Earnings Labs

Dave Inc. (DAVE)

Q4 2022 Earnings Call· Mon, Mar 6, 2023

$279.52

+0.01%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

-3.79%

1 Week

-10.24%

1 Month

-28.32%

vs S&P

-30.73%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's conference call to discuss Dave's financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2022. Joining us today are Dave's CEO, Mr. Jason Wilk, and the company's CFO, Mr. Kyle Beilman. By now, everyone should have access to the fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings press release, which was issued today earlier at approximately 4:05 p.m. Eastern Time. The release is available in the Investor Relations section of Dave's website at investors.dave.com. In addition, this call will also be available for a webcast replay on the company's website. Following management's remarks, we will open the call for your questions. Certain comments made on this conference call and webcast are considered to be forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain known and unknown risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are also subject to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in the company's filings with the SEC. Do not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are being made only as of the date of this call. Except as required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to any sort of forward-looking statements. The company's presentation also includes certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA as supplemental measures of performance of our business. All non-GAAP measures has been reconciled to the most directly comparable GAAP measures in accordance with SEC rules. You will find reconciliation charts and other important information in the earnings press release and Form 8-K furnished to the SEC. I would now like to turn the call over to Dave's CEO, Mr. Jason Wilk.

Jason Wilk

Management

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm incredibly proud of our team as we made great headway in our first year as a public company, growing to nearly 2 million monthly transacting members. We also grew revenue by nearly 34% with Dave Card transaction revenue growing by 88%. As we exited the year, our profitability trends also dramatically improved as our adjusted EBITDA loss more than halved from $29 million in Q3 to $12 million in Q4, while we maintained ample liquidity to reach profitability. Before we get into the details of the quarter, I'd like provide a brief overview of our business for those not familiar with our story. Dave is one of the leading U.S. neobanks and a pioneer of financial services, using disruptive technology to provide best-in-class banking services to millions of members at a fraction of the cost compared to incumbents. The anchor of our banking value proposition, ExtraCash, provides up to $500 of short-term interest-free advances to members within minutes of joining. The speed-to-value, access and pricing of ExtraCash compared to traditional overdraft sets us apart from incumbents and is a key to our strategy of efficiently acquiring transacting Dave Debit Card members. Now, let me dive a little deeper into the quarter, and our progress against our strategy to be the superior banking product for everyday Americans. Our first area of focus is to acquire banking customers efficiently at scale by marketing top-of-mind liquidity pain points for hardworking Americans. Dave's low-cost banking services with Dave Card combined with ExtraCash remains a key differentiator to driving efficient customer acquisition. We added nearly 550,000 net new members in the fourth quarter, while reducing our customer acquisition cost by 31% compared to the prior quarter. This improvement in customer acquisition cost is supported by ongoing initiatives to…

Kyle Beilman

Management

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. As Jason overviewed, we're happy with our execution in Q4. At a high level, we once again delivered record revenue and transacting members; our delinquency performance continues to trend favorably; we cut EBITDA losses significantly; and made progress on our strategic priority of accelerating Dave Card engagement. Our total GAAP revenue was $59.6 million during Q4, up 45% from the same period last year. Our total non-GAAP revenue in Q4 was $61.8 million, representing 46% growth compared to the same period last year. This growth was driven by increases in our monthly transacting member base combined with improved ExtraCash monetization and record Dave Card engagement, which drove ARPU expansion for our seventh consecutive quarter. Non-GAAP variable profit in Q4 increased to $25.5 million, representing a 41% margin relative to our non-GAAP revenue, which was down slightly relative to Q3. While our fourth quarter variable margin benefited from the optimization of ExtraCash processing flows, the modest contraction was driven by an increase in loss provision expense, which was burdened by write-offs related to significant ExtraCash originations growth during the third quarter of this year. As I'll expand on more specifically in our outlook discussion in a moment, we plan to improve our variable margin substantially in 2023 relative to 2022, with the most pronounced improvement expected to be realized in the first quarter of 2023. In addition to the seasonal benefit of lower ExtraCash losses, we expect first quarter results to benefit from a significant partner contract we renegotiated effective January 1. The savings here are substantial for the Dave Card business and will continue to improve as we scale. The first quarter will also reflect the majority of the processing [cost] (ph) enhancements we've made relative to how we utilized the payment networks to…

Jason Wilk

Management

Thanks, Kyle. I would like to thank everyone for joining the call today as well as our team who continue to commit themselves to bringing this business to its next phase of growth and profitability. We are excited about where the company is heading and I look forward to providing further updates on our next call.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of [indiscernible] with Jefferies. Please proceed.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Hi. Thank you for taking my question. To start out, maybe just one on delinquencies. As you pointed out in the quarter, you had improving 28-delinquencies amidst a fairly turbulent environment. Not to get too far ahead into 2023, but just given the environment and what you're seeing, how should we be thinking about delinquencies as well as the provision for the year?

Kyle Beilman

Management

Hi, this is Kyle. Thanks for the question. I'd say based on what we've seen throughout the fourth quarter and what we've seen to start the year, we're very confident in our continued ability to drive down delinquency rates. Obviously, there's a lot of uncertainty in the market right now, but we feel that we have a differentiated approach for managing risk, and we'll react to any changes that we see on our book. But by and large, we're very confident in continued improvements and what we've seen to date and that we can extract profitable unit economics out of the portfolio in 2023 moving forward. Now, Jason, if you have anything to add?

Jason Wilk

Management

No, just re-highlight the AI-driven underwriting is -- can react quickly in real-time to changes in bank activity, which not only gives us unparalleled access to underwriting, but also helps us to collect as well when someone's advance is due. And given the average duration of the advance we extend is only one to two weeks that gives us a leg up in our ability to quickly make changes versus other credit products.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Okay. Yes, that's really helpful. As a quick follow-up. On expenses, we know you're seeing pretty strong growth, but obviously, on the other hand, there's a desire to move toward breakeven as you guys mentioned in '24. Is there a framework for how you think about the expense run rate or the growth in the next year? Thank you.

Kyle Beilman

Management

In terms of the fixed costs, just to clarify the question?

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Yes, that's right.

Kyle Beilman

Management

Yes, I mean, as we've explained over the last quarter or two, we feel that the investments that we've made in our team are more than sufficient for us to execute on our plans for 2023. And with that, don't expect our costs to increase from here, which really should support the operating leverage out of the business model as we continue to grow the top-line and increase margins. So, I, generally, look at the fourth quarter as sort of a run rate from a fixed cost standpoint for how the year of 2023 will look.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Okay. Thank you so much.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. And this will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines, and thank you for your participation.