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Mitek Systems, Inc. (MITK)

Q1 2015 Earnings Call· Thu, Jan 29, 2015

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to the Mitek Fiscal First Quarter 2015 Financial Results Conference. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Peter Salkowski, Mitek Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Peter Salkowski

Investor Relations

Thank you, Greg. Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us. With me on today’s call are Mitek’s CEO Jim DeBello and CFO, Russ Clark. Before I turn the call over to Jim and Russ, I’d like to cover a few quick things. This afternoon, Mitek issued a press release announcing its first quarter fiscal 2015 financial results. That release is available on the company's website at www.miteksystems.com. This call is being broadcast live over the Internet for all of the interested parties and the webcast will be archived on the Investor Relations page of the company's website. On today's call, we will discuss certain factors that are likely to influence the business going forward. Any factors discussed today that are not historical facts, particularly comments regarding our long-term prospects and market opportunities, should be considered forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements may include comments about our plans and expectations of future performance. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially. We encourage all of our listeners to review our SEC filings, including our most recent 10-K for a more complete description of these risks. Our statements on this call are made as of today, January 29, 2015 and the company undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any of the forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in expectations or otherwise, for any reason. Additionally, throughout this call, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. Today’s earnings release and the related current report on Form 8-K describe the differences between our non-GAAP and GAAP reporting and present the reconciliation between the two for the periods reported in the release. Now I’ll turn the call over to Mitek’s CEO Jim DeBello. Jim?

Jim DeBello

CEO

Well hello everyone, last couple of months were very productive for Mitek. First we recorded our biggest quarter ever for Mobile Photo Account Opening, our product that allows a consumer to open an account with a simple photo of their driver license. Our performance demonstrates traction in the global identity management marketplace an area which is expected to grow to $7 billion by 2017. The second we strengthened dominant position in mobile deposit this quarter by retaining 100% of our existing customers as well as signing another 278 banks. We now have a total of 3304 banks and financial institutions that have signed and licensed our technology of which 2744 are actually deploying our industry leading and patented solution today. With consumer penetration approaching 20%, we see tremendous upside for mobile deposit here in North America and has even more potential from the UK and Brazil as these countries are expected to adopt image check deposit legislation in 2015 and 2016 respectively as we have done here in the United States and in Canada. Third, we invested in breakthrough mobile web technology that broadens our markets by allowing consumers to take photos from their smartphone browser. Mobile web is currently in several pilots with major customers and lastly we recently added a new board member with identity verification and facial recognition technologies and MIT credentials. We believe Mitek's proprietary computer vision technology provides the best consumer experience to complete a transaction or enroll in a new account. Our fiscal first quarter performance demonstrates growing demand for our Mitek mobile imaging platform. For the quarter Mitek recorded another profitable quarter growing revenue to $5.4 million. With all Top 10 U.S. retailer banks in over 3000 additional financial institutions licensing our mobile deposit, we estimate that 33 million Americans used our mobile…

Russ Clark

Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Jim. Hi, everyone. Thank you for joining us on today's call. As a reminder all financial figures I will cite today are on a GAAP basis unless I specifically call out the numbers non-GAAP. Our earnings release includes a reconciliation between these two measures. We believe that excluding non-cash stock compensation and IP litigation expenses from non-GAAP earnings provide the useful measure of the company's operating results. Also as a reminder our fiscal year-end at September 30, so any quarters or years that I note will be on that basis. During Q1, we experienced a 21% year-over-year increase in revenue to $5.4 million resulting in a non-GAAP net income of $1.5 million. This was the 6th consecutive quarter with revenue over $4 million and the third consecutive quarter of non-GAAP net income. Q1 software revenue of $3.7 million included seven mobile deposit reorders and increased 18% compared to a year earlier software revenue of $3.2 million. Mobile deposit reorders continued to comprise a lion share of license revenue, however our other mobile product lines including account opening made significant contributions to our year-over-year revenue growth. Q1 maintenance in PS revenue of $1.6 million increased 27% over last year's Q1, maintenance and PS revenue of $1.3 million. We continue to benefit from consistent growth on our maintenance stream as a result of growth in the mobile deposit base. PS engagements related to MySnap implementation assistance also drove almost 300,000 in Q1 revenue. Total Q1 operating expenses were $5.3 million compared to 5.9 million in the year ago period. The year-over-year decrease resulted primarily from lower selling and marketing and R&D expenses, Q1, selling and marketing expenses were $1.4 million compared to $1.8 million in the year ago period and $1.2 million in Q4. As we continue to make targeted investments…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. And we will take first Bhavan Suri with William Blair.

Bhavan Suri

Analyst

Just a couple of quick questions, first Jim just talk about the numbers you threw out there for second, 33 million users using mobile check deposit going through 47 I believe it was. You know when you look at that number do you think that, I'm not asking for guidance clearly, but do you think there is the opportunity for you guys to grow revenue, 20% is great but that should bring that up to 35% - 40%, 40% - 45% type of growth rate given that the usage numbers are certainly seem to be growing that fast.

Jim DeBello

CEO

We really think there are three key drivers for mobile deposits continuing to grow. The first of which is number of banks, you can see we continue to perform at the rate of 250 to 300 a quarter, we believe ultimately though that’s going to be a diminishing returns as we already are penetrated into all of the Top 10 banks and most of the Top 50 and that drives most of the volumes. So the question then remains on the second driver which is number of consumers which is what you’re referring to and thirdly their usage. So we’re actually implementing a couple of things that we think will help drive that on a continued basis. We talked about MySnap and some of the technologies that ease the user experience but we haven't talked about is some of the risk mitigation measures that we’re implementing individually as technology here at Mitek and in with partnerships to actually reduce any kind of risk profile, allowing the banks to raise these limits on the value of each check that is deposited. You know that there is some hard limits that are allowed to be accepted. Many banks limits at 2500. SunTrust Bank recently raised that to $8000, so we do see progress in that area and that will drive usage. We think that ultimately we will reduce itself or rather manifest itself in more usage and that should continue to drive our revenue growth.

Bhavan Suri

Analyst

And then as you look at the MySnap technology which is clearly the large banks seem to have embraced, is that an incremental fee on top of mobile deposit or is that bundled into this part of deposit to ease the friction issue with consumers?

Russ Clark

Chief Financial Officer

We have some of the early adopters of MySnap bundled that in, we think it's an enhancement that does reduce friction and helps give lift on a number of transaction, provides a better user experience. So it's an enhancement that I think the banks have rolled it out, so far I’ve good success with.

Jim DeBello

CEO

They have seen success and for us it becomes a universal capture experience which means that people become familiar, it's a consumer habit forming experience and one which we think is extensible to ease the path for our new products to be introduced by the banks in other enterprises like insurance companies. So therefore if their users are comfortable with the user experience it's likely they will be extending and using that for other apps as well. So we think that’s a real strategy advantage for us.

Bhavan Suri

Analyst

You got into my next question direction which was, how was the insurance product going? I know clearly there is one of the largest insurers out there using it obviously with the facial recognition, the license part of MySnap, are you seeing more adoption in that vertical?

Jim DeBello

CEO

We continue to see a lot of interest in the insurance vertical, we have 3 or 4 large insurance carriers who are working with us on quotation and mobile photo payments as well with that product. So a lot of interest, our guys are spending a lot of time out there. Sales cycles as with the banking sector are fairly long but I think in terms of looking at opportunity and current industry vertical focus anyway, insurance still remain strong.

Russ Clark

Chief Financial Officer

It does move on and let me just amplify a little bit on that as it relates to mobile web, you can imagine insurance companies are in the business of providing quotations to gain new customers and so the least amount of friction to provide the quotation is important. Mobile image is terrific, they can take a picture of a driver's license and also the [inaudible] number and get an instant quote but wouldn’t it be better to do that in a browser environment without having to download the app from the provider first and that’s exactly what mobile web is intended to do. We have invested on locking mechanism, one is going to be very, very important for us as we continue to grow this market. Tremendous interest in the area but I think with an anxious expectations that mobile web is coming and will be delivered to them shortly.

Bhavan Suri

Analyst

Okay. And then just a couple in the expense line and then one on deferred, let me jump on deferred one first. The deferred revenue picked up nicely, I clearly called that out too but it jumped quite dramatically, it's the largest amount was that I think you had in balance [Technical Difficulty] along those lines?

Russ Clark

Chief Financial Officer

Bhavan, you broke up a little bit there at the end but I think your question was about the deferred revenue balance. So it did increase sequentially very strongly this quarter, it was down two quarters ago. So we see some quarterly fluctuations just based on the timing of maintenance signings and renewals, so mobile deposit as it fuels the revenue is fueling the deferred revenue as well. It's primarily you know one year advance payments on maintenance contracts and there is some seasonality but you’re right, 3.8 million in the current line is a record deferred revenue for us. Again so we would continue to expect to see a little bit of variability there but overall the tide continues to raise there.

Bhavan Suri

Analyst

And it's largely maintenance Russ or is there some subscription in that?

Russ Clark

Chief Financial Officer

It is largely maintenance contracts for mobile deposit and our other mobile product, little bit of legacy and there is a smaller amount of subscription revenue also.

Bhavan Suri

Analyst

Okay and then just on cost line, I will jump off, obviously it's nice to get your guys to EPS positive and nicely above breakeven and generating cash but obviously as a sales and marketing and R&D lines came down and I guess there is such a fine balance there but the concern is are you investing enough. On the sales and marketing growth but I think obviously with the banks I think Jim pointed to diminishing returns [inaudible], but certainly on the R&D stuff they sort of stay in front of the ankle bitters or at least people claiming they might have competing offerings, just seems a 1 million or plus 1 million, a half quarter spend, I guess I was just a little concerned about that given sort of the need to maintain a lead in the technology front.

Jim DeBello

CEO

Let me be clear, we’re continuing to invest in the R&D area. Sales and marketing to the lesser extent but we’re out on the recruiting path for talent as I mentioned in CV, software engineering and mobile and we will continue to add to that and that’s the biggest reason that I provided guidance for OpEx excluding litigation next quarter for 5.25 million to 5.75 million which is up fairly significantly sequentially.

Russ Clark

Chief Financial Officer

And Bhavan, we’re also adding into the sales initiatives as well. Our pipelines are deepening and we think there is new and even more enriching opportunities above and beyond mobile deposit, so we see what you see as well and we continue to be very bullish on the business.

Operator

Operator

Next we will go to Andrew Boyce with Piper Jaffray.

Andrew Boyce

Analyst

Real quick, I might have missed it, did you guys say how many mobile deposit reorders you had during the quarter?

Jim DeBello

CEO

I did Andrew, there were seven during the quarter.

Andrew Boyce

Analyst

And then also going back to the expenses, obviously you guys had clear declines. I was wondering if you could shed any new light on what was driving that decline obviously instead of a pickup there again in the second quarter. I was wondering why it was depressed during this quarter obviously.

Jim DeBello

CEO

Yes if you look at the year-over-year numbers as I discussed in R&D lines, in the sales and marketing lines, you know we refocus some of our efforts on the product areas and the growth areas that Jim highlighted earlier but as we sit here today we’re looking to get more guys in the ranks and continue to invest there. So I pointed out in my remarks some of the sequential trends as well as we continue to hire more people on but there was refocusing on efforts year-over-year and as we mentioned we moved from a primarily direct sales strategy for some of our mobile products to engage our channel partners as well and that influenced the sales and marketing line. But sequentially we’re up this quarter and we expect to continue to invest more on the OpEx line.

Andrew Boyce

Analyst

And I guess obviously as you guys gained traction with more institutions and you will get more customers on-board, but kind of going to your third objective, did you give us any color on per person usage? I mean there was somebody using it three times a quarter, now they are using it five or is there anything you can tell us about that/

Jim DeBello

CEO

Yes, I think there is some statistics out there that some of the banks are releasing on that. We don’t get a lot of that data just as part of our normal quarterly reporting process with our channel partners. But again I think there is industry data out there that shows increasing usage and transactions on an annual or monthly basis.

Andrew Boyce

Analyst

And my last question, I guess you were talking about expansion overseas. Have you guys being talking with any financial institutions over there in [inaudible] or you’re still in the process of working out how you do that logistically?

Jim DeBello

CEO

So there is two answers to your question and the first answer is yes, we’re through our channel partners and that is for mobile deposit as we see the market opportunities emerging in the countries I’ve mentioned during my remarks. The second part of my answer is also yes, as it relates to mobile photo account opening and capturing identity documents that go beyond our border. So we’re exploring opportunities in that area as well. The bulk of our revenues are still in North America, but we anticipate that mix to change, albeit overtime and the upcoming quarters and years.

Operator

Operator

And next from Needham & Company we have Elizabeth Colley.

Elizabeth Colley

Analyst

On the seven mobile deposit, the block transactions, how does this pipeline look going forward and have there been any increases in visibility for this revenue stream?

Jim DeBello

CEO

Sure, as the pipeline looks very strong, I think maybe to add more color to that seven number. We’ve reported in previous quarters some mobile deposit reorder numbers that are higher than that. However I point out the trend is that we have seen ASPs for the average reorder size increasing over the last several quarters as well as maybe a bank gets into mobile deposit, they get it implemented, they see the usage be very successful and they see it continue to grow many times, they are more comfortable coming back and ordering a large block the second or third time. So pipeline remains very strong there. In terms of visibility, do we have more visibility? Yes we do. So, on the bottom-end we had $1.3 million in very predictable maintenance revenue in the quarter but then when you get to the license line and mobile deposit in particular, the revenue model is the same in that we close block transactions and recognize the revenue upfront. However the base is expanded enough now, that the population of potential reorders in anyone quarter is bigger and gives us more visibility.

Elizabeth Colley

Analyst

And also on the new bank signings, do you guys expected this rate will stay study or do you think that at this certain point this will given your scale this will start to maybe pace down a little bit?

Jim DeBello

CEO

In my remarks I had mentioned that the penetration is approaching 20% of all U.S. adults, that means as 80% or more remaining. So I don’t think that we will see abate. Mobile deposit has become a part of the mobile banking vocabulary and mobile banking is table stakes for any competitive bank of which there are about 8000 financial institutions in the U.S., of which 3000 or so have licensed our technology primarily through our channel partners. So, we think that pace will continue to -- for the next several quarters ultimately, there will be high penetration at such time it will slow down at that point but we think it will be a high penetration rate. Now as I mentioned it to Bhavan, there are diminishing returns when you get smaller and smaller banks and banks which aren't laggards signing on their customer base isn't quite as mobile centric. So really the volume for all check deposit is driven by the top 50 bank and primarily within the top 10 banks and we have got that covered. So our real mission is to again increase the number of consumers within those banks by fostering a better consumer experience, A, that’s offense and B, defense providing greater risk management tools to the banks so they can lift those artificial limits which is a natural governor on the number of checks being deposited through the mobile channel. All system seem to be working, we’re seeing lift in risk limits and we’re also seeing lift in usability through the implementation of MySnap which currently is being used by over 20 million people, most recently Bank of America on top of Wells Fargo have gone live with MySnap.

Elizabeth Colley

Analyst

And I know that historically you guys haven't broken out your revenue mix by product, is there any color you can offer us. Is mobile deposit still would you say a majority of revenue right now?

Russ Clark

Chief Financial Officer

It is a majority, I think as I mentioned in my remarks but we also described for the quarter we had a significant contribution from account opening and our other mobile products as well. So, definitely see some growth potential there also.

Operator

Operator

And this does conclude the question and answer session. At this time I will turn it back to Peter Salkowski for any additional or closing remarks.

Peter Salkowski

Investor Relations

Thanks, Greg. Before closing the fiscal first quarter earnings call, I would like to inform everyone that Jim DeBello will be participating in the Barclays Emerging Payments Forum being held in New York City in late March. We will publish a press release with the forum details closer to Mitek's presentation date. Thank you for joining us today for Mitek's fiscal first quarter earnings call. We appreciate your interest in Mitek systems. Have a good day.

Operator

Operator

Once again ladies and gentlemen that does conclude today's conference. Thanks for your participation.