AppFolio Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
October 26, 2023

There are 4 speakers on the call.

Operator

Afternoon. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to AppFolio Inc. Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. Please be advised today's conference is being recorded and a replay will be available on AppFolio's Investor Relations website. I would now like to hand the conference over to Lori Barker, Investor Relations.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Gigi. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Lori Thank you, operator, Investor Relations for AppFolio. And I'd like to thank you for joining us today as we report AppFolio's Q3 2023 With me on the call today are Shane Trigg, AppFolio's President and CEO and Faye Hsiangoon, AppFolio's Chief Financial Officer. This call is simultaneously being webcast on the Investor Relations section of our website at appfolioinc.com.

Speaker 1

Before we get started, I would like to remind everyone that Batfolio's Safe Harbor policy. Comments made during this conference call and webcast contain forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Any statement that refers to expectations, projections or other AppFolio's actual results could differ materially from those expressed in such forward looking statements for any reason, including those listed in our SEC filings. AppFolio assumes no obligation to update any such forward looking statements except as required by law. For greater detail about risks and uncertainties, please see our SEC filings, including our Form 10 ks for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, which has been filed with the SEC on February 9, 2023.

Speaker 1

In addition, this call includes non GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these non GAAP financial measures with most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in our Q3 earnings release posted on the Investor Relations section of our website. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Shane Trigg. Shane, please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Laurie, and welcome to our Q3 2023 earnings call. This quarter we continued to execute our strategy while delivering profitable growth. I'm pleased to report that revenue was up 32% year over year to $165,000,000 and we now serve more than 7,800,000 units. In addition, we improved our margins, driving non GAAP operating margin to 16% and non GAAP free cash flow margin to 20%. These results are a reflection of our commitment to delivering industry leading innovation to our customers, while being disciplined operators.

Speaker 2

Since our last call, we reduced the size of our team by nearly 9%, a decision that while difficult better positions us to focus on the real estate industry and efficiently execute the opportunity in front of us. Our pursuit of profitable growth is in service of our customers, because to be the innovative long term partner they can rely on to power their businesses, We must be a healthy resilient business ourselves. We are accelerating the pace of our innovation with advancing technology like generative AI, delivering on our customers' needs through a wealth of new product functionality and creating exceptional value to help our customers perform through all market conditions and thrive in any environment. Just last month, we announced new and meaningful ways to leverage our platform at the sold out 11th annual AppFolio customer conference. More than 800 customers Representing over 1,400,000 units came to customer conference to learn how to put our technology, partnerships and services to work so they can drive more meaningful outcomes for their businesses.

Speaker 2

Customers left the conference with a deeper understanding of how we're innovating to streamline critical workflows and help them operate more efficiently. 1 of the most exciting innovations announced at the customer conference Our next stage was RealmX, our new conversational interface leveraging generative AI to let users interact with AppFolio in plain language. We are currently piloting RELMEX with a select group of customers ahead of its wider availability in 2024. RELMEX has 3 components we refer to as ask, tell and teach. Customers can ask RELMEX a question.

Speaker 2

They might ask for a report like a rent roll or can ask questions like which vendors are available for a maintenance request. They can tell RELNEX to do something for them, like drafting an email to residents or requesting vendor quotes. And they can teach RELNEX a common workflow, Automating it so their teams can focus on higher value work like building resident relationships and driving business performance. Our early investment in AI is paying off. Last quarter, we talked about AppFolio realm representing our full suite of AI capabilities.

Speaker 2

From traditional AI models, we use in capabilities like smart bill entry to new generative AI models employed in RealmX. We're now at a point where 85% of customers using 1 for more of Realm's capabilities more than twice the adoption we saw just 1 year ago. Going forward, the generative AI power of RealmX We'll increase efficiency for our customers by eliminating repetitive tasks, freeing teams to focus on what matters, people and performance. We recently surveyed more than 2,300 U. S.

Speaker 2

Property Management Company employees, an overwhelming 88% Agreed that technology makes their job easier, indicating that almost 1 third of their typical work week could be optimized or streamlined through technology. According to one customer conference attendee, Karen Seabrook, owner and realtor at Key Realty and Property Management in Oklahoma City With 500 units on AppFolio and I quote, AppFolio is always thinking ahead. We are so pleased With the new AI integration that will help propel our business in the future, our clients will be impressed and we are so excited for the new updates. We're grateful to all of our customers for choosing to grow their businesses with AppFolio and trusting us with their future. In addition to announcing Rollnax, we continue delivering innovation that builds engaging and lasting customer relationships, the first of our 3 strategic pillars.

Speaker 2

In fact, in the past year, we have deployed more than 300 features that customers directly requested through our user community demonstrating our commitment to our value that listening to customers is in our DNA. For owners, we've provided more transparency and on demand access to their property data, documents and action items. They could easily see and improve work order estimates and electronically sign and reference important documents like their management agreement. We're excited about the potential of this innovation to nurture more strategic relationships between property managers and owners. For residents, we recently upgraded the maintenance intake process.

Speaker 2

Maintenance intake now uses AI to triage and get to the root of a residence maintenance issue. It helps property management teams quickly identify and understand problems, eliminating the need for follow-up and clarification and speeds up time to resolution. Many times we can Troubleshoot and resolve problems without requiring a maintenance tech to come on-site. Examples like these demonstrate our focus on delivering elevated differentiated experiences that set us and our customers apart in the market. The second pillar of our strategy is unlocking unit growth by acquiring new customers in our market.

Speaker 2

Customers are looking for ways to grow occupancy Net operating income in the leasing process. Through our leasing CRM introduced at customer conference, We give customers visibility into everything that's happening in the leasing funnel, enabling leasing agents to have conversations at the prospect level instead of the property level, critical for customers with multifamily properties and on-site teams. Our AI leasing assistant, Lisa, Seamlessly integrates with Leasing CRM, empowering customers to have complete control over when to engage with potential residents. Expanding our coverage of additional property types also contributes to our ability to win and retain upmarket customers. Affordable housing is now available as part of AppFolio Property Manager Plus.

Speaker 2

From project based Section 8 To LITEC and HUD, AppFolio has tools for customers that need to track compliance and manage their affordable housing and conventional units all on one platform. Jessica Hoff Berzak, Co Owner and Principal of UP Holdings With 2,300 units across 4 states on AppFolio says and I quote, before AppFolio, We had a variety of technological solutions. One of the biggest things that AppFolio has done for us is bring all of that under one umbrella. It is all in AppFolio now. In addition to adding property types, we are powering mixed portfolios By extending the value of our platform to scale with complex operations, whether built natively or delivered by our integration partners.

Speaker 2

Take our new bulk actions functionality, instead of completing one move out after another, customers can now efficiently set dates, Take necessary accounting actions and download disposition letters all in one streamline workflow. This is important to our upmarket customers, particularly those with student housing in their portfolio. Another key component of our strategy is to unlock unit growth up market with AppFolio stack. With 48 partners and 1,300,000 connected units, Our integration partner ecosystem continues to expand, offering customers increased flexibility to integrate their favorite PropTech solution into their workflows. One of our newest partners is Birdeye, a leader in digital customer experiences, which offers tools for reputation and review management, Online listings, messaging, surveys and competitive benchmarking.

Speaker 2

This integration will equip Connected AppFolio customers with actionable AI powered insights they can use to find and convert more leads. The 3rd pillar of our strategy is to expand customer adoption of AppFolio Property Manager Plus and our value added services. In the Q3, we expanded our customer education program to better help customers and their teams build critical AppFolio expertise. These capabilities empower our customers to quickly adopt and use our products and services leading to more meaningful business outcomes. The expanded program has 3 components.

Speaker 2

1st, the new and improved AppFolio Academy, a 20 fourseven On demand learning center with educational content tailored to ramp new hires quickly and assist more experienced employees when they need help with advanced topics. 2nd, academy training, customized training sessions led by our product team of product experts specifically designed to meet the needs of customers who require a personalized and immersive learning experience. The 3rd and newest component is academy certifications, which are dedicated self guided courses designed to up level and certify Our expanded education program aims to provide comprehensive support. However, there still may be occasions when our customers need to seek specialized skills outside of their organization. In such situations, finding high quality partners with the right expertise can be challenging.

Speaker 2

We set out to solve this problem by recently launching at FolioStack Solution Partners, a network of industry experts ready to help customers achieve their business goals. Through this new category, we can now offer customers easy access to some of the best accounting and consulting solution providers in the industry, which only further helps our customers succeed on our platform and inspires expanded use and adoption. In summary, we are pleased with our continued strategic execution and resulting profitable revenue growth In the Q3, thank you to our customers, partners and team members who helped make the customer conference a huge success. We remain focused on creating exceptional value that powers the future of the real estate industry and sets our customers apart from the rest. I will now hand it over to Fei Hsieh Yen.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Shane. The 3rd quarter demonstrates to $165,400,000 and generated free cash flow amounting to 20.3 percent of revenue. Core Solutions revenue was $39,800,000 in Q3, a 17% year over year increase driven by new customers At the end of the Q3, we managed approximately 7,800,000 units from 19,418 customers compared to 7,100,000 units from 18,109 customers a year earlier. This represents a 7% increase in customers and a 10% increase in ending units. For value added services, Revenue in Q3 grew 39% year over year to $123,200,000 This growth in our payments business was a result of increased online rent payments adoption and higher volume rent transactions paid using a debit or credit card and our decision to stop our e check fees.

Speaker 3

Additionally, risk mitigation and screening grew in line with our seasonal Q3 expectations. Our Q3 results demonstrate our ability to grow profitably in spite of macroeconomic conditions. Our innovation and reach from property managers to investors and owners to vendors and residents makes us resilient. Turning to spending, we exited the quarter with 1683 employees, which is a decline of 4% compared to the Q3 of 2022 and this includes 149 employees that were impacted from our previously announced reduction in force, as Jay mentioned earlier. The mid quarter restructuring of Haycom affected all areas of the business and while difficult aligns our structure with strategy to empower our employees to better serve our customers.

Speaker 3

Non GAAP cost of revenue, exclusive of depreciation and amortization, was 36% of revenue compared to 40% in the Q3 of last year. Turning now to non GAAP operating expenses. Our year over year dollar increase in operating expenses for Q3 is primarily due to employee costs associated with retaining talent, particularly in specialized areas such as R and D. As a percent of revenue, combined sales and marketing, R and D And G and A fell to 44% in the Q3 of 2023 from 52% in the Q3 of 2022 due to growth in revenue and our multi quarter focus on operational efficiency. Sales and marketing expenses as a percentage of revenue decreased from 19% in the prior year to 15% this year.

Speaker 3

R and D expenses as a percentage of revenue was 20% in both the Q3 of this year and last year. Our G and A expenses as a percentage of revenue decreased from 13% in the prior year to 10% this quarter. Overall, our non GAAP operating margin in the Q3 of This year improved to 16.1% compared to 3.7% in the Q3 of last year. Free cash flow this quarter was 20.3% compared to 9.5% in the same quarter last year. We are pleased to be increasing our projected full year 2023 Revenue guidance range to $608,000,000 to $612,000,000 The midpoint of this range represents a full year growth rate We expect that full year 2023 cost of revenue, exclusive of depreciation and amortization, will be higher than Q3 2023 as a percentage of revenue due to a normalization of product mix within our value added services revenue.

Speaker 3

Our 2023 ending headcount is projected to be below 2022 ending headcount. As a result of improving operational efficiencies and the increase to our revenue guidance, we are increasing our full year non GAAP operating margin Expectation to 10.5% to 11% of revenue and free cash flow is projected to grow to 10.5% to 11.5 percent of revenue. Basic weighted average shares outstanding are expected to be approximately 36,000,000 shares for the full year. In summary, 3rd quarter results are an excellent example of how Appsilon focused on delivering profitable growth and industry innovation. We are looking forward to sharing Thank you all for joining us today and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Speaker 3

Operator, this concludes today's call.

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Key Takeaways

  • AppFolio delivered 32% year-over-year revenue growth in Q3 to $165.4 million, drove non-GAAP operating margin to 16.1% and free cash flow margin to 20.3%, and increased managed units to 7.8 million.
  • The company reduced headcount by nearly 9% to sharpen its focus on profitable growth and operational efficiency in the real estate industry.
  • AppFolio is piloting RealmX, its new generative AI conversational interface (“ask, tell, teach”), ahead of a wider 2024 rollout, with overall AI feature adoption reaching 85% of customers.
  • New product innovations include a leasing CRM with the AI assistant “Lisa,” enhanced affordable housing capabilities, bulk actions workflows, and an expanding partner ecosystem (48 integrations, 1.3 million connected units).
  • The company raised its full-year 2023 guidance to $608–$612 million in revenue, and now expects non-GAAP operating margins of 10.5–11% and free cash flow of 10.5–11.5%.
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Earnings Conference Call
AppFolio Q3 2023
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