LendingTree, Inc. (NASDAQ:TREE) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Trent Ziegler: Hey, Jed, this is Trent. I’ll hit on economics on the Win Card. I guess what I’d say is, the way that that’s going to work, obviously we disclosed that we are doing that in partnership with upgrade one of our partners. They will be managing all the balance sheet risk and the credit scoring etcetera. We will get a substantial bounty for every car that we originate through our platform as well as ongoing share of the interchange. But I guess as it relates to the financial impact of that, we obviously think it’s positive and it will be a contributor this year. But that is more than anything else as much about — it is the first of many features that we think are differentiated and will help us continue to evolve the value prop for MyLendingTree and for our members and continue to drive engagement as we move forward.

So expect more of these things as we progress throughout the year and I would argue that that’s — that piece of it is as important, if not more important than the financial impact that we expect to see near term.

Douglas Lebda: Yeah, and the only thing I would add to that is if you think about a normal credit card bounty in the industry, then you could apply a higher conversion rates to it, your unit economics should be higher. We believe we can actually market this as a separate channel and proposition and again it’s part of the MyLendingTree. It is part of being — part of MyLendingTree, the 2% cash back which I referred to is unlocked when you’re logging into MyLendingTree once a month where you’re going to be seeing action that you can take to improve your financial life. And we think that’ll really help MyLendingTree in total.

Jed Kelly: Thanks. And just a follow up to Scott’s comments about higher traffic. Insurance segment did have I think 38% VMM margins. I mean is that the right way to look at the business in 2023 that you’re going to have VMM margins above mid 30s?

Scott Peyree: Yeah, I would say as we look at 2023, we would like to keep those margins in the mid to high 30s. When the entire industry starts getting more aggressive and I’m talking about from the carrier standpoint, when everyone’s back in, and playing then you may start growing a little higher fruit on the tree where you’re trying to get revenue at lower margins. But honestly in a lot of scenarios right now that revenue isn’t always the highest quality traffic and you have to run it at lower margins and the carriers in today’s market aren’t really begging for it. So we’re not trying to force it down the throats, so to speak. So mid to high 30s forever, like if you get into serious like top in revenue growth mode or like all the carriers start getting really aggressive that might change, but I don’t foresee that in the next six to nine months.

Jed Kelly: Thanks.

Douglas Lebda: And Jed based on Scott’s commentary, I’d say implied in our full year guide is pretty modest revenue growth based on what we’re seeing today. Sort of in the mid-single-digit percent range, but we do assume that those margins hold in kind of the mid to high 30s. Obviously that can evolve as the market evolves throughout the year, but that’s our baseline expectation.

Jed Kelly: Thank you.

Operator: Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from Chris Kennedy with William Blair. Your line is now open.

Christopher Kennedy: Good morning and thank you for taking the questions. Can you give us an update on your advertising initiatives that you started last year and kind of what your plans are going forward?

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