LendingTree NASDAQ: TREE said its third-quarter 2026 results exceeded its prior guidance as strength in insurance, a recovery in small-business lending and cost discipline helped offset continued pressure in mortgage-related markets.
President and CEO Scott Peyree said the company raised its full-year outlook and now expects adjusted EBITDA growth of 14% at the midpoint of its guidance range. He said the performance demonstrated the durability of LendingTree’s diversified model despite higher long-term interest rates that have weighed on the mortgage business.
“We are very excited to provide strong financial results in Q3 that handily beat guidance,” Peyree said. The company did not discuss detailed quarterly revenue or earnings figures during the call, referring investors to its shareholder letter and investor presentation.
Insurance strength and consumer lending recovery
Insurance remained a major source of momentum during the quarter. Peyree said the property-and-casualty insurance cycle remained “steady and very strong,” with several clients increasing their activity on LendingTree’s platform. A new bidding-platform integration with the company’s largest client was deployed faster than expected and contributed to results during the latter part of the quarter, he said.
Management also expressed confidence that favorable insurance conditions could persist. In response to an analyst question, Peyree said the industry appears more stable and profitable than it has been in a long time, barring major changes such as a resurgence in inflation or carriers reducing rates more aggressively.
He said LendingTree believes it has room to gain share in online insurance performance marketing, estimating that its market share in that area is likely below 20%.
In consumer lending, the company reported sequential improvement in small-business lending after what Peyree called a trough in the second quarter. September and October were the company’s two strongest months for small-business concierge sales since January, he said.
Management attributed the earlier weakness partly to lender caution after a period of rapid loan originations and to softer sentiment among small-business owners. Lender appetite has since rebounded, Peyree said, as lenders found that loan performance remained sound. Merchant sentiment has improved but has not fully recovered, and management said loan acceptance rates and average loan sizes remain below levels seen during the company’s prior peak in the fourth quarter and first quarter.
Chief Financial Officer Jason Bengel said that if small-business lending had performed in line with the company’s original budget, LendingTree would have generated more than $160 million in EBITDA during 2026.
Mortgage headwinds, home-equity opportunity
The home segment continued to face a difficult mortgage backdrop as interest rates moved higher during the year. Still, Peyree said LendingTree delivered year-over-year growth in both revenue and variable marketing dollars in the segment, which he said reflected market-share gains and investments to expand consumer traffic.
Home equity and home equity lines of credit have become a more meaningful part of the business and are less sensitive to interest rates than purchase and refinancing mortgages, according to management. Bengel said record home-equity balances and consumer spending on home renovations could support future growth even as home sales remain at very low levels.
For the fourth quarter, Bengel said the home business is expected to be seasonally lower and potentially weaker than typical seasonal patterns because of the current mortgage environment. Consumer lending is expected to be roughly flat sequentially, with stronger seasonal demand in small-business lending offset by typical fourth-quarter softness in personal loans.
Insurance represents the largest uncertainty in the company’s fourth-quarter outlook, he said. LendingTree is assuming a seasonal increase in carrier budgets, but not the unusually large end-of-year budgets it received in recent years.
AI investments and traffic strategy
LendingTree is continuing to invest in its “North Star” strategy, which focuses on return customers, referrals and growth in logged-in users. Peyree said the company is developing debt-management tools, AI-driven recommendations and scenario-analysis features designed to create a more engaged member base and reduce the need to pay to reacquire consumers repeatedly.
The company is also testing voice and text artificial-intelligence tools that can guide consumers through more of the shopping process before transferring them to a lender or carrier. LendingTree has expanded AI-generated offer overviews for personal-loan shoppers from logged-in members to all users of its branded website and plans to develop similar tools for its other product categories in early 2027.
Peyree said management does not expect large language models to create either a major near-term traffic opportunity or a substantial loss of traffic from existing channels. He argued that LendingTree’s network of more than 700 carriers and lenders provides a structural advantage because many partners provide quotes only through backend application programming interfaces rather than publicly accessible online forms.
The company is engaging with major AI platforms and developing systems intended to communicate with AI agents, Peyree said. LendingTree also sees opportunities to increase traffic through social media, publisher relationships and business-development partnerships, areas where management believes the company has been underrepresented relative to competitors.
Debt reduction, cash flow and capital returns
Bengel said LendingTree has made progress reducing expenses and leverage. At the midpoint of its 2026 outlook, the company expects expenses to rise about 3%, which he attributed to operational discipline and internal efficiency gains from AI tools.
- The company paid down $60 million of debt during the quarter.
- Gross debt declined to $336 million, moving closer to LendingTree’s longer-term $200 million target.
- The debt repayment is expected to save approximately $5 million in interest expense.
- Trailing 12-month free cash flow, excluding litigation, was $100 million as of the third quarter.
The company recorded a $99 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge in its home and consumer segments. Bengel said the charge resulted from an impairment assessment that considered the company’s market capitalization around Sept. 30 and did not reflect a change in management’s expectations for those businesses.
LendingTree plans to continue paying down debt and said it expects to repurchase shares in the fourth quarter. Bengel said management views the stock as an attractive use of capital when compared with the company’s free cash flow, EBITDA multiple and implied growth expectations.
About LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE)
LendingTree, Inc operates an online marketplace that helps consumers compare financial products and services from a network of lenders, insurers and other providers. Its platform is designed to connect shoppers with potential offers based on their financial needs and preferences.
The company's marketplace includes products such as mortgages and other home loans, personal loans, business loans, auto loans, credit cards, insurance and deposit accounts. LendingTree also provides educational content, comparison tools and financial guidance intended to help consumers evaluate borrowing, insurance and saving options.
Founded in 1996 by Doug Lebda, LendingTree is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and primarily serves consumers in the United States.
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