This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.
spk07: With that, I'll turn it over to Ken. Thanks, Karen. Good morning, everyone. Our financial performance in Q1 was better than we expected with revenue up 79% and bookings up 74%, driven by growth in ClearPlus as well as new deals on the platform side. As we discussed last quarter, our focus remains on growing members, bookings, and free cash flow. We generated roughly $20 million of free cash flow in the quarter and expect this to be our fifth consecutive year of free cash flow generation. Our business model is strong, and following several years of platform investments, as well as the normalization of airport staffing levels post-pandemic, we are seeing operating leverage. Adjusted EBITDA this quarter was roughly break-even. As we told you last quarter, we expect moderating year-over-year expense growth in 2022. Quick word on retention. We reported 95.3% net member retention in the quarter, which remains above our long-term expectations of the upper 80s. We are really pleased with how retention has trended coming out of the pandemic, and there are structural reasons for this strength, like network expansion, strong operational execution, customer centricity, and brand passion, as we discussed in our letter. In addition, some of the strength also relates to win-backs of the excess churn we saw during the pandemic. As a reminder, the net retention calculation is the sum of gross retention plus win-backs. So in other words, gross retention, which is in the low to mid-80s, is netting to the mid-90s with the benefit of windbacks. We do expect net retention to normalize above pre-pandemic levels in the upper 80s and among best-in-class consumer subscription metrics. Some of you may have seen news of our planned price increase. Later this week, we're raising the retail price of Clear Plus subscription for the first time in our history by $10 to $189 for new members. Existing members will be grandfathered at $179 in 2022. This quarter, we added some disclosure around stock-based compensation expense. As owner-operators, we're strong believers in driving economic returns, and we are mindful of the true cost to shareholders of share count growth. At Clear, we have constructed a thoughtful, long-term total rewards program that encourages an ownership mentality while we remain focused on limiting dilution over time. Along those lines, today we announced a $100 million share purchase program. As clear owners, we're focused on economic capital allocation to maximize long-term returns, including opportunistic share purchases. Our cash and equivalence balance at 331 was $663 million. Thus, we have ample liquidity to support repurchases as well as our growth initiatives, both organic and inorganic. Now for guidance. In Q2, we expect GAAP revenues of $99 to $101 million and total bookings of $110 to $114 million excluding any contribution from TSA PreCheck. We're making steady progress in our launch timeline, setting us up for go live in the next several months. We'll now go to Q&A.
spk04: Thank you. We'll now be conducting the question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question today, please press star one from your telephone keypad, and a confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants that are using speaker equipment, It may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, so we poll for questions. Once again, that's star one. Thank you. Thank you. Our first question is from the line of Paul Cho with J.P. Morgan. Please proceed with your question.
spk06: Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. Very nice performance here. Just curious on the you know, the Health Pass member and the conversion to Clear Plus. How effective has that upsell progressed? You know, what are some metrics you can share? And then separately, we're also seeing, you know, the Clear brand kind of pop up in various different verticals, you know, seeing it in hospitals and others. Where are you seeing more opportunities to kind of grow the brand, et cetera?
spk02: So thanks, Paul. We are seeing organic upgrades from the platform to the Clear Plus side of the business. Interestingly, we really haven't kick-started any internal initiatives around that, so it's really organic. And I think that's incredibly exciting because it also introduces the brand to people in new ways, which makes it much easier at the airport for them to join. We're also hearing that from our ambassadors that we have much higher brand awareness which gets people more interested and more excited about the brand. We're seeing the desire for frictionless experiences in multiple verticals. And I don't think it's just about the experience, right? So yes, that's the expectation for people coming out of the pandemic, but also automation, which drives cost efficiencies for partners is a driver and also connected experiences. So we are seeing it broad based in the travel industry, So as I talked about that return, airports, airlines, hotels, car rentals, ride shares, you're seeing that desire across all of those, and they also have a lot of partnerships between them. And so, you know, I think it's a holistic view there. To your point, maybe you experienced clear at HSS here in New York City. We are seeing a lot of interest. Oh, is that where you saw it?
spk06: Yeah, yeah, I did see that there, yes.
spk02: Yes. Well, hopefully you're feeling okay. We are seeing interest in the healthcare side because, again, CLEAR plays on both the physical and the digital side, right? So both on the digital front door, telehealth, telemedicine, as well as the physical experience. And then the last thing I would say is we are seeing interest from, I would call it, digital trust We did by Atlas certified at the very end of the fourth quarter and this concept of knowing you and that you are certified or licensed for certain use cases right or job. Is also really important. So I would say it's broad based both online and offline. The last piece I would add is as clear built a lot of partnerships to help employees and employers return to work and obviously that's incredibly important right now thinking about that hybrid work environment which is now both physical and digital we think there's a lot of opportunities there great and then um follow up on the airport count you know you mentioned 43 today you know how many lanes for airports today is there more runway to kind of add more lanes um with your existing partners and then
spk06: Looking ahead, nice progress with three airports today in the quarter. What are some key partners you see in the pipeline? Any updates on the international efforts as well? Thank you.
spk02: So we do see growth on both the new airport and current airport pipeline, and so you will see both of those coming throughout this year. in terms of where we see the opportunities. We don't announce partnerships before we sign them, so stay tuned. And international, as I mentioned, we now have our reserve lane in Calgary. Where we're focused internationally is, I would call it the Americas, from Canada to South America, Western Europe as really our first focus, and that's in multiple different kinds of products. When I think about good, better, best, And I think we talked about this last quarter, right? We have reserve. We'll be launching pre-check enrollment. We have Clear Plus and more products coming. So we have more opportunities to launch different products in different airports and really serve our partners as they want to be served.
spk06: Great. Thank you.
spk04: The next question comes from the line of Dana Telsey with Telsey Group. Please proceed with your question.
spk01: Good morning, everyone. Congratulations on the nice progress. As you think about the TSA pre-check launch, how is that going and any update on the cadence there? And then on the B2B model that you just mentioned, any other guideposts that we should be watching for as you go through the year? And lastly, with the operating expense leverage that you had this quarter, how are you thinking about expenses going forward and the different buckets? Thank you.
spk02: Dana, I'll take the B2B and then I'll let Ken talk to pre-check as well as expense and operating leverage. As I talked about in my commentaries in earlier stage business, the platform metrics, there can be mismatches between new deal signed and bookings versus enrollment utilization. Let me give you two examples of that. In this quarter, we signed a large platform deal that contributed to bookings, but didn't yet launch, so it doesn't yet have an impact on members and utilization, as opposed to our Clear Plus business, when you enroll, you pay, typically in the same quarter. Or in Q4, as we were successful driving new members with our Raiders partnership, but then the NFL season ended, so we didn't have growth ads or utilization from that partnership in this quarter. So it's really... you know, what the guideposts you should be looking for are both product launches and partner announcements. Some partners will run throughout a year, and some partners would be in a quarter or an event, and so hence the potential lumpiness there. And so I would just stay tuned for products and partners.
spk07: Hi, Dana. So on the pre-check piece, look, we're making really good progress. Everyone involved is motivated to bring this to the traveling public. Everyone wants a larger pre-check enrollment base. And so we continue to work in partnership with the TSA to bring our strong networking capabilities to the pre-check enrollment program as soon as possible. And look, we're confident that we're well positioned to launch in the next several months, so I'll leave it at that.
spk02: If I could just add to that, I was recently with some of our engineers who were showing off the product demonstration, and we're incredibly excited to launch it. And also for travelers, and I know our airport partners are also excited for the launch, the ability to leverage our really well-positioned enrollment locations and our amazing staff of ambassadors and team of ambassadors across the country, starting at 4.30 in the morning and ending at 10 or 11 o'clock whenever a certain lane or enrollment area closes, we are ASSA ready and incredibly excited to bring this to travelers. And I would say our partners are deeply aligned on that.
spk07: So your last question on expenses. Look, I'll reiterate what we said last time, which is we expect a moderating growth rate in the year-over-year expenses. As you know, we've had a couple years of investment in the platform. Last year, we spent the year normalizing our staffing levels. to pre-pandemic levels after cutting them in 2020. And so, you know, we're well positioned for operating leverage. And, you know, again, I'll point to our free cash flow generation. So our gap metrics, you know, understate the true profitability of the business.
spk01: Thank you. Thanks.
spk04: The next question comes from the line of Michael Turin with Wells Fargo. Please receive your questions.
spk00: Hi, you got Michael Berg on from Michael Tern. Congrats on a great quarter and thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to double click on something you touched on last quarter to see if you might have some quantitative metrics behind it again. You mentioned last quarter, same sort of bookings grew 50% year over year. Any sort of metrics around that this quarter?
spk07: Yeah, we wanted to give some additional disclosure just to help everyone understand the true growth dynamics of the business on a same-store basis, as well as how widespread the growth is. Karen made a few comments in her opening remarks. In general, we are seeing strong same-store growth. I don't have a metric for the full base for you this quarter, but we are seeing very, very widespread, strong sales, same-store growth across our base.
spk00: Fantastic. And a quick follow-up. How would you characterize the initial integration and demand for your recent acquisitions of Atlas and Y-Line?
spk07: We're really pleased with the pipeline. Integration is going well, and we are very excited about those two acquisitions and what we can do to accelerate their growth as well as how they will help us accelerate our growth.
spk02: When I talked about automation, I think that businesses are fully understanding that the hours required to manually check and confirm individual credentials and licenses are staggering. When you think about health care or you think about online platforms for anything from caretakers to plumbers, the need and hours and people required to ensure compliance is really high and so I think there's an appreciation of the automation and I do think there's an appreciation of both integrating the credentials as well as verified identity. And I think with the clear brand, there was some aha moments for partners.
spk00: Fantastic, thank you very much.
spk04: Thank you. Thank you. As a reminder, you may press star one to ask a question. Our next question comes from the line of Brian Essex from Goldman Sachs. Pleased to see you with your questions.
spk05: Hi, good morning, and thank you for taking the question. I was wondering if I could touch on the price increases briefly. Maybe if you could highlight the impact that you anticipate those increases will have on the partners. So if you're increasing the retail price $10, what happens to airline partners that offer discounted prices? membership as well as the Amex relationship, and then I have a follow-up.
spk07: Sure. In the past, we've actually raised those prices. Currently, we don't have a near-term plan to do that, but certainly long-term, we will look at that, and we've done it in the past. For example, when we first launched Delta, it came in at 79 and 99, and those are now 109, 119. As far as American Express, it will remain fully paid to the, to the consumer.
spk05: Got it. So is it fair to say that, you know, you're the one that decides what pricing point to set, to set there and, and particularly with regard to Amex to the economics, is that a renegotiation that happens on, on the part of the two parties?
spk07: No, it's not a renegotiation. Um, when we signed the deal, all of these things were considered.
spk05: Got it. That's super helpful. And then maybe just on the bookings, is there any impact to bookings? Is the net member retention still relatively analogous to net revenue retention? And any impact to that number from, I guess, true up from pricing on renewals that may previously have been discounted during the pandemic?
spk07: Right. So, I mean, the pandemic discounts have largely run through. As we mentioned, we're not going to raise price for existing members this year, but certainly in the future, if prices were increased, you would see dollar retention exceeds net member retention because of the price increase, if that makes sense.
spk05: Yep. Yep. Thank you. That's very helpful. I appreciate it.
spk04: Thank you. Thanks. Our next question is from the line of Ananda Barua with Loop Capital. Please proceed with your questions.
spk03: Yeah, hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking the questions, and congrats on another quarter of strong results. It's really cool to see it. I guess a few for me, if I could. Do you guys have a sense or can you comment on if the membership conversion from the platform experiences is are yet making an impact to what's been really nice revenue the last couple of quarters?
spk02: I would say every dollar makes an impact. It's been a small impact, not yet significantly material. We do think that it is an indication of what we can do as we continue to sew the platform together.
spk03: That's helpful, Karen. And Karen, would the same be for international, your international initiatives as well to this point?
spk02: Well, if you're talking about the Y-line acquisition, there's a small impact there, but again, not yet reaching the level of significant materiality. Early days there as well. Okay, that's super helpful.
spk03: And so could you guys just give us maybe a little additional context, if it's possible, What all do you see that's not been mentioned yet, if anything, the dynamics that are driving the strong same-store sales growth that you guys have been seeing? Just any context to give us an experience of what you guys are seeing.
spk02: I think it's hard to point to one thing. This is almost 13 years in the making. We launched our first airport, Orlando, Mind you, as Ken talked about, price increases at $179 in 2010. And we talked about over 120 clear plus lanes today and use cases in sports stadiums or HSS or other places. And so I think the more places that clear... shows up, this concept of early product market fit, which is really frictionless experiences and giving people back their most precious asset, and that is time with a trusted brand. I think it all sews together. I was visiting our team in Seattle a few months ago, and our ambassadors were saying that people who had used Health Pass now understood Clear and were excited to use it at the airport. I think success is a lot of little things We have an incredible team of ambassadors. We are fully staffed today. They are welcoming travelers back. It is harder and more stressful today to travel than ever before. And I think CLEAR is a bastion of tranquility in a sea of stress, not only in travel, but in sports and other use cases as well. And so when you look at our member growth, which is up more than 100%, versus year over year and then the airport side up double over 2019, I think it's the power of the network. I think it's the trust in the brand. I think it's the word of mouth. I think it's the multiple use cases. You know, I think it's that we've been at this for a long time, and so there's a familiarity, and maybe you didn't enroll a few years ago, but you still see it today. You know, incredible people talk about our ambassadors being just incredible and the greatest part of the airport. I think the technology has gotten better. The platform is stronger, faster, iris, touchless. You know, I could keep going. so many little things that add up to the opportunities that we have. And then it's the world that we live in. And again, I think we were probably early in 2010, but the desire for frictionless experiences and a trusted brand, which is why we wrote the letter that we did on both the privacy side and the customer experience. It's a here and now opportunity for Clear. And I would also say we have an incredible team across the country and now around the world bringing it to life.
spk03: That's great. That's helpful. Thanks for the context. And just one last quick one for Ken. Ken, is there any chance that the net retention can settle in kind of stronger than what your target is?
spk07: The net retention?
spk03: Yeah, exactly.
spk07: Well, we do expect it to settle in above pre-pandemic levels, and we're seeing that. So, you know, I said upper 80s, and that is above pre-pandemic levels and among, you know.
spk02: Look, we're going to work really hard to make sure it's as high as possible.
spk07: We always want to maximize every KPI.
spk03: Okay, that's great. That's great. Thanks a lot, guys.
spk04: Thank you. We've reached the end of our question and answer session. And this will also conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation, and have a wonderful day.
Disclaimer