CorVel Corp (CRVL) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the CorVel Corporation quarterly earnings release webcast. During the course of this webcast, CorVel Corporation may make projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performances of the company. CorVel wishes to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially.

CorVel refers you to the documents that the company files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the company's last form 10-K and 10-Q files for the most recent fiscal year and quarter. These documents contain and identify important factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements.

I would now like to turn it over to Michael Combs, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us to review CorVel's March quarter and fiscal year results. Brandon O'Brien, CorVel's Chief Financial Officer, is on the call with me today. Today, I will review business performance, the current environment and market trends, and progress on new product and service offerings. Brandon will then provide an overview of the March quarter and fiscal year financial results.

The March quarter revenues were $232 million, 12% over the $207 million in revenue for the March 2024 quarter. The earnings per share for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, were $0.51, an increase of 38% over the same quarter of the prior year's EPS of $0.37. Revenues for the fiscal year 2025 were $896 million, up 13% from the $795 million for the prior fiscal year. Earnings per share were $1.83, an increase of 24% compared to the $1.47 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024.

As a reminder to our listeners, the earnings-per-share figures for the quarter and annual comparisons have been adjusted to account for the three-for-one stock split we previously reported in December of 2024. Current macroeconomic policies are uncertain, but recent developments have had minimal direct impact on the markets in which we operate. However, ongoing shifts in trade dynamics could present longer-term opportunities.

Specifically, a broader reassuring of manufacturing and supply chain operations could create jobs and increase domestic production capacity, enhancing the risk management market and workers' compensation and healthcare. But rather than focusing on speculation, we remain committed to the principles that have guided us for the past 38 years, specifically fiscal conservatism, investment in technology and our team, and deliver meaningfully differentiating results to our partners. With CorVel's strong balance sheet, we will navigate any economic uncertainty and seize opportunities as they arise.

One strategic opportunity and area of continued investment is increased deployment of AI tools throughout the organization. Currently, we are focusing on enhancing and expanding our communication platform within our systems. This functionality incorporates AI, interactive voice response or IVR, and chatbot tools to analyze, route, and manage calls in a personalized manner.

By integrating these tools with proprietary and partnered solutions, we leverage new technology to combine text and email communication data, resulting in a unique and robust solution. In addition to streamlining workflows and increasing efficiencies, having all related communication data in an integrated platform fuels AI-powered analysis and the identification of actionable insights.

We are noticing an increase in AI adoption amongst medical providers, particularly in billing platforms, to enhance revenue opportunities that are not necessarily aligned with standard industry-accepted billing methodologies. To adapt to these changes in traditional billing practices, we are enhancing and adapting our bill review capabilities. These enhancements allow us to identify new patterns of billing inaccuracies, discrepancies, and inappropriate charges.

As a result, we can achieve savings beyond standard fee schedule applications, further supporting our cost-containment efforts. We've implemented an additional cost-containment enhancement in our bill review platform, specifically enhanced SaaS document viewer and management functionality. This upgrade increases the efficiency of CorVel's payer partners review process.

The new viewer allows users to access medical records in a clear and organized format, enhancing visibility and accelerating decision making. Additionally, it separates the clinical review from the billing workflow, leading to a more focused and accurate evaluation of clinical updates and cost considerations. It ultimately supports faster, more informed medical management and claim handling.

AI is also bringing additional value in fraud, waste, and abuse in medical management. For over a decade, we've leveraged tools such as utilization review and professional bill review to identify and mitigate over-utilization, up-coding, and duplicative services. More recently, heightened scrutiny has been directed towards emerging patterns of concern like questionable pharmacy practices, inappropriate use of durable medical equipment, and inconsistent provider treatment patterns and behaviors.

Through CorVel's integrated medical management solutions, we have comprehensive visibility into clinical behavior and treatment trends, which allows us to deploy advanced AI and predictive analytics, uncovering actionable insights and identifying adverse patterns early. As a result, we provide our partners with greater transparency, earlier intervention opportunities, and measurable reductions in inappropriate care utilization. CorVel's solution, which leverages historical data and integrates the Network Solutions products, has decreased DMA cost per referral by 18% from FY24 to FY25.

In recent years, workforce participation has grown significantly among Americans aged 75 and older. In 2022, over 8% of individuals in this age group were either employed or actively looking for work, double the rate a few decades earlier. Projections for the coming years suggest this upward trend will continue, with estimates indicating that by 2030, nearly 12% of those 75 and older will be part of the labor force. This increase is influenced by longer life expectancy, financial needs, and a growing interest among older adults to stay active and engage professionally.

Based on this trend, we anticipate the potential for increased claims severity in workers' compensation programs. During our intake advocacy 24/7 program, triage nurses capture holistic demographic information, which allows our proprietary system workflows to identify and escalate claims that could require greater attention from claims professionals. We also leverage the intake information through an advanced data insight and predictive modeling platform.

Combined with our highly trained professionals, these real-time metrics influence treatment plans, including age-appropriate recommendations. They reduce the duration of care, speed medical recovery, and ultimately improve clinical outcomes for injured workers. This data-driven approach ensures that care pathways are both efficient and outcome focused.

In the healthcare sector, we are witnessing a growing demand from payers for solutions that reduce administrative costs and enhanced medical loss ratios. Additionally, various market forces, such as the shift towards value-based care, increased regulatory scrutiny on payment practices, and increased reliance on the results achieved with AI-driven solutions, have intensified the need for advanced payment integrity services.

CERIS, through targeted investments and strategic partnerships, is well positioned to take advantage of this increased demand. During the quarter, CERIS successfully launched its first customer through a strategic partnership platform and signed a second agreement to expand its partner network. These initiatives align with our long-term strategy of combining organic product development with external partnerships. These efforts, growing transaction volumes from existing partners, and workflow optimization provided positive quarter results and enhanced the value proposition to payers.

Brandon will now provide additional texture on the financial results for the March quarter and the fiscal year.

Thank you, Michael. And good day, everyone. As Michael indicated at the top of the call, revenues for the March quarter were $232 million, a 12% increase over the $207 million revenue in the March 2024 quarter. Earnings per share for the quarter were $0.51, increasing 38% from the $0.37 per share in the same quarter of the prior year. Revenues for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, were $896 million, up 13%. Earnings per share for the fiscal year ended March were $1.83, up 24% from the prior year's EPS results of $1.47.

The revenue for patient management, including third-party administration, TPA services, and traditional case management, was $149 million in the March quarter, an increase of 6%. Gross profit increased by 5% from the March quarter of 2024. Patient management revenue for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, was $581 million, an annual increase of 10%. Fiscal year gross profit increased 11%.

Patient management services led by our TPA business experienced growth primarily driven by successful onboarding of new clients. The [Enterprise Comp] platform continues to gain momentum in the marketplace, expanding its reach across a diverse range of sectors, including healthcare, higher education, food service distribution, automotive parts manufacturing, and many others.

Throughout the fiscal year and during the quarter, the company made purposeful investments in our patient management business, including developing and integrating proprietary AI technologies and automated workflow solutions, while ensuring optimal team capacity. These innovations and investments empower our expert teams to deliver uniquely effective and measurable results for our partners, reinforcing CorVel's value proposition and market leadership.

Coinciding with the new year, we also expanded the breadth of our employer-focused Enterprise Comp offering to include a new reporting service. This elevated capability streamlines how clients manage incident tracking, documentation, and submissions, delivering a turnkey solution with greater accuracy and efficiency in meeting their regulatory obligations.

The revenue for the network solutions sold in the wholesale market for the March quarter was $83 million, up 24% from the same quarter of the prior year. Gross profit in the wholesale business was up 71% from the March quarter of 2024. Network Solutions revenue for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, was $314 million, an annual increase of 19%. Fiscal year gross profit increased 32%.

Network Solutions, including CERIS, continues to make deliberate progress in expanding and positioning these service offerings to emphasize flexibility, highlighting customizable, client-specific solutions that can be activated individually or integrated. The successful onboarding of several high-impact clients, including an expanded carrier relationship and the addition of a new prominent national employer, drove substantial volume growth while simultaneously advancing operational efficiency.

Select service lines experienced significant volume increases while being managed mainly within existing staffing levels. These outcomes reflect the strategic development of generative AI capabilities, the scaling of advanced process automation, and continued optimization of core workflows. This approach has further elevated operational performance and deepened partnerships across the board.

I would now like to review a few additional financial items. During the quarter, the company repurchased 80,661 shares at a total cost of $9 million. From inception to date, the company has repurchased 114.5 million shares for a total cost of $832 million. Throughout this program the company has repurchased 69% of the total shares outstanding. The repurchasing of the shares continues to be funded via the company's strong operating cash flow.

The DSO, as in day sale outstanding of receivables, was 41 days, down two days from a year ago. The quarter ending cash balance was $171 million. CorVel's strong and debt-free balance sheet generates improved earnings in contrast to many others in the segment facing debt loads and associated interest rate cost headwinds.

That concludes our remarks for today. Thank you for joining us. I'll now return the call to the operator.

This concludes today's webcast. You may disconnect your lines at this time.