably been out for a year or so, if I recall correctly. I'm just wondering how widely it has been adopted by your clients, and do you have any sense how much of your member growth this past year could be attributed to MaxEnroll?

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

We started addressing this matter, I believe. MaxEnroll is a product designed not only for our current HSA members but also for potential new members. This year, we implemented it for a segment of our FSA population. The product has seen the highest uptake among our managed client base, which includes about 500 groups assigned to account executives. We also have a more generic version available for download that smaller groups can utilize. I believe we performed well this year, and there is still more growth potential ahead. I have estimated that the additional gains from existing clients due to this product contributed to approximately 50,000 to 100,000 new HSA openings during this cycle. This figure might be slightly inflated since there's a tendency for favorable selection among clients who are keen on expanding the HSA base, making them more likely to utilize it fully, but you get the point. It significantly contributed to the year-over-year performance we experienced this year.

Operator, Operator

The next question is from Sandy Draper with Guggenheim. Please go ahead.

Alexander Draper, Analyst

I guess I'll interject a question that wraps a couple of things together. When I look at cash flow, you're starting to see an improvement in your cash from operations. The capitalized software is moderating. You did step up a little bit on M&A, but if I think about your guidance, your net income and your EBITDA is up. If I look at the add back, some of the cash add backs, integration costs are going down. It looks like net-net of all that, free cash flow and cash you have is going to be pretty good and hopefully sustainable. When I think about the M&A environment, what's that like? I know that Tyson indicated you're at 6.3 on the floating rate debt. How are you thinking about debt pay-down versus M&A or other internal investments, and balancing those three things out?

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

Awesome question. We were discussing this and probably spent a half hour in our prep just thinking about how to answer this in such a way. First of all, your premise is right; if we look at fiscal '23, we converted EBITDA to free cash flow at a rate pushing 60%. That rate is coming up. Why? Because integration expenses are coming down. That being said, one brake on all of that is the interest on the relatively small, but nonetheless variable portion of debt. You've got all the right factors that we're looking at in terms of where to deploy capital here. I think if I look at the M&A environment, a couple of things strike me. We are not in a rush to engage in material horizontal expansions in established markets. This is both because we think our clients aren't demanding it and valuations are plentiful out there. We can deliver more shareholder value through the work that we're doing on the organic side and partnering to develop products. Our inclination is not to go out on the horizontal side and deploy capital there. We always look for attractive transactions that have high internal rates of return for our shareholders. Given the steadiness of the underlying business, I'm less sanguine than I was a few months ago about material transactions developing in that area. There's no reason for us to run around pricing those transactions into the market. We also need to look at what's the purpose of maintaining the outstanding TLA and its current size when we have the capacity for pretty much anything that we would contemplate. In the end, we do need to balance these various factors.

Operator, Operator

The next question is from George Hill with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

George Hill, Analyst

Good afternoon guys. I guess I'll roll into maybe talking about expectations for the CDB business in '24. Is that something that we think shrinks again next year? Or is it poised for stability and rebound?

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

You can’t claim credit for Sandy's question; that doesn't fly with us. Our guidance regarding revenue generation in the current year reflects conservatism on this topic. It’s clear that we know what to do, but sales have been pretty good. Our challenge has been with platform movement and regulatory issues. I can't be entirely confident in giving a view that I'm satisfied, but we are realistic about it; sales were good, but we still need to look into it.

George Hill, Analyst

Understood. Just a quick follow-up, are you seeing anything in benefit construction and benefit pricing that has implications on your interchange fees and overall balances as patients experience lower out-of-pocket costs?

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

I think what's going on with insulin is both fantastic and realistic. It gives people certainty. We talk about connecting health and wealth, and it's hard to do that when people think they’re being cheated on everything. My hope is that with the right plan design and legislative perspective, we can bring real value. This is an area where we must be cautious, as we want to encourage utilization of services, not keep people from using them due to misunderstanding costs. There are real opportunities and we want to keep innovating to give consumers accurate and timely information about their healthcare costs.

Stephen Neeleman, Vice Chair and Founder

I want to add to the point. We have known that consumers need help. Whether it’s about transparency or better drug prices, it's about ensuring employers support and assist clients with navigating those costs. We will keep working to innovate and improve information flow so consumers can make better decisions. There’s also a direct opportunity for us as employers look to restructure benefits to ensure consumer satisfaction.

Operator, Operator

The next question is from Mark Marcon with Baird. Please go ahead.

Mark Marcon, Analyst

Hey, good afternoon and thanks for taking my question. I've got two questions. The first one is with regards to the number of HSAs added in the fourth quarter. Can you break down how much of that was from new sales to new employer partners versus what percentage was from new hires? How has new hiring slowed down in the fourth quarter relative to earlier in the year?

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

Without answering exactly that way, we were ahead in earlier quarters, but as the year went on, new ads were closer to last year in Q4. We had more ads in the prior year than last year. As that new job formation slowed in Q4, that was reflected in the data and guidance. Our guidance reflects a neutral view of job creation, no negative number, but a neutral average over time. That connects back to what you're implying.

Mark Marcon, Analyst

Right? And then the second follow-up question is regarding the improvement in the service gross margins. Can you discuss the implications of that improvement on a go-forward basis?

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

The premise is right that we've improved; however, we still have work to do. We're seeing good feet on the ground and we have to go through and address areas needing proper fee structures. Labor costs have risen, but we have room to leverage integrations further. There is opportunity to squeeze juice out overall; our demographics have improved as well.

Tyson Murdock, Executive Vice President and CFO

I appreciate that. There’s strong interest in what we do, and what you saw in Q4 represents an improvement in many things driven by volume. We encourage steady practices to achieve growth as we’re expecting.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question is from Allen Lutz with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Allen Lutz, Analyst

Thanks for taking the questions. Jon, you mentioned chat as an area where you're spending tech dollars. As we look at the tech and development line, can you talk about expectations for fiscal '24? Will that scale as a percentage of revenue, or should we expect that to continue to de-lever this year?

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

This is going to level out as we're shifting expenses away from integration towards our core growth platforms and innovations, which is really what’s important. It will likely begin to decline as a percentage of revenue. Everyone should expect to see more balance here, but the real dollars are going up as we address the core issues.

Tyson Murdock, Executive Vice President and CFO

I agree with Jon. We're focused on making sure we’re leveraging well across all basis points.

Operator, Operator

The next question is from Anna with SVB Securities. Please go ahead.

Unidentified Analyst, Analyst

Hey guys. This is Anna. Thank you.

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

Oh, I don't like the sound of that, Anna. Go ahead.

Unidentified Analyst, Analyst

So first, I actually wanted to go back to the more elevated R&D spend on the platform. You did mention that should start to level out, but curious if you could give any sort of outline on how you’re working to modernize the platform?

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

What we're really focused on is helping people manage the financial aspects of their healthcare. The evolution of technology, the incremental use of APIs, creates new opportunities that we think didn’t exist four or five years ago. We’re investing in driving both new product visibility and maximizing transaction value, in a way that looks favorable for growth. We can discuss this at our investor day.

Operator, Operator

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Jon Kessler for any closing remarks.

Jon Kessler, President and CEO

Thank you. I hope what you've taken from today's call is that we feel that stepping back allows for long-term perspective; it demonstrates the quality of what we do and value in sticking to our plan. We are delivering visibility and growth, with a durable competitive advantage that extends our market leadership. We appreciate everyone's interest; make sure you get your Bermuda shorts now before they spring price. We'll talk to you before then but hopefully see you in Utah in July.

Operator, Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.