Blucora Announces Second Quarter 2018 Results

IRVING, Texas, Aug. 01, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blucora, Inc. (NASDAQ: BCOR), a leading provider of technology-enabled financial solutions to consumers, small businesses and tax professionals, today announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018.

Second Quarter Highlights and Recent Developments

• Increased revenue and operating income by 13% and 29%, respectively, year-over-year (y/y)
• Grew TaxAct revenue by 17% y/y for the first half of 2018, with 57.3% segment margin
• Posted record level of advisory assets (formerly referred to as assets under management) at HD Vest of $12.9 billion, or 28.8% of total client assets (formerly referred to as assets under administration)
• Achieved 1.5x net leverage ratio on continued strong cash generation and debt reduction 

“Strong tax preparation results helped drive continued double-digit growth in revenue and earnings with healthy cash flow," said John Clendening, Blucora's President and Chief Executive Officer.  "We once again utilized that cash flow to reduce debt, further strengthen our balance sheet and accelerate earnings growth.  Our wealth management business also continued its upward momentum demonstrating strong revenue growth and record asset levels.”

Summary Financial Performance: Q2 2018
($ in millions except per share amounts)

Third Quarter and Full Year 2018 Outlook

For the third quarter of 2018, the Company expects revenues to be between $92.0 million and $95.5 million, GAAP net loss attributable to Blucora, Inc. to be between $18.5 million and $22.5 million, or $0.39 to $0.47 per diluted share, Adjusted EBITDA loss to be between $2.0 million and $5.0 million, and Non-GAAP net loss to be between $8.0 million and $11.0 million, or $0.17 to $0.23 per diluted share.

For the full year 2018, the Company expects revenues to be between $553.5 million and $563.0 million, GAAP net income attributable to Blucora, Inc. to be between $42.5 million and $46.0 million, or $0.86 to $0.93 per diluted share, Adjusted EBITDA to be between $114.5 million and $119.5 million, and Non-GAAP net income to be between $89.0 million and $94.5 million, or $1.80 to $1.92 per diluted share.

The third quarter and fiscal 2018 outlook for GAAP net income or loss attributable to Blucora assumes an estimated tax rate of approximately 2% to 6%.

Conference Call and Webcast

A conference call and live webcast will be held today at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time during which the Company will further discuss second quarter results, its outlook for the third quarter and full year 2018 and other business matters.  We will also provide the prepared remarks for the conference call along with supplemental financial information to our results on the Investor Relations section of the Blucora corporate website at http://www.blucora.com prior to the call.  The supplemental financial information has also been filed with the SEC on Form 8-K.  A replay of the call be available on our website.

About Blucora®

Blucora, Inc. (NASDAQ: BCOR) is a leading provider of technology-enabled financial solutions to consumers, small businesses and tax professionals.  Our products and services in tax preparation and wealth management, through TaxAct and HD Vest, respectively, help consumers manage their financial lives.  TaxAct is an affordable digital tax preparation solution for individuals, business owners and tax professionals.  HD Vest Financial Services ^® supports an independent network of tax professionals who provide comprehensive financial planning solutions.  For more information on Blucora or its businesses, please visit www.blucora.com.

Source: Blucora

Blucora Contact:
Bill Michalek (972) 870-6463
VP, Investor Relations

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. When used in this release, terms such as “believes,” “estimates,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “plans,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “may,” “forecasts,” “projects” and similar expressions and variations as they relate to the Company or its management are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ significantly from management’s expectations due to various risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to: our ability to effectively implement our future business plans and growth strategy; our ability to effectively compete within our industry; our ability to attract and retain customers; the availability of financing and our ability to meet our current and future debt service obligations and comply with our debt covenants; our ability to generate strong investment performance for our customers and the impact of the financial markets on our customers’ portfolios; political and economic conditions and events that directly or indirectly impact the wealth management and tax preparation industries; our ability to attract and retain productive financial advisors; our ability to successfully make technology enhancements and introduce new and improve on existing products and services; our expectations concerning the revenues we generate from fees associated with the financial products that we distribute; our ability to comply with laws and regulations, including, among others, those related to privacy protection and consumer data; our ability to successfully transition our wealth management business to a new clearing platform and our expectations concerning the benefits that may be derived therefrom; cybersecurity risks; our ability to maintain our relationships with third party partners; the seasonality of our business; litigation risks; our ability to attract and retain qualified employees; our assessments and estimates that determine our effective tax rate; the impact of new or changing tax legislation; our ability to develop, establish and maintain strong brands; our ability to protect our intellectual property; and our ability to effectively integrate companies or assets that we acquire. A more detailed description of these and certain other factors that could affect actual results is included in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release, except as may be required by applicable law.

Blucora, Inc.
Preliminary Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
(Unaudited)
(Amounts in thousands, except per share data)

⁽¹⁾ Stock-based compensation expense was allocated among the following captions (in thousands):

⁽²⁾ Other loss, net consisted of the following (in thousands):

Blucora, Inc.
Preliminary Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(Unaudited)
(Amounts in thousands)

Blucora, Inc.
Preliminary Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(Unaudited)
(Amounts in thousands)

Blucora, Inc.
Preliminary Segment Information
(Unaudited)
(Amounts in thousands)

⁽¹⁾ Revenues by major category within each segment are presented below (in thousands):

⁽²⁾ Corporate-level activity included the following (in thousands):

Blucora, Inc.
Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures to the Nearest Comparable GAAP Measures

Preliminary Adjusted EBITDA Reconciliation ⁽¹⁾
(Unaudited)
(Amounts in thousands)

Preliminary Non-GAAP Net Income and Non-GAAP Net Income Per Share Reconciliation ⁽¹⁾
(Unaudited)
(Amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)

Preliminary Adjusted EBITDA Reconciliation for Forward-Looking Guidance
(Amounts in thousands)

Preliminary Non-GAAP Net Income (Loss) Reconciliation for Forward-Looking Guidance
(Amounts in thousands)

Notes to Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures to the Nearest Comparable GAAP Measures

⁽¹⁾ We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income attributable to Blucora, Inc., determined in accordance with GAAP, excluding the effects of stock-based compensation, depreciation and amortization of acquired intangible assets (including acquired technology), restructuring, other loss, net, the impact of noncontrolling interests and income tax expense. Restructuring costs relate to the relocation of our corporate headquarters during 2017.

We believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides meaningful supplemental information regarding our performance.  We use this non-GAAP financial measure for internal management and compensation purposes, when publicly providing guidance on possible future results, and as a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons.  We believe that Adjusted EBITDA is a common measure used by investors and analysts to evaluate our performance, that it provides a more complete understanding of the results of operations and trends affecting our business when viewed together with GAAP results, and that management and investors benefit from referring to this non-GAAP financial measure.  Items excluded from Adjusted EBITDA are significant and necessary components to the operations of our business and, therefore, Adjusted EBITDA should be considered as a supplement to, and not as a substitute for or superior to, GAAP net income.  Other companies may calculate Adjusted EBITDA differently and, therefore, our Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

We define non-GAAP net income as net income attributable to Blucora, Inc., determined in accordance with GAAP, excluding the effects of stock-based compensation, amortization of acquired intangible assets (including acquired technology), accelerated accretion of debt discount on our Convertible Senior Notes that were outstanding for a portion of 2017 (the "Notes"), write-off of debt discount and debt issuance costs on terminated Notes and terminated TaxAct - HD Vest 2015 credit facility, restructuring costs (described further under Adjusted EBITDA above), the impact of noncontrolling interests, the related cash tax impact of those adjustments, and non-cash income taxes.  We exclude the non-cash portion of income taxes because of our ability to offset a substantial portion of our cash tax liabilities by using deferred tax assets, which primarily consist of U.S. federal net operating losses.  The majority of these net operating losses will expire, if unutilized, between 2020 and 2024.

We believe that non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per share provide meaningful supplemental information to management, investors, and analysts regarding our performance and the valuation of our business by excluding items in the statement of operations that we do not consider part of our ongoing operations or have not been, or are not expected to be, settled in cash.  Additionally, we believe that non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per share are common measures used by investors and analysts to evaluate our performance and the valuation of our business.  Non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per share should be evaluated in light of our financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP and should be considered as a supplement to, and not as a substitute for or superior to, GAAP net income and net income per share.  Other companies may calculate non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per share differently, and, therefore, our non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per share may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

⁽²⁾ As presented in the Preliminary Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (unaudited).

⁽³⁾ Other loss, net primarily includes items such as interest income, interest expense, amortization of debt issuance costs, accretion of debt discounts, and gain/loss on debt extinguishment.