Finance of America Companies Q4 2024 Earnings Report

Finance of America Companies EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.21
• Consensus EPS: $0.45
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.24
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Finance of America Companies Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: ($105.62) million
• Expected Revenue: $80.61 million
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$186.24 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Finance of America Companies Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q4 2024
• Date: 3/11/2025
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Tuesday, March 11, 2025
• Conference Call Time: 5:00PM ET

Finance of America Companies (NYSE:FOA) a financial service holding company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of a retirement solutions platform in the United States. It operates through two segments: Retirement Solutions and Portfolio Management. The Retirement Solutions segment engages in the loan origination activities comprising home equity conversion, proprietary reverse, and hybrid mortgage loans for senior homeowners. The Portfolio Management segment provides product development, loan securitization, loan sales, risk management, servicing oversight, and asset management services for borrowers and investors. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Plano, Texas.

Finance of America Companies Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Presentation

[Operator]

Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Mike Elfend. Please go ahead.

[Michael Fant, Senior Vice President of Finance at Finance Of America Companies]

Thank you and good afternoon everyone and welcome to Finance of America's fourth quarter and full year twenty twenty four earnings call. With me today are Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer, Kristen Seifert, President and Matt Engel, Chief Financial Officer. As a reminder, this call is being recorded and you can find the earnings release and presentation on our Investor Relations website at ir.financeofamericacompany.com. In addition, we will refer to certain non GAAP financial measures on this call. You can find reconciliations of non GAAP to GAAP financial measures to the extent available without unreasonable efforts discussed on today's call in our earnings press release and presentation on the Investor Relations page of our website.

[Michael Fant, Senior Vice President of Finance at Finance Of America Companies]

Also, I would like to remind everyone that comments on this conference call may be forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the company's expected operating and financial performance for future periods. These statements are based on the company's current expectations and are subject to the safe harbor statement for forward looking statements that you will find in today's earnings release. Actual results for future periods may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward looking statements due to a number of risks or other factors, including those that are described in the risk factors section of Finance of America's annual report on form 10 ks for the year ended 12/31/2023 filed with the SEC on 03/15/2024. As such, risk factors may be amended and updated in our subsequent filings with the SEC. We are not undertaking any commitment to update these statements if conditions change.

[Michael Fant, Senior Vice President of Finance at Finance Of America Companies]

Please note, today, we will be discussing interim period financials for our continuing operations, which are not. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Finance of America's Chief Executive Officer, Graham Fleming. Graham?

[Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Finance Of America Companies]

Thank you, Michael. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today.

[Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Finance Of America Companies]

To begin, I would like to highlight the successful year we had in 2024. I will then turn things over to Kristen to share updates on the business, followed by a review of our financials for Matt. Twenty twenty four was a year of significant momentum for finance in America. Throughout the year, we accomplished numerous strategic objectives that strengthened our balance sheet and enhanced the business, driving the company's return to profitability. Despite market uncertainty in 2024, we focused on what we could

[Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Finance Of America Companies]

control to improve the fundamentals of the business. We integrated

[Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Finance Of America Companies]

our retail platform, finalized our corporate bond exchange, completed our reverse stock split, rationalized corporate overhead, and increased our funding facilities. We believe these actions have positioned us well to execute our 2025 strategic objectives. For the year, we funded more than $1,900,000,000 in loans to help our customers, a 19% increase in volume year over year. Carrying this momentum into '25, we expect full year origination volume to be in the range of $2.72400000000.0 dollars to $2,700,000,000 and 26% to 42% increase from 24%. Turning to the income statement.

[Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Finance Of America Companies]

In 2024, the company recognized positive results for GAAP net income of $40,000,000 adjusted net income of $14,000,000 and adjusted EBITDA of $60,000,000 reflecting continued operational improvements. These improvements are best represented by the $200,000,000 increase in GAAP net income and the nearly $100,000,000 increase in adjusted net income from 'twenty three to 'twenty four. I'm pleased with our performance, which is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team. Finance in America is making home equity a mainstream component of retirement planning and we remain confident in our strategic direction and the long term value of the business. For additional information, please refer to the presentation on our investor relations website outlining our total investable market and investment opportunity.

[Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Finance Of America Companies]

As we wrap up 2024, I want to thank our incredible team for their dedication and hard work. Because of their efforts, Finance of America is well positioned for an exciting year ahead. In 'twenty five, we look forward to building our momentum, expanding our reach, and driving even greater value for our customers and stakeholders. Now I'll turn it over to Kristen for an update on our operations.

[Kristen Sieffert, President at Finance Of America Companies]

Thank you, Graham, and good afternoon, everyone. 2024 marked a significant period of strategic alignment for the business. We successfully unified the company under a single brand and fortified our foundation and culture to support the growth we have planned for the forthcoming years. Despite the challenges that acquisitions can often present, I'm exceptionally proud of how our team has collaborated to establish a robust footing for this next chapter. Key milestones included the complete integration of the retail platform, which enhanced our efficiency and profitability.

[Kristen Sieffert, President at Finance Of America Companies]

We expanded our second lien reverse mortgage to additional states and made the product available to our wholesale partners in one of the industry's leading technology platforms. We also overhauled our data and reporting infrastructure using AI driven tools, enabling us to capitalize on trends that drive performance. These milestones combined with successful execution of our remaining operational initiatives, positioned us to close 2024 with our largest production month since 2022. Looking ahead, we anticipate continued growth as we further optimize the fundamentals within each channel and focus on areas with significant upside opportunity. This year, we also added new leadership hires to drive our continued transformation.

[Kristen Sieffert, President at Finance Of America Companies]

Joining our Finance of America Reverse team are Brian Honeen as Chief Information Officer and Kareem Venesa as Chief Customer Officer. We believe their leadership will be pivotal in enhancing the customer journey and enabling us more meaningfully tap into the $14,000,000,000,000 senior home equity market. While we experienced significant momentum in our HomeSafe second product in 2024, with 77% growth between the first and second half of the year, the market opportunity is staggering relative to our current penetration. The demand for loans among homeowners aged 55 and above remains a significant portion of the broader home equity market, representing over 31% of all second lien originations in 2023 based on data made available on the FFIDC on the platform. Applying that share to the 167,000,000,000 second lien originations reported by Inside Mortgage Finance for the first nine months of 2024, seniors would represent roughly $50,000,000,000 in second lien originations annually.

[Kristen Sieffert, President at Finance Of America Companies]

However, within this massive market, home safe second originations accounted for only 0.01% of the total lending to this demographic. This highlights the enormous opportunity ahead. By capturing even a small fraction of this market through our digital transformation, expanded partnerships with traditional lenders and modernized advertising campaign and brand platform launching in Q2 this year, we believe we can drive substantial growth in home equity for retirement adoption. Despite operating in a challenging mortgage environment, our team delivered exceptional performance in 2024. With strong demographic tailwinds and a growing emphasis on home equity solutions, we will continue to drive innovation and expand our offerings to capture a growing market.

[Kristen Sieffert, President at Finance Of America Companies]

We are optimistic about what we can achieve in the years ahead with our talented team, strategic vision and operational strength to continue driving success and value creation. Now I'll turn it over to Matt to discuss our financials. Matt?

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

Thank you, Kristin. Binance America finished 2024 on a strong note. Q4 funding volume of $534,000,000 surpassing our previously provided guidance. For the full year, we funded $1,930,000,000 in volume, 19% year over year increase, reflecting our strategic growth initiatives and disciplined execution. This translated to net income of $40,000,000 adjusted net income of $14,000,000 adjusted EBITDA of $60,000,000 and adjusted EPS of $0.6 for our fiscal year 2024.

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

For the fourth quarter, the company reported a net loss of $143,000,000 or $5.95

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

per share.

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

However, our adjusted net income of $5,000,000 or $0.21 per share reflects our continued strong performance of 2024. Year over year, we achieved a $2.00 $6,000,000 increase in GAAP net income and a nearly $100,000,000 increase in adjusted net income, a 178% improvement in adjusted EBITDA and a 116% rise in adjusted EPS compared to the full year 2023. This marks a significant improvement from last year when we were still integrating our retail platform and navigating margin compression due to broader market conditions. Additionally, our corporate cost structure has continued to improve, building on the nearly $90,000,000 in annualized expense reductions we achieved last year. These structural changes have positioned us for stronger financial performance moving forward.

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

Our profitability improvements were driven by three key factors. First, reverse low volumes grew by 19%, driven by several strategic initiatives. We remain the largest issuer of HMBS twenty twenty four, while also expanding our non agency reverse offerings, resulting in a 73% increase in non agency reverse volume year over year. Our second lien product, Homesafe Second, scaled significantly, achieving nearly 400% year over year growth, demonstrating strong demand for homeowners seeking to tap into home equity while preserving their low rate first lien mortgages. Additionally, successfully integrated our retail platform, streamlined the loan origination and funding process.

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

Second, an expansion of revenue margins within our originations platform. During 2023, business recognized a revenue margin of 9.2% of 1,600,000,000.0 of production. During 2024, this margin grew to 10.7% on $1,900,000,000 of production, representing a 16% increase in margin. This improvement was driven by several factors, including an additional quarter of production from the onboarded retail platform, which contributed $125,000,000 more in volume compared to 2023. Additionally, product mix shifted toward our proprietary non agency product suite tripping to higher margins.

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

These factors combined with improved execution of proprietary products contributed to the overall revenue margin expansion which we expect to continue in 2025. Third, we achieved significant cost efficiencies and reductions through disciplined expense management, resulting in a 48,000,000 reduction in our cost base. This can be attributed to technology driven process automation, which streamlined loan processing and eliminated operational efficiencies. Lower corporate overhead achieved through workforce optimization, real estate consolidations, and administrative expense reductions, as well as improved funding efficiency as our expanded warehouse lending capacity and strategic financing initiative helped lower our funding costs and enhance our liquidity. Other net, other net value gains remain positive despite the ten year treasury yield increasing by nearly 75 basis points for the year.

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

This was driven by tighter spreads, increased home price appreciation expectations and slower repayments. Looking ahead, our improved financial foundation and disciplined cost management efforts have set the stage for continued profitability and growth in 2025. For the first quarter of twenty twenty five, we expect origination volume to be between five twenty five million dollars to $550,000,000 a 25% to 30% increase in the first quarter of twenty twenty four. For the first quarter, this volume has been coupled with strong revenue markets in our origination platform, which should lead to results similar to the third quarter of twenty twenty four. Additionally, we reaffirm our full year adjusted net income projection in the range of $2.6 to $3 per share, supported by our focus on cost discipline and capital efficiency.

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

February 2025, we successfully completed the largest securitization of non agency proprietary product in the company's history. This transaction included a mix of new and seasoned collateral, demonstrating our ability to execute complex capital markets transactions at scale. This milestone reinforces our position as a leader in the non agency reverse mortgage market, while enhancing liquidity and supporting continued growth. As we continue to build on our momentum, our focus remains on delivering profitable growth, optimizing our capital structure and driving long term shareholder value. With our strategic initiatives in place, we are well positioned to capitalize the market opportunities and sustain our trajectory in 2025 and beyond.

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

With that, let me hand it back to Graham for closing remarks. Yes.

[Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Finance Of America Companies]

Thank you, Matt.

[Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Finance Of America Companies]

Twenty twenty four was a year of significant transformation for our business, making us notably stronger and more resilient compared to 2023. We achieved substantial progress across multiple key areas positioning us well for 2025. Operationally, we expanded our product offerings, launched targeted marketing campaigns and strengthened our brand presence. Financially, our disciplined management and strategic initiatives have led to substantial improvements in our financial health. The demographic trends in The US further reinforce our confidence in the long term value proposition of our business.

[Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Finance Of America Companies]

With the growing retiree population and substantial home equity among older homeowners now exceeding 14,000,000,000,000, we are well positioned to capitalize on favorable market conditions. We are confident in our ability to continue delivering value by empowering a growing customer base to leverage home equity for a better retirement. And with that, we'll open the call up for some questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Your first question comes from the line of Stephen Laws with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

[Stephen Laws, Managing Director at Raymond James Financial]

Hi, good afternoon.

[Stephen Laws, Managing Director at Raymond James Financial]

I kind of want to get a little color. I think you guys hit a couple of these points through the prepared remarks. But as I think about the net origination gains number that runs through revenue, Matt, and you mentioned Q1 may look more like Q3 of last year. But was there some pressure on margins just given the rates moving higher and created somewhat of a headwind as we move through Q4? And is that trend something we're seeing reversing in Q1?

[Stephen Laws, Managing Director at Raymond James Financial]

Or can you maybe talk a little bit about the net gain on originations line?

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

Thanks, Stephen. Yes, I think it's fair to say rates have been a little volatile. There was a little bit of headwind in Q4 as as rates kind of increased. You know, we've seen a lot of that starting to decrease here, in the first quarter. We're almost mostly way through the first quarter.

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

We have a pretty good sense of how, you know, first quarter is shaping up. So we think all in comparing to the third quarter of last year is probably a fair comparison. But the factors you point out I think are absolutely correct.

[Stephen Laws, Managing Director at Raymond James Financial]

Great. And then I think about Yeah.

[Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Finance Of America Companies]

So, Steve, I was just going to add to that, right. So, when when we price our loans to the consumer, right, that initial rate, determines the proceeds, that the consumer receives, right. So, obviously, given the demographic that we deal with, but we don't as we work through the process, we don't change those rates because that would directly impact the cash proceeds that the senior would receive. So, you know, we kinda hold that rate. So unfortunately, with the volatility in Q4, it did lower revenue margins.

[Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Finance Of America Companies]

You know,

[Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Finance Of America Companies]

I think as we said on our last call, you know, Q3 was a little higher than what we've seen, on an average basis and Q4 is a little lower. But the overall year, they're kind of consistent to Q1 and Q2 of last year and we kind of expect similar margins in 2025.

[Stephen Laws, Managing Director at Raymond James Financial]

Great. Appreciate that. And I wanted to touch on the guidance. You guys reaffirm guidance and Graham you started with kind of providing a range on originations that underpins that guidance, I believe. And then Matt, if we take your Q1 number, you're really looking at about $2,000,000,000 of remaining originations through the last three quarters of this year.

[Stephen Laws, Managing Director at Raymond James Financial]

Is that going to continue to ramp through the year under your expectations? Or do you think it potels at some point? And then maybe as a supplement to that question, Kristen, I know you've talked about the unified under single brand. Can you talk about the marketing initiatives and kind of push and advertising that that may launch here in the coming months and how you expect that to drive volume over the year?

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

So there's a lot in there.

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

We may hand it off here to cover it up to our side. But I I do think that, you should expect to see some ramp during the year. You know, first quarter obviously was it's always expected to be a little bit weaker just because then our retail platform in particular, we scaled back marketing over the November and December holiday periods. We're kinda coming out of the gate full stronger in in Q1. That should continue to grow over the course of the year.

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

Also, good thing to speak to, you know, we're doing a lot to kind of roll out and scale up the HomeSafe second program, which really we think will have an impact in second half of

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

this year in particular.

[Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies]

But I would expect to see some some sequential kind of growth throughout the year.

[Kristen Sieffert, President at Finance Of America Companies]

Yeah. So I'd add to that. Obviously, the HomeSafe second product, there's a there's huge upside there. And with the targeted marketing campaign supporting that product to Matt's point, we do expect that that continues to ramp, you know, midyear this year and then well beyond that, I think year over year would be the would be the goal. As it relates to the marketing initiatives, I think I've mentioned to you before, we've invested quite heavily in consumer research to really understand how to better, you know, reach the total addressable market that exists.

[Kristen Sieffert, President at Finance Of America Companies]

And we've been working on, I would say, probably the last year now on a complete, advertising and brand platform transition. That platform transition goes live at the, in Q2 and we'll be fully migrating away from kind of our legacy advertising campaigns and into the new campaigns, in the summer. So by June, we'll be fully transitioned over. Once that happens, we see a tremendous amount of upside because, you know, historically, we've just really focused on kind of a DRTV approach and in a more, kind of modern approach to marketing, there's a lot of untapped opportunity for us. So we see a huge amount of upside there to really optimize the amount of investment that we're making in marketing across the funnel.

[Stephen Laws, Managing Director at Raymond James Financial]

Fantastic. I appreciate the comments this afternoon and look forward to an exciting 2025. Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Doug Harter with UBS. Please go ahead.

[William Nasta, Equity Research Associate at UBS Group]

Hi, thanks. This is actually Will Masta on for Doug today. I was just hoping you could give us an update on, HECM two point o and the progress there, given the new administration and the, you know, pending changes that are are around there. Thanks.

[Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Finance Of America Companies]

Yeah. Sure. You know, the latest, you know, the latest update I have for you on that is, you know, Gini continued to make progress on the operational side, relative to the implementation of HMBS two point o. They haven't yet communicated an effective date. Although based upon our last conversation with them, as soon as they have, you know, the the appointees in place, they do expect, you know, this to move forward.

[Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Finance Of America Companies]

But at this point, they don't have an effective date, although I do know that they continue to make progress and work on the program. I think the last piece that is outstanding is just when it will go live. So that's the latest update that we have. I'm sorry, I didn't have more clarity around the roll update for you.

[William Nasta, Equity Research Associate at UBS Group]

Okay. Great. Thank you.

[Operator]

That concludes our Q and A session. I will now turn the conference back to Graham Fleming for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

[Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Finance Of America Companies]

Yeah. Thank you very much everybody for joining us for our Q4, full year twenty twenty four call. And I look forward to updating everybody in May on our Q1, our Q1 progress. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer

Analysts

• Michael Fant, Senior Vice President of Finance at Finance Of America Companies
• Kristen Sieffert, President at Finance Of America Companies
• Matt Engel, CFO at Finance Of America Companies
• Stephen Laws, Managing Director at Raymond James Financial
• William Nasta, Equity Research Associate at UBS Group