Blucora Announces Third Quarter 2017 Results

IRVING, Texas, Oct. 26, 2017 (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 third quarter ended September 30, 2017.

Third Quarter Highlights and Recent Developments

• Increased total revenue by 8% year-over-year
• Continued to strengthen balance sheet with net leverage ratio down to 2.6x
• Segment income of $6.2 million, lower year-over-year due to strategic investment in Tax Preparation business
• Assets under management up 17% year-over-year to $11.9 billion, total assets under administration up 11% year-over-year to $42.7 billion

“Our performance in the third quarter with solid revenue growth, a stronger balance sheet and improvement across our key performance indicators, continues our recent business momentum,” commented John Clendening, Blucora’s President and Chief Executive Officer.  “In addition to achieving record levels of AUA and AUM in our wealth management business, the percentage of AUM over AUA also hit an all-time-high of 28%.  Our tax preparation business also showed good revenue growth in the quarter as we continue to prepare for next season.”

“In addition to a solid quarter, we recently conducted the first comprehensive strategic planning process since Bob Oros and Sanjay Baskaran joined us to lead the HD Vest and TaxAct businesses,” Clendening continued. “During the process we outlined the near-term objectives that will allow us to best leverage our unique business model. This plan, combined with our strong performance and the re-positioning work we have completed over the past few years, positions us to capitalize on the significant organic growth opportunities we see ahead.”

Summary Financial Performance: Q3 2017
($ in millions except per share amounts)

Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2017 Outlook

For the fourth quarter of 2017, the Company expects revenues to be between $90.0 million and $93.2 million, GAAP net loss attributable to Blucora, Inc. to be between $17.2 million and $15.0 million, or $(0.35) to $(0.31) per diluted share, Adjusted EBITDA to be between $(4.5) million and $(1.9) million, and Non-GAAP net loss to be between $12.6 million and $9.1 million, or $(0.26) to $(0.19) per diluted share.

For the full year 2017, the Company expects revenues to be between $501.7 million and $504.9 million, GAAP net income attributable to Blucora, Inc. to be between $0.0 million and $2.2 million, or $0.00 to $0.05 per diluted share, Adjusted EBITDA to be between $97.8 million and $100.4 million, and Non-GAAP net income to be between $62.7 million and $66.1 million, or $1.32 to $1.40 per diluted share.

The fourth quarter and fiscal 2017 outlook for GAAP net income or loss attributable to Blucora assumes an estimated tax rate of approximately 15%.  Our actual tax rate may differ significantly from this estimated tax rate due to our projected near break even pre-tax income, and the adoption of Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-09, Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Accounting (“ASU 2016-09”).  In addition, our GAAP net income or loss attributable to Blucora outlook excludes any impact to tax expense for discrete items, which are affected by ASU 2016-09, and variable stock-based compensation related to grants to non-employee advisors, and including these items in our actual results when they occur may cause our actual results to differ significantly from the outlook provided.

2017 Tax Season Outlook

For the 2017 tax season, or the first half of 2018, we expect Tax Preparation segment revenue growth of 7.5% to 10.0% versus comparable prior year period at a segment margin in the range of 55.5% to 57.0%.

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 third quarter results, its outlook for the fourth quarter and full year 2017, an update on its strategic growth initiative planning 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.  Actual results may differ significantly from management’s expectations due to various risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to: risks associated with the Company’s strategic transformation and the successful execution of its strategic initiatives, operating plans and marketing strategies; general economic, political, industry, and market conditions; the Company’s ability to attract and retain productive advisors; the Company’s ability to successfully make technology enhancements and introduce new products and services; information technology and cybersecurity risks; the effect of current, pending and future legislation, regulation and regulatory actions, such as the new Department of Labor rule and any changes in tax laws; dependence on third parties to distribute products and services; litigation risks; the Company’s ability to hire, retain and motivate key employees; the Company’s ability to protect its intellectual property; and financing risks, including risks related to the Company’s existing debt obligations.  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.

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

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

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

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

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

⁽¹⁾ We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) attributable to Blucora, Inc., determined in accordance with GAAP, excluding the effects of stock-based compensation, depreciation, amortization of acquired intangible assets (including acquired technology), restructuring, other loss, net, the impact of noncontrolling interests, income tax expense,  the effects of discontinued operations, and acquisition-related costs. Restructuring costs relate to the move of our corporate headquarters, which was announced in the fourth quarter of 2016.  Acquisition-related costs include professional services fees and other direct transaction costs and changes in the fair value of contingent consideration liabilities related to acquired companies.  The SimpleTax acquisition that was completed in 2015 included contingent consideration, for which the fair value of that liability was revalued in the second quarter of 2016.

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 (loss).  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 (loss) as net income (loss) attributable to Blucora, Inc., determined in accordance with GAAP, excluding the effects of discontinued operations, stock-based compensation, amortization of acquired intangible assets (including acquired technology), accretion of debt discount and accelerated accretion of debt discount on the Convertible Senior Notes (the "Notes"), gain on the Notes repurchased, write-off of debt discount and debt issuance costs on the Notes that were redeemed and the terminated TaxAct - HD Vest 2015 credit facility, acquisition-related costs (described further under Adjusted EBITDA above), 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.  The write-off of debt discount and debt issuance costs on the terminated Notes and the closed TaxAct - HD Vest 2015 credit facility relates to the debt refinancing that occurred in the second quarter of 2017.  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 (loss) and non-GAAP net income (loss) 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 (loss) and non-GAAP net income (loss) per share are common measures used by investors and analysts to evaluate our performance and the valuation of our business.  Non-GAAP net income (loss) 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 (loss).  Other companies may calculate non-GAAP net income differently, and, therefore, our non-GAAP net income 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.