SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 10, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TrueCar (Nasdaq:TRUE), the negotiation free car buying and selling platform, is correcting erroneous media reports misstating that the Company failed to meet analyst consensus EPS estimates following its second quarter earnings release on Thursday, August 7, 2014. Moreover, TrueCar provided third quarter and full year 2014 guidance above analyst consensus estimates.
Specifically, for the second quarter of 2014, TrueCar reported:
- GAAP earnings per diluted share loss of ($0.22), in-line with analyst consensus estimates of ($0.22).
- Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share loss of ($0.02), exceeding analyst consensus estimates of ($0.03).
The Company is providing the comparable figures above in response to erroneous reports issued by the financial press on Thursday, August 7th and Friday, August 8th, 2014 that incorrectly compared TrueCar's GAAP earnings per share loss to analyst consensus non-GAAP earnings per share loss. As a result, the financial press reported the Company missed earnings expectations by a wide-margin, when in fact, the Company met or exceeded analyst estimates across virtually every financial and operating metric.
For example:
- Unit sales were 149,527 and represented 55% growth over Q2 of last year. That exceeded consensus analyst expectations of 135,901 units by 10%.
- Quarterly revenue was $50.5 million, an increase of 62% over the same quarter last year and 11% over analyst consensus estimates of $45.5 million.
- As of June 30, there were 7,682 TrueCar Certified Franchise Dealers across the US, representing 24.4% of all new car franchises. The number of Certified dealers increased by 24% from last year at this time and also exceeded analyst consensus estimates.
- Transaction revenue per Certified Franchise Dealer grew by 36% over the second quarter of last year. This was also in excess of analyst consensus estimates.
After the close on Thursday, TrueCar's research analysts at Goldman Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan, RBC Capital Markets, Cowen and Company and JMP Securities, increased their expectations for TrueCar's financial performance in Q3, Q4 and for 2014 as a whole. In addition, four of the five firms increased their price target for TrueCar's stock.
For a more robust list of TrueCar's achievements in Q214, please see visit the Company's investor relations section of its website at www.true.com.
Members of the TrueCar management team look forward to speaking to institutional investors the week of August 11th, 2014. TrueCar will be presenting at the Oppenheimer & Co Technology Conference in Boston on Tuesday, August 12th, and at the Cowen & Co Technology bus tour in San Francisco and the JPMorgan Automotive Conference in New York on Wednesday, August 13th. The Company will also be meeting with institutional investors in New York and the mid-Atlantic region on August 14th and August 15th.
For more information about TrueCar, please visit www.TrueCar.com, follow @TrueCar on Twitter, or become a fan of TrueCar on Facebook.
About TrueCar
TrueCar, Inc. (Nasdaq:TRUE) is the negotiation-free car buying and selling platform. TrueCar enables a negotiation-free car buying experience by giving buyers transparent insight into what others actually paid (price confidence), upfront pricing information (price discovery), and access to a network of trusted TrueCar Certified Dealers who provide guaranteed savings certificates and seamlessly complete the car purchase. The reality is that buying a car is painful and buyers fear they are going to overpay or be surprised with hidden fees. TrueCar's transparent upfront pricing information makes the car buying process simple so there are no surprises and buyers never overpay. TrueCar's mission is to make car buying simple, fair and fun. Its national network of more than 8,000 TrueCar Certified Dealers, including both new car franchise dealers and non-franchise dealers, is committed to providing negotiation-free savings off MSRP and upfront pricing information for all car-buyers, including members of some of the country's largest membership and service organizations such as AARP, American Express, AAA, and USAA. Note: Not all program features are available in all states. Go to www.truecar.com for program details. TrueCar is headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., with offices in Santa Barbara, Calif., San Francisco, Calif., and Austin, Texas.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained or referred to in this press release, including statements or references to guidance regarding TrueCar's future growth potential and opportunities, expectations regarding future revenues and Adjusted EBITDA, long-term financial objectives, business strategy, plans and objectives are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that may prove incorrect, any of which could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Among the risks and uncertainties that could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include: our ability to manage our growth especially in light of our limited operating history; our dependence upon our affinity group marketing partners, especially USAA; compliance with U.S. federal and state laws and regulations directly or indirectly applicable to our business; our ability to compete effectively in an increasingly competitive market and to enhance our brand; our ability to continue to expand our dealer network and to increase our user traffic and the number of transactions between our dealer network and our users, our ability to successfully develop and introduce complementary new products to address our target markets and to continue to enhance our mobile solutions; consumer demand, global supply chain challenges and macro-economic issues that affect the automobile industry; security breaches in our systems or other service disruptions; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; and other risks and uncertainties described more fully under the heading "Risk Factors" in TrueCar's registration statement on Form S-1 filed, and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q to be filed, with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Moreover, the Company operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time. It is not possible for TrueCar management to predict all risks, nor can it assess the impact of all factors on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements the Company may make. All forward-looking statements included or referred to in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their respective dates.
Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In addition to generally accepted accounting principles in the United States or GAAP, this press release includes a non-GAAP financial measure, Non-GAAP net loss per share. We define Non-GAAP net loss per share as GAAP net loss per share before the impact of stock-based compensation, warrant expense, change in the fair value of contingent consideration, ticker symbol acquisition costs, IPO-related expenses and transaction costs from acquisitions. We have provided below a reconciliation of Non-GAAP net loss per share to net loss, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. Non-GAAP net loss per share should not be considered as an alternative to net loss or any other measure of financial performance calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.
Non-GAAP net loss per share, as defined above, may not be similar to Non-GAAP net loss per share measures used by other companies and is not a measurement under GAAP. Management believes that Non-GAAP net loss per share provides useful information to investors about the Company's performance because it eliminates the effects of items which are not directly attributable to the underlying performance of the Company's business operations.
Though management finds Non-GAAP net loss per share useful for evaluating aspects of the Company's business, its reliance on these measures are limited because excluded items often have a material effect on the Company's earnings and earnings per common share calculated in accordance with GAAP. Therefore, management uses Non-GAAP net loss per share in conjunction with GAAP earnings and earnings per share measures. The Company believes that Non-GAAP net loss per share provide investors with additional tools for evaluating the Company's core performance, which management uses in its evaluation of the Company's overall performance, and a baseline for assessing the future earnings potential of the Company. While the GAAP results are more complete, the Company prefers to allow investors to have these supplemental metrics since, with a reconciliation to GAAP, it may provide greater insight into the Company's financial results.
| Reconciliation of GAAP Net Loss to Non-GAAP Net Loss: | ||||
| Three Months Ended | Six Months Ended | |||
| June 30, | June 30, | |||
| 2014 | 2013 | 2014 | 2013 | |
| Net loss, as reported | $ (15,034) | $ (3,802) | $ (24,955) | $ (12,825) |
| Stock-based compensation | 7,395 | 2,043 | 11,540 | 3,616 |
| Warrant expense | 2,279 | 880 | 4,615 | 1,262 |
| Change in fair value of contingent consideration | -- | 24 | -- | 48 |
| Ticker symbol acquisition costs | -- | -- | 803 | -- |
| IPO-related expenses | 3,717 | -- | 3,717 | -- |
| Non-GAAP net loss | $ (1,643) | $ (855) | $ (4,280) | $ (7,899) |
| Basic shares for non-GAAP EPS | 67,784 | 58,313 | 63,962 | 57,231 |
| Diluted shares for non-GAAP EPS | 67,784 | 58,313 | 63,962 | 57,231 |
| Non-GAAP net loss per share - basic | $ (0.02) | $ (0.01) | $ (0.07) | $ (0.14) |
| Non-GAAP net loss per share - diluted | $ (0.02) | $ (0.01) | $ (0.07) | $ (0.14) |