CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/
-- LendingTree, Inc. (NASDAQ: TREE), operator of
LendingTree.com, the nation's leading online loan marketplace,
today introduced financial guidance for fiscal year 2020 ahead of
the company's Analyst and Investor Day.
The Analyst and Investor event is being hosted in New York at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times
Square. The presentation will begin promptly at 10:30 a.m. ET. A live webcast with
accompanying slides will be made available on the company's
investor relations website at
investors.lendingtree.com.
"2019 has been another monumental year at LendingTree, and we
are thrilled with the progress we've made across the platform,"
said Doug Lebda, Chairman and
CEO. "It is becoming increasingly clear that there is a vast
opportunity to leverage our diversified portfolio of businesses to
become the destination consumers select for choice, education, and
support in all of their financial decisions. Today, we look
forward to introducing our outlook for 2020 and discussing areas of
strategic importance throughout the company."
Financial Outlook - 2020
LendingTree is providing revenue, variable marketing margin, and
adjusted EBITDA guidance for full-year 2020, as follows:
- Revenue is anticipated to be in the range of $1,250 - $1,300
million, representing growth of 13% - 18% over the midpoint
of full-year 2019 guidance of $1,105
million.
- Variable marketing margin is anticipated to be in the range of
$450 - $470
million.
- Adjusted EBITDA is anticipated to be in the range of
$225 - $235
million, up 12% - 17% over the midpoint of full-year 2019
guidance of $201 million.
LendingTree's Principles of Financial Reporting
LendingTree reports Variable Marketing Margin and Earnings
Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization, as adjusted
for certain items discussed below ("Adjusted EBITDA") as non-GAAP
measures supplemental to GAAP.
Variable Marketing Margin is defined as revenue less Variable
Marketing Expense. Variable Marketing Expense is defined as the
expense attributable to variable costs paid for advertising, direct
marketing and related expenses, including the portion of cost of
revenue attributable to costs paid for advertising re-sold to third
parties, and excluding overhead, fixed costs and personnel-related
expenses. The majority of these variable advertising costs are
expressly intended to drive traffic to our websites and these
variable advertising costs are included in selling and marketing
expense on the company's consolidated statements of operations and
consolidated income. When advertising inventory is re-sold to third
parties, the proceeds of such transactions are included in revenue
for the purposes of calculating Variable Marketing Margin, and the
costs of such re-sold advertising are included in cost of revenue
in the Company's consolidated statements of operations and
consolidated income and are included in Variable Marketing Expense
for purposes of calculating Variable Marketing Margin. Variable
Marketing Margin is a measure of the operating efficiency of the
Company's operating model, measuring revenue after subtracting
variable marketing costs that directly influence revenue. The
Company's operating model is highly sensitive to the amount and
efficiency of variable marketing expenditures, and the Company's
proprietary systems are able to make rapidly changing decisions
concerning the deployment of variable marketing expenditures
(primarily but not exclusively online and mobile advertising
placement) based on proprietary and sophisticated analytics.
Variable Marketing Margin is a primary metric by which the Company
measures the effectiveness of its marketing efforts.
EBITDA is defined as net income from continuing operations
excluding interest, income taxes, amortization of intangibles and
depreciation. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA excluding (1)
non-cash compensation expense, (2) non-cash impairment charges, (3)
gain/loss on disposal of assets, (4) restructuring and severance
expenses, (5) litigation settlements, contingencies and legal fees
for certain patent litigation, (6) acquisitions and dispositions
income or expense (including with respect to changes in fair value
of contingent consideration), and (7) one-time items. Adjusted
EBITDA is a primary metric by which LendingTree evaluates
the operating performance of its businesses, on which its marketing
expenditures and internal budgets are based and by which management
and many employees are compensated.
The most directly comparable GAAP measure for both Variable
Marketing Margin and Adjusted EBITDA is net income from continuing
operations.
LendingTree endeavors to compensate for the limitations of
these non-GAAP measures by also providing the comparable GAAP
measures with equal or greater prominence and descriptions of the
reconciling items, including quantifying such items, to derive the
non-GAAP measures. However, LendingTree is not able to
provide a reconciliation of projected Variable Marketing Margin or
Adjusted EBITDA to the most directly comparable expected GAAP
results due to the unknown effect, timing and potential
significance of the effects of legal matters, tax considerations,
and income and expense from changes in fair value of contingent
consideration from acquisitions. Expenses associated with
legal matters, tax consequences, and income and expense from
changes in fair value of contingent consideration from acquisitions
have in the past, and may in the future, significantly affect GAAP
results in a particular period. These non-GAAP measures may not be
comparable to similarly titled measures used by other
companies.
Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995
The matters contained in the discussion above may be considered
to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the
Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or
current expectations or anticipations of LendingTree and members of
our management team. Factors currently known to management that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those in
forward-looking statements include the following: adverse
conditions in the primary and secondary mortgage markets and in the
economy, particularly interest rates; default rates on loans,
particularly unsecured loans; demand by investors for unsecured
personal loans; the effect of such demand on interest rates for
personal loans and consumer demand for personal loans; seasonality
of results; potential liabilities to secondary market purchasers;
changes in the Company's relationships with network lenders,
including dependence on certain key network lenders; breaches of
network security or the misappropriation or misuse of personal
consumer information; failure to provide competitive service;
failure to maintain brand recognition; ability to attract and
retain consumers in a cost-effective manner; the effects of
potential acquisitions of other businesses, including the ability
to integrate them successfully with LendingTree's existing
operations; accounting rules related to contingent consideration
and excess tax benefits or expenses on stock-based compensation
that could materially affect earnings in future periods; ability to
develop new products and services and enhance existing ones;
competition; allegations of failure to comply with existing or
changing laws, rules or regulations, or to obtain and maintain
required licenses; failure of network lenders or other affiliated
parties to comply with regulatory requirements; failure to maintain
the integrity of systems and infrastructure; liabilities as a
result of privacy regulations; failure to adequately protect
intellectual property rights or allegations of infringement of
intellectual property rights; and changes in management. These and
additional factors to be considered are set forth under "Risk
Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended
December 31, 2018, in our Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2019, and in our other filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. LendingTree undertakes no
obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to
reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events
or changes to future operating results or expectations.
About LendingTree, Inc.
LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE) is the nation's leading online
marketplace that connects consumers with the choices they need to
be confident in their financial decisions. LendingTree empowers
consumers to shop for financial services the same way they would
shop for airline tickets or hotel stays, by comparing multiple
offers from a nationwide network of over 500 partners in one simple
search and choosing the option that best fits their financial
needs. Services include mortgage loans, mortgage refinances, auto
loans, personal loans, business loans, student refinances, credit
cards, insurance and more. Through the My
LendingTree platform, consumers receive free credit scores,
credit monitoring and recommendations to improve credit health. My
LendingTree proactively compares consumers' credit accounts against
offers on our network and notifies consumers when there is an
opportunity to save money. In short, LendingTree's purpose is to
help simplify financial decisions for life's meaningful moments
through choice, education and support.
LendingTree, Inc. is headquartered in Charlotte, NC.
For more information, please visit www.lendingtree.com
Investor Relations Contact:
Trent Ziegler
trent.ziegler@lendingtree.com
704-943-8294
Media Contact:
Megan
Greuling
megan.greuling@lendingtree.com
704-943-8208
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SOURCE LendingTree, Inc.