LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Alexander Blostein: Great. And maybe just a second question around the balance sheet. It’s nice to see the leverage come down now below your guidance target, which I think you guys revisited recently to lower that. So, as you think about priorities between building out the lending practice, perhaps inorganic opportunities and maybe accelerating some of the share repurchases, how would you think about that?

Matthew Audette: Yes. Well, I think, Alex, the key point on the lending side is it’s not a big use of the balance sheet. So, it’s really more about connecting the capabilities so our clients can use that. I think on the buyback, I think just going back to our overall capital allocation framework, I think we’re focused on investing in organic growth first, M&A second and capital returns third. And I think from a pace of the buyback, it would just all depend upon the opportunities that we see. So, if the opportunities to invest in organic growth weren’t there or M&A wasn’t as strong as we would expect, I think that’s a scenario where we could accelerate buyback. And then the opposite is also true. We can slow it down if opportunities would lead there. So, the key for us is really to be flexible. And maybe I’d just reiterate that our center of gravity is really that $250 million.

Alexander Blostein: Great. Thank you, Matthew.

Operator: And our next question comes from the line of Steven Chubak from Wolfe Research.

Steven Chubak: Hi. Good afternoon Dan, good afternoon Matt. So, I really appreciated the additional granularity in terms of the expense guidance. Your prior expense guide was 15% growth in ’23. This latest update appears better or at least a tighter range of 12% to 15%. Is that the right way to interpret the guidance, a bit better than what you offered up last time? And just looking beyond ’23 and thinking about that longer-term expense growth algorithm, is there anything we can infer from those buckets that you offered as to what’s a normal pace of expense growth, say, in a period where you’re not accelerating your investment plans?

Matthew Audette: Yes, Steve. I think on our plans, I mean they really — they didn’t change at all from Investor Day. I think the key is we gave our preliminary thinking there and really went through our typical year-end process to finalize those plans. And I think that’s where the 12% to 15% comes from. So, I think the strategy that we have of using this environment really to advance our investments is just the same, and you’re just seeing us now land the plane with a sharper pencil. I think specific to the three categories, I think the answer to your question is, yes, it is informative. I think when you look at the investments to support our core business growth, right, assuming that growth is continuing, I think that level of 4% to 5% supports that growth.

When you look at the second and third categories, by definition, that’s where we have flexibility. And we can adjust those based on the market and whether there’s opportunity to spend in those areas or not, especially that third category where it’s all about advancing things that we may have otherwise done in ’24 and beyond that we’re now going to do in ’23.

Steven Chubak: And just for my follow-up on organic growth, certainly encouraging to hear that the NNA momentum in 4Q has continued to start the year. I was hoping you could just speak to some of the factors that’s driving that better NNA momentum? Just trying to gauge how much is environmental, so the strength in the markets, maybe increasing advisers in motion versus more idiosyncratic. And you were talking about the pipeline strength in institutional as well in your NNA remarks, how much of that strength is coming from larger institutions?

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