EverQuote Inc (EVER) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. My name is Eric, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the EverQuote fourth-quarter 2023 earnings call. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝你的支持。我叫艾瑞克，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。此時此刻，我歡迎大家參加 EverQuote 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）

Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Brinlea Johnson, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

謝謝。我現在想將電話轉給投資者關係部的 Brinlea Johnson。請繼續。

Thank you. Good afternoon, and welcome to EverQuote's fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 earnings call. We'll be discussing the results announced in our press release issued today after the market closed. With me on the call this afternoon is Jayme Mendal, EverQuote's Chief Executive Officer; and Joseph Sanborn, Chief Financial Officer of EverQuote.

謝謝。下午好，歡迎參加 EverQuote 第四季和 2023 年全年財報電話會議。我們將討論今天收盤後發布的新聞稿中宣布的結果。今天下午與我一起參加電話會議的是 EverQuote 執行長 Jayme Mendal。約瑟夫桑伯恩 (Joseph Sanborn)，EverQuote 財務長。

During the call, we will make statements related to our business that may be considered forward-looking statements under federal securities laws, including statements concerning our financial guidance for the first quarter of 2024, our growth strategy and our plans to execute on our growth strategy, key initiatives, investments in the business, the growth levers we expect to drive our business, ability to maintain existing and acquire new customers, our expectations regarding recovery of the auto insurance industry, and other statements regarding our plans and prospects.

在電話會議期間，我們將發表與我們的業務相關的聲明，根據聯邦證券法，這些聲明可能被視為前瞻性聲明，包括有關我們2024 年第一季財務指導、我們的成長策略以及我們執行成長策略的計劃的聲明、關鍵舉措、業務投資、我們期望推動業務的成長槓桿、維持現有客戶和獲取新客戶的能力、我們對汽車保險行業復甦的期望，以及有關我們的計劃和前景的其他聲明。

Forward-looking statements may be identified with words and phrases such as we expect, we believe, we intend, we anticipate, we plan, may, upcoming and similar words and phrases. These statements reflect our views only as of today and should not be considered our views as of any subsequent date. We specifically disclaim any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

前瞻性陳述可以用諸如我們期望、我們相信、我們打算、我們預期、我們計劃、可能、即將到來和類似的單字和短語等詞語和短語來識別。這些陳述僅反映我們今天的觀點，不應被視為我們在任何後續日期的觀點。我們特別聲明不承擔任何更新或修改前瞻性陳述的義務，除非法律要求。

Forward-looking statements are not promises or guarantees of future performance and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from our expectations. For a discussion of material risks and other important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from our expectations, please refer to those contained under the heading Risk Factors in our most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q or annual report on Form 10-K that is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on the Investor Relations section of our website at investor.everquote.com and on the SEC's website at sec.gov.

前瞻性陳述並非對未來績效的承諾或保證，並受到各種風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與我們的預期有重大差異。有關可能導致我們的實際結果與我們的預期存在重大差異的重大風險和其他重要因素的討論，請參閱我們最近的 10-Q 表格季度報告或 10 表格年度報告中風險因素標題下的內容-K 已在美國證券交易委員會備案，並可在我們網站Investor.everquote.com 的投資者關係部分以及SEC 網站sec.gov 上取得。

Finally, during the course of today's call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe are helpful to investors. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures was included in the press release we issued after the close of market today which is available on the Investor Relations section of our website at investors.everquote.com.

最後，在今天的電話會議中，我們將提及某些非公認會計準則財務指標，我們認為這些指標對投資人有幫助。我們在今天收盤後發布的新聞稿中包含了 GAAP 與非 GAAP 衡量標準的對賬，該新聞稿可在我們網站的投資者關係部分取得：investors.everquote.com。

And with that, I'll turn it over to Jayme.

有了這個，我會把它交給傑米。

Thank you, Brinlea, and thank you all for joining us today. 2023 was a transformative year for EverQuote. Our team continued to demonstrate a strong command of the business, managing effectively through a challenged auto insurance market. We maintained positive adjusted EBITDA for the year, improved our balance sheet, and produced record high VMM as a percentage of revenue against historically low carrier demand.

謝謝布林利，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。 2023 年對 EverQuote 來說是變革的一年。我們的團隊持續展現出對業務的強大掌控能力，在充滿挑戰的汽車保險市場中進行有效管理。我們今年調整後的 EBITDA 保持為正數，改善了資產負債表，並在營運商需求處於歷史低點的情況下創造了創紀錄的高 VMM（佔收入百分比）。

We also returned to our roots as a capital-efficient digital insurance marketplace, completing a significant restructuring of the business. We exited our health vertical, including our direct-to-consumer agency. We significantly reduced our headcount and operating expenses. And we refocused on extending the customer acquisition, provider network, data and technology advantages that are the foundation of our industry-leading P&C insurance marketplace.

我們也回歸了作為資本高效型數位保險市場的根源，完成了重大的業務重組。我們退出了健康垂直領域，包括我們的直接面向消費者的機構。我們大幅減少了員工人數和營運費用。我們重新專注於擴大客戶獲取、提供者網路、數據和技術優勢，這些是我們行業領先的財產和意外保險市場的基礎。

By consolidating operations and teams, we have not only reduced expenses and improved our capital efficiency but we have accelerated operational execution within our core P&C marketplace. An example of this can be seen in our home and renters insurance vertical, which grew by 28% year over year in 2023.

透過整合營運和團隊，我們不僅減少了開支並提高了資本效率，而且還加快了核心財產市場的營運執行速度。我們的房屋和租屋保險垂直領域就是一個例子，該保險在 2023 年年增了 28%。

We entered 2024 with a streamlined operation of focus team and healthy balance sheet. Additionally, recent signs point to a less unfavorable auto insurance outlook as profitability appears to be improving for a number of carriers in our marketplace.

我們以精簡的核心團隊運作和健康的資產負債表進入 2024 年。此外，最近的跡象表明，隨著我們市場上許多保險公司的盈利能力似乎有所改善，汽車保險前景不再那麼不利。

In the last several months, we have seen carriers reactivate campaigns, expand their geographical footprints, and increase budgets. Nonetheless, we will continue operating with heightened discipline.

在過去的幾個月中，我們看到營運商重新啟動行銷活動，擴大其地理覆蓋範圍並增加預算。儘管如此，我們仍將繼續嚴格遵守紀律。

We have seen previous auto carrier recoveries falter. And while this recovery appears more sustainable and that we see a broader base of improving carrier profitability, we don't discount the possibility that volatility may persist in 2024.

我們已經看到之前的汽車運輸公司復甦步履蹣跚。儘管這種復甦似乎更具可持續性，而且我們看到航空公司盈利能力改善的基礎更廣泛，但我們並不排除 2024 年波動可能持續的可能性。

We also continue operating with urgency, driven by the magnitude of the opportunity that remains in front of us. P&C insurance distribution and advertising is a $100 billion market, of which digital advertising comprises $6 billion, growing at a rate in excess of 10% per year. This shift is supported by the majority of consumers now favoring online to in-person shopping and insurance carriers steadily improving their digital customer acquisition funnels.

在我們面前的巨大機會的推動下，我們也將繼續迫切地開展業務。財產與意外險保險分銷和廣告是一個價值 1000 億美元的市場，其中數位廣告價值達 60 億美元，並且每年以超過 10% 的速度成長。這種轉變得到了大多數消費者現在青睞線上購物轉向面對面購物的支持，而保險公司正在穩步改善其數位客戶獲取管道。

We also believe this shift may accelerate as new technology, including AI, enables EverQuote and our customers to solve for certain points of friction in online insurance shopping in new ways. Insurance distribution remains ripe for disruption, and as insurance shopping continues to shift online, we believe EverQuote is well positioned to emerge as the company which defines insurance distribution for the digital era.

我們也相信，隨著包括人工智慧在內的新技術使 EverQuote 和我們的客戶能夠以新的方式解決線上保險購物中的某些摩擦點，這種轉變可能會加速。保險分銷面臨顛覆的時機已經成熟，隨著保險購物繼續轉向網上，我們相信 EverQuote 已做好充分準備，成為定義數位時代保險分銷的公司。

We continue to build on a unique set of advantages, which will enable us to do so. EverQuote processes a vast amount of auto, home, and renters insurance quote requests each year, nearly $35 million in 2023. We believe that the data generated through these marketplace transactions provides EverQuote with a unique competitive moat in its data assets, which will enable us to deploy increasingly sophisticated and effective AI and machine learning models across aspects of our business, ranging from traffic bidding to experience personalization to consumer provider matching and recommendations.

我們將繼續發揮一系列獨特的優勢，這將使我們能夠做到這一點。EverQuote 每年處理大量的汽車、房屋和租屋保險報價請求，到 2023 年將接近 3,500 萬美元。我們相信，透過這些市場交易產生的數據為EverQuote 的數據資產提供了獨特的競爭護城河，這將使我們能夠在業務的各個方面（從流量競價到體驗個性化）部署日益複雜和有效的人工智能和機器學習模型向消費者提供者配對和推薦。

This will make our marketplace more effective for consumers and providers and more operationally efficient for EverQuote. EverQuote's marketplace offers access to a relatively broad set of P&C insurance products. As a reminder, P&C insurance carriers distribute their insurance products through different channels, some directly to consumers, others through captive agents, and others through independent agents.

這將使我們的市場對消費者和提供者更加有效，對 EverQuote 來說營運效率更高。EverQuote 的市場提供了相對廣泛的財產和意外保險產品。需要提醒的是，財產和意外傷害保險公司透過不同的管道分銷其保險產品，有些直接向消費者銷售，有些透過專屬代理人銷售，有些則透過獨立代理人銷售。

EverQuote has built a marketplace which supports all carriers in their pursuit of profitable growth, most notably through the inclusion of the largest local agent network in the industry. We continued to invest behind our advantage with local agents who we believe represent the best point of purchase for many consumers who go online to shop for insurance.

EverQuote 建立了一個支持所有營運商追求獲利成長的市場，最顯著的是透過納入業界最大的本地代理商網路。我們繼續投資於當地代理商的優勢，我們相信他們是許多網上購買保險的消費者的最佳購買點。

Our vision remains unchanged to become the largest online source of insurance policies by using data, technology, and knowledgeable advisers to make insurance simpler, more affordable, and personalized. While market conditions made progress towards this goal, challenging in 2022 and 2023 as carrier underwriting appetite contracted; in 2024, we expect a return of conditions for progress as the carrier market begins to normalize and carriers once again seek to acquire new policyholders.

我們的願景保持不變，即透過利用數據、技術和知識豐富的顧問，使保險變得更簡單、更實惠和個性化，成為最大的保險保單線上來源。儘管市場狀況在實現這一目標方面取得了進展，但由於承運人承保胃口萎縮，2022 年和 2023 年將面臨挑戰；到 2024 年，隨著承運人市場開始正常化並且承運人再次尋求獲得新的保單持有人，我們預計進展條件將恢復。

Additionally, we entered the year leaner and more focused than any time in recent memory. We believe the stage is set for a year in which we rebuild momentum in our operations, financial performance, and progress towards our longer-term vision. Our team's strength and discipline and resilience and our financial health will serve us well as we continue our relentless pursuit to build an enduring, industry-defining company.

此外，我們進入這一年時比最近記憶中的任何時候都更加精簡和專注。我們相信，這一年我們將在營運、財務表現和實現長期願景方面重建動力。我們團隊的實力、紀律、韌性以及我們的財務健康狀況將為我們繼續不懈地追求建立一家持久的、行業領先的公司提供幫助。

Thank you. I'll now turn the call over to Joseph.

謝謝。我現在將把電話轉給約瑟夫。

Thank you, Jayme, and thank you all for joining. I will start by discussing our financial results for the fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 before providing an update on what we are currently seeing in the auto insurance sector and our guidance for the first quarter of 2024.

謝謝你，Jayme，也謝謝大家的加入。我將首先討論我們 2023 年第四季和全年的財務業績，然後提供我們目前在汽車保險行業看到的最新情況以及我們對 2024 年第一季的指導。

We exceed guidance for the fourth quarter across all three of our primary financial metrics of total revenue, variable marketing margin or VMM, and adjusted EBITDA. In addition, Q4 which is typically seasonally down from Q3, showed quarter-over-quarter improvement across all three metrics, most notably at the adjusted EBITDA level.

我們在總收入、可變行銷利潤率或 VMM 以及調整後 EBITDA 等所有三個主要財務指標上都超出了第四季度的指導。此外，第四季通常比第三季季節性下降，但所有三個指標均呈現季度環比改善，尤其是調整後的 EBITDA 水準。

These results were driven by continued strong execution by our operating teams in what was a prolonged and deeply challenging environment. Total revenues in the fourth quarter were $55.7 million, driven by stronger enterprise carrier spend up more than 50% from Q3 levels. For the full year, revenue was $287.9 million.

這些成果是由我們的營運團隊在長期且充滿挑戰的環境中持續強勁的執行力所推動的。由於企業營運商支出較第三季成長 50% 以上，第四季總收入為 5,570 萬美元。全年收入為 2.879 億美元。

As a reminder, EverQuote announced the exit of our health insurance vertical in late June, which represent approximately $15 million of 2023 full-year revenue. Revenue from our auto insurance vertical was $45 million in Q4, representing 81% of revenues in the period. We saw a modest increase in auto revenues in Q4 relative to the third quarter, which was a new low point since the auto industry downturn began in late summer 2021.

提醒一下，EverQuote 於 6 月下旬宣布退出我們的健康保險垂直領域，約佔 2023 年全年收入的 1500 萬美元。第四季我們的汽車保險垂直業務收入為 4,500 萬美元，占同期收入的 81%。我們看到第四季度汽車收入相對第三季度略有增長，這是自 2021 年夏末汽車行業低迷開始以來的新低點。

Revenue from our auto insurance vertical was $227.5 million for full year of 2023 or 83% of total revenues, excluding revenues from our former health insurance vertical. Beginning in Q3, as a result of our exit from health in June 2023, we are reporting revenue in two primary verticals: auto insurance and home insurance, which includes renters.

2023 年全年，我們的汽車保險垂直市場收入為 2.275 億美元，佔總收入的 83%，不包括我們先前的健康保險垂直市場的收入。從第三季開始，由於我們於 2023 年 6 月退出健康保險，我們報告了兩個主要垂直領域的收入：汽車保險和家庭保險，其中包括租屋者。

Revenues from our principal non-auto vertical, home and renters insurance, was $9.8 million in Q4, a year-over-year increase of 48% and for the full year was $40.9 million, a year-over-year increase of 28%, highlighting the benefit of dedicated leadership focus on this vertical during 2023.

我們主要的非汽車垂直保險、家庭保險和租屋保險的收入，第四季為 980 萬美元，年增 48%，全年收入為 4,090 萬美元，年增 28%。領域的領導力的好處。

VMM was $20.7 million for the fourth quarter and $100.3 million for full year. VMM as a percentage of revenue was a record quarterly and annual high of 37.1% for the fourth quarter and 34.8% for the full year, driven by three primary factors.

VMM 第四季為 2,070 萬美元，全年為 1.003 億美元。在三個主要因素的推動下，VMM 佔營收的百分比在第四季達到 37.1%，全年達到 34.8%，創歷史新高。

First, our traffic teams continued to execute well in adapting our operations to a volatile environment. Second, our significant investment in developing proprietary technology and processes to better leverage our data to acquire high-intent consumers is continuing to yield results. And finally, we benefited from a relatively more favorable advertising environment. This is further evidence that our strategic decision to focus and take actions to realign our operations is generating results.

首先，我們的交通團隊在使我們的營運適應不穩定的環境方面繼續表現出色。其次，我們在開發專有技術和流程方面的大量投資正在繼續取得成果，以更好地利用我們的數據來吸引高意圖的消費者。最後，我們受益於相對更有利的廣告環境。這進一步證明我們集中精力並採取行動調整營運的策略決策正在產生成果。

Turning to operating expenses and the bottom line, we continue to be very disciplined in managing expenses and driving incremental operating leverage. We ended 2023 with a significantly more efficient operating model than we had when we began last year, given the substantial actions we took to streamline our operations during the period.

談到營運費用和利潤，我們在管理費用和推動增量營運槓桿方面繼續非常嚴格。鑑於我們在此期間採取了大量行動來簡化運營，我們在 2023 年結束時的運營模式比去年開始時的效率要高得多。

For context, cash operating expenses, which excludes certain non-cash and other one-time charges, were $21.6 million in the fourth quarter or nearly 30% below first quarter of 2023. Our current workforce consists of approximately 380 employees, down by nearly 40% from this time last year.

就背景而言，第四季的現金營運支出（不包括某些非現金和其他一次性費用）為 2,160 萬美元，比 2023 年第一季低近 30%。我們目前的員工人數約為 380 名，比去年同期減少了近 40%。

In the fourth quarter, GAAP net loss was $6.3 million and for the year, GAAP net loss was $51.3 million, which included a restructuring charge of $23.6 million related to actions we took last summer, which included the exit and sale of our former health insurance vertical and significant reduction in our workforce. In addition, full-year net loss includes $22.8 million of ongoing stock comp expense, which is the lowest annual level we have seen over the past four years.

第四季度，GAAP 淨虧損為 630 萬美元，全年 GAAP 淨虧損為 5,130 萬美元，其中包括與我們去年夏天採取的行動相關的 2,360 萬美元重組費用，其中包括退出和出售我們以前的健康保險我們的勞動力垂直大幅減少。此外，全年淨虧損包括 2,280 萬美元的持續股票補償費用，這是我們過去四年來看到的最低年度水準。

Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was negative $0.9 million and positive $0.5 million for the full year. We had operating cash flow of negative $0.8 million for the fourth quarter. With the exit from the health insurance vertical and the scale-down of our remaining DTCA operations, which again requires significant upfront cash investment to drive growth, we expect that adjusted EBITDA will be a close proxy for operating cash flow going forward, subject to normal working capital adjustments.

第四季調整後 EBITDA 為負 90 萬美元，全年調整後 EBITDA 為正 50 萬美元。第四季我們的營運現金流為負 80 萬美元。隨著健康保險垂直業務的退出以及我們剩餘 DTCA 業務規模的縮減，這再次需要大量的前期現金投資來推動成長，我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 將是未來營運現金流的密切代表，前提是正常情況下營運資金調整。

The company ended Q4 with $38 million in cash and cash equivalents, up from $30.8 million at the end of 2022. In addition, we have a $25 million undrawn working capital line of credit. We have no plans to draw on the facility and we have no other outstanding debt.

截至第四季度，該公司現金和現金等價物為 3,800 萬美元，高於 2022 年底的 3,080 萬美元。此外，我們還有 2,500 萬美元的未提取營運資金信貸額度。我們沒有計劃動用該貸款，也沒有其他未償債務。

Before turning to guidance, I want to provide an update on what we are seeing in the auto insurance industry as we start this year. Based on our recent discussions, many of our carrier partners have indicated that they have made meaningful progress towards achieving their desired levels of underwriting profitability.

在轉向指導之前，我想先介紹一下今年開始時我們在汽車保險行業所看到的最新情況。根據我們最近的討論，我們的許多承運商合作夥伴表示，他們在實現預期的承保獲利水準方面取得了有意義的進展。

Many insurers also have reiterated their comments to us from last call of wanting to return to acquiring new consumers in 2024. This more growth-oriented mindset has led to a strong start for our company this year, with more auto insurers beginning to return to our marketplace.

許多保險公司也向我們重申了上次電話會議的言論，希望在 2024 年恢復吸引新消費者的業務。這種更以成長為導向的思維方式為我們公司今年帶來了良好的開端，更多的汽車保險公司開始重返我們的市場。

We are encouraged by the positive outlook starting this year and are cautiously optimistic that auto recovery will be different and more sustainable this time around. We recognize, however, that conditions could change rapidly as many carriers are balancing a desire to return to new customer acquisition with being careful to not do too much too quickly, which could jeopardize their considerable work over the past several quarters to restore their underwriting profitability.

我們對今年開始的積極前景感到鼓舞，並對這次汽車復甦將有所不同且更加可持續持謹慎樂觀態度。然而，我們認識到，情況可能會迅速發生變化，因為許多承運商正在平衡重返新客戶獲取的願望，同時小心不要做得太多太快，這可能會危及他們過去幾個季度為恢復承保盈利能力所做的大量工作。

For example, our largest carrier partner is taking a more measured approach to customer acquisitions so far this year relative to the more aggressive posture they had in Q1 of 2023. Additionally, one of our captive carrier partners has to date significantly limited the states in which they are interested in writing new business as they continue to manage their profitability goals.

例如，相對於 2023 年第一季採取的更為積極的姿態，我們最大的營運商合作夥伴今年迄今正在採取更加謹慎的方式來獲取客戶。此外，我們的專屬承運商合作夥伴在繼續管理其獲利目標的同時，迄今已大大限制了他們有興趣開展新業務的州。

We also have seen a carrier pull back meaningfully in their February spend in our marketplace from the January levels as they test for the attractiveness of different markets and customer segments. While these carrier dynamics creates some uncertainty over the exact timing and slope of auto recovery, we believe that insurers taking a more balanced approach to restoring their marketing spend will ultimately create a more sustainable, long-term recovery, which will benefit our company.

我們還發現，一家業者在測試不同市場和客戶群的吸引力時，其 2 月份在我們市場上的支出較 1 月份的水平大幅下降。雖然這些承運人的動態為汽車復甦的確切時間和斜率帶來了一些不確定性，但我們相信保險公司採取更平衡的方法來恢復行銷支出將最終創造更永續的長期復甦，這將使我們公司受益。

In regards to our progress following our June 2023 restructuring, we committed to restoring consistent positive quarterly cash flow from operations in the first half of this year, followed by a return to our pre-downturn adjusted EBITDA margins in 2024. We believe we remain on track to achieve both of these goals.

關於 2023 年 6 月重組後的進展，我們承諾在今年上半年恢復持續的正季度營運現金流，然後在 2024 年恢復到經濟衰退前調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率。我們相信，我們將繼續實現這兩個目標。

After a step-up in first-quarter operating expenses relative to Q4, largely driven by customary annual increases, we plan to continue to maintain tight expense discipline, which will drive incremental operating leverage and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion as we benefit from what we expect to be an expanding auto recovery as we progress through 2024.

第一季營運費用相對於第四季度有所增加（主要由慣例年度成長推動），我們計劃繼續保持嚴格的費用紀律，這將推動增​​量營運槓桿和調整後的EBITDA 利潤率擴張，因為我們受益於我們的預期隨著 2024 年的進展，汽車復甦將持續擴大。

Based on our strong start to this year, the midpoint of our Q1 guidance implies a near return to pre-downturn adjusted EBITDA margins. While we are encouraged by our early performance this year, we recognize that considerable uncertainty remains around the exact timing and slope of auto carrier recovery. And as such, we will not be providing full-year guidance.

基於我們今年的強勁開局，我們第一季指引的中點意味著調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率接近恢復到經濟衰退前的水平。儘管我們對今年的早期表現感到鼓舞，但我們認識到汽車運輸公司恢復的確切時間和斜率仍然存在很大的不確定性。因此，我們將不會提供全年指導。

Turning to our outlook for Q1 2024, we expect revenue to be between $78 million and $82 million. We expect the VMM to be between $26 million and $28 million, and we expect adjusted EBITDA to be between $3 million and $5 million.

談到我們對 2024 年第一季的展望，我們預計營收將在 7,800 萬美元至 8,200 萬美元之間。我們預計 VMM 為 2,600 萬至 2,800 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 300 萬至 500 萬美元。

In summary, we delivered solid performance in the fourth quarter given the environment, exceeding the high end of our guidance across revenue, VMM, and adjusted EBITDA. We enter 2024 with strong conviction that EverQuote is extremely well positioned to directly benefit as sustainable auto carrier recovery eventually takes hold.

總而言之，在當前環境下，我們在第四季度實現了穩健的業績，超越了我們在營收、VMM 和調整後 EBITDA 的指導上限。進入 2024 年，我們堅信 EverQuote 處於非常有利的位置，可以直接受益，因為可持續的汽車承運商復甦最終將得以實現。

From an operating perspective, we will continue to focus on strong execution and controlling what we can control. We believe that the decisive strategic actions we took in 2023 to successfully refocus our operations on our core P&C markets, streamline our operations and strengthen our balance sheet, set the stage for future growth and long-term profitability.

從營運角度來看，我們會繼續注重執行力強，把能控制的事情控制好。我們相信，我們在2023 年採取的決定性策略行動成功地將我們的業務重新集中在我們的核心財產和意外傷害市場上，簡化了我們的業務並加強了我們的資產負債表，為未來的成長和長期盈利能力奠定了基礎。

Jayme and I will now answer your questions.

Jayme 和我現在將回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Cory Carpenter, JPMorgan.

科里·卡彭特，摩根大通。

Hey. Good afternoon. I wanted to ask -- I think you mentioned in the prepared remarks that enterprise carrier spend was up more than 50% sequentially. Just curious how broad based that was versus the one carrier that I think we've heard from others has been ramping.

嘿。午安.我想問——我想您在準備好的演講中提到企業運營商支出環比增長了 50% 以上。只是好奇，與我認為我們從其他人那裡聽到的一家運營商相比，這種情況的基礎有多廣泛。

And then maybe secondly, just kind of where you're seeing this time around that's giving you the confidence or gives you confidence that there's more sustainability kind of versus the fall start that we saw this time last year. Thank you.

其次，也許你這次看到的情況給了你信心，或者讓你相信與去年這個時候的秋季開始相比，有更多的可持續性。謝謝。

Thanks, Cory. So let's start with this -- I will take both questions maybe in reverse order. The first is I think we see a number of encouraging data points starting to build up. If you look out broadly across the industry, what we're seeing is more carriers feeling confident in their underwriting profitability in more states.

謝謝，科里。那麼讓我們從這個開始——我可能會以相反的順序回答這兩個問題。首先，我認為我們看到一些令人鼓舞的數據點開始累積。如果你放眼整個行業，我們會發現更多的承保人對他們在更多州的承保盈利能力充滿信心。

And if you just look at some of the carriers that have released publicly their Q4 results or their January results, you're seeing like double-digit improvements in combined ratios. And that's not unique to a single carrier. It's across now a growing set of carriers. And so I think that gives us some confidence that the industry is addressing the underlying issue more broadly.

如果你只看一些公開發布第四季業績或一月份業績的營運商，你會發現綜合比率出現了兩位數的改善。這並不是單一運營商獨有的。現在越來越多的運營商正在使用它。因此，我認為這讓我們有信心該行業正在更廣泛地解決根本問題。

And then specific to EverQuote, the last several months, we've seen a number of carriers reactivating campaigns, reentering states, increasing budgets. I think we've had a similar experience in that. There's been one carrier that has done so in a way that's been the most impactful. But we are seeing the improvements and the expanding budgets in some of these actions across a growing number of carriers.

然後具體到 EverQuote，在過去的幾個月裡，我們看到許多業者重新啟動行銷活動，重新進入各州，增加預算。我想我們在這方面也有類似的經驗。有一家業者以一種最具影響力的方式做到了這一點。但我們看到越來越多的營運商在其中一些行動中取得了改進並擴大了預算。

Thank you. And one more, if I could. Just if you could update, Jayme, on what you're seeing on the agency side of the business as well, that would be helpful. Thank you.

謝謝。如果可以的話，再來一張。Jayme，如果您能更新您在代理業務方面所看到的情況，那將會很有幫助。謝謝。

Yes, for sure. So last year, we experienced modest declines in the agency business that were largely driven by the reduction in captive carrier subsidy support. As we turn the corner into this year, I think we are getting back to a position where we expect growth out of that business this year. And that's going to come from a number of areas.

是肯定的。因此，去年我們的代理業務略有下降，這主要是由於自營承運人補貼支持的減少所致。當我們進入今年時，我認為我們將回到我們預計今年該業務將成長的位置。這將來自多個領域。

I think the captive carriers themselves will be probably still a little bit slow to bring back some of the marketing support dollars that existed in 2022 or early 2023. But in the meantime, we've been investing in enhancing and extending our product offering with our local captive agents.

我認為，專屬運營商本身在收回 2022 年或 2023 年初存在的部分行銷支援資金方面可能仍然會有點慢。但同時，我們一直在投資與當地自營代理商一起增強和擴展我們的產品供應。

We've also been working on increasing our penetration of the independent agents segment, which is less dependent on carrier subsidy support towards growth. And so we've worked through some pricing and packaging that seems to be getting traction with that market.

我們也一直致力於提高獨立代理市場的滲透率，該市場的成長較少依賴營運商補貼支援。因此，我們制定了一些定價和包裝，這些似乎正在吸引該市場。

So overall, I'd say the direct segment, the direct carrier business is likely to kind of lead the recovery. But we do see the agency business returning to growth this year as well.

因此，總體而言，我想說，直接細分市場、直接承運人業務可能會引領復甦。但我們確實看到代理業務今年也恢復成長。

Great. Thank you. Appreciate it.

偉大的。謝謝。欣賞它。

No problem. Thanks, Cory.

沒問題。謝謝，科里。

Michael Graham, Canaccord.

邁克爾·格雷厄姆，Canaccord。

Hey, thanks, and it's great to see the momentum here. So congrats on that. I wanted to ask -- just if you could give a little bit of color around how you're thinking about how long it could take the business to get back to sort of like those 2021 peak-ish levels in auto, if you think that's possible.

嘿，謝謝，很高興看到這裡的勢頭。所以恭喜你。我想問一下——如果你認為汽車行業需要多長時間才能恢復到 2021 年的峰值水平，你是否可以給出一些解釋？

And sort of related to that, you did a great job managing cost here throughout this downturn. And it feels like structurally profitability could be improved at higher revenue levels. And I just wonder how you're thinking about sort of like the medium term, you know, a possibility for a better EBITDA margin structure.

與此相關的是，在整個經濟低迷時期，您在成本管理方面做得很好。而且感覺結構性獲利能力可以在更高的收入水平上得到改善。我只是想知道你是如何考慮中期的，你知道，更好的 EBITDA 利潤率結構的可能性。

Sure. So thanks, Mike. Let me give you -- I'll take both of your questions and Jayme can add on. I think first, with regards to auto and the ability to get back to what we saw in Q3 of '22 and -- excuse me, Q3 of '21 as our peak was around $90 million auto. So we certainly see a path to getting back to $90 million model and some revenue. So I think I just touch on that.

當然。謝謝，麥克。讓我告訴你—我會回答你的兩個問題，傑米可以補充。我認為首先，關於汽車和回到我們在 22 年第三季度看到的情況的能力，對不起，21 年第三季度，因為我們的峰值約為 9000 萬美元的汽車。因此，我們當然看到了一條恢復 9000 萬美元模型和一些收入的途徑。所以我想我只是觸及這一點。

In terms of the timing, I won't go into specifics on it. We're giving a guide for the quarter; we're not guiding for the year. Starting the year, we're feeling very good about how carriers are going back and messaging receiving. At the same time, we are still dealing with some variability in how they're engaging and giving specificity and their plans for the year. So I feel good about getting there over time, but the exact timing (inaudible) for this year at this point.

至於具體時間，我就不多說了。我們正在提供本季的指南；我們今年不會提供指導。從今年開始，我們對營運商的回歸和訊息接收方式感到非常滿意。同時，我們仍在處理他們參與方式、具體情況和今年計劃的一些變化。因此，我對隨著時間的推移實現這一目標感到高興，但今年的確切時間（聽不清楚）是在這一點上。

Second, with regards to sort of managing costs and profitably. So to give you a little bit of insight there and to building on the comments I gave in my script is when you look at in Q1, what you're seeing is operating expenses sort of ticking up the guidance from Q4. The guide implies about $23 million of cash operating expenses in Q1.

其次，關於管理成本和獲利。因此，為了給您一些見解，並以我在腳本中給出的評論為基礎，當您查看第一季時，您會看到營運費用在某種程度上超出了第四季度的指導。該指南暗示第一季的現金營運支出約為 2,300 萬美元。

And what we've said is that we're going to -- managers continue to be very disciplined in managing those costs as we progress through this year. And what we will see that leading to is two things.

我們說的是，隨著今年的進展，經理們將繼續嚴格管理這些成本。我們將看到這會導致兩件事。

First, obviously, returning to cash flow positive on a consistent basis. So we think we're feeling good about that in Q1 and that continuing. And the second is return to the pre-downturn adjusted EBITDA margins we had.

首先，顯然，現金流量持續恢復正值。因此，我們認為我們對第一季的情況感覺良好，並且這種情況仍在繼續。第二個是恢復到經濟衰退前調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率。

If you -- just to put that in context, our pre-downturn margins -- if you say, the downturn really began in earnest in Q3, given the 12 months prior -- Q3 of '21, given the three -- the 12 months prior to that through Q2 of '21, the average adjusted EBITDA margin around 5.5%. Q2 of '21, a little over 6%.

如果你——只是把它放在上下文中，我們的經濟衰退前的利潤率——如果你說，考慮到之前的12個月——21年的第三季度，考慮到這三個——12個月，經濟低迷確實是在第三季開始的。21 年第二季度，略高於 6%。

So if you look at our guide relative to that, our guidance, the midpoint of our guide is around 5%. So you see a path where we committed to getting cash flow positive in the first half getting back to pre-adjusted EBITDA margins second goal for this year.

因此，如果你看看我們的指南，我們的指南的中點約為 5%。因此，您可以看到我們致力於在上半年實現正現金流，回到今年調整前的 EBITDA 利潤率第二個目標。

We're on track to do that. And I think we'll continue to build from that. Given the expense discipline we outlined, which is $23 million in Q1, continuing to be disciplined, adding any incremental expenses, we think we'll have an opportunity to as we get out of recovery, you see significant increase in operating leverage and expense adjusted EBITDA margins.

我們正在努力做到這一點。我認為我們將繼續以此為基礎。鑑於我們概述的費用紀律，第一季為2300 萬美元，繼續受到紀律約束，增加任何增量費用，我們認為，當我們擺脫復甦時，我們將有機會看到營運槓桿和費用調整後的顯著增加EBITDA 利潤率。

All right. That's great. Thank you, Joseph.

好的。那太棒了。謝謝你，約瑟夫。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Jason Kreyer, Craig Hallum.

傑森·克雷爾，克雷格·哈勒姆。

Great. Thank you, guys. Jayme, just maybe wanted to ask, as this recovery takes shape, I'm curious what you think your opportunities are for gaining market share relative to where we were at different points in the cycle in the past.

偉大的。感謝你們。Jayme，也許只是想問，隨著這次復甦的形成，我很好奇您認為相對於我們過去週期的不同階段，您獲得市場份額的機會是什麼。

Yes. Thanks, Jason. I think the story of the last year or two has been largely focused on optimizing for margin and profitability in a highly budget constrained environment. And as those budget constraints begin to go away, I think we'll restore greater focus on growth and share.

是的。謝謝，傑森。我認為過去一兩年的故事主要集中在預算高度緊張的環境中優化利潤和盈利能力。隨著這些預算限制開始消失，我認為我們將更加關注成長和份額。

One of the things that has always enabled us to do well from a share point of view is the local agent network that we have. It's relatively proprietary distribution. The health of this network is strong and we expect it to continue to build and grow. And that allows us to be more competitive in a traffic acquisition landscape.

從共享的角度來看，始終使我們能夠做得很好的事情之一是我們擁有的本地代理網路。這是相對專有的發行版。這個網絡非常健康，我們期望它能夠繼續建立和發展。這使我們在流量獲取領域更具競爭力。

So we're confident in our ability to continue to build share as the sort of budget restrictions fade away. And I think that one of the keys to doing that is going to be continuing to invest in this agency network and then flowing through that monetization as we do into our traffic landscape and our traffic bidding. So we feel confident in that.

因此，隨著預算限制的消失，我們對繼續擴大份額的能力充滿信心。我認為做到這一點的關鍵之一是繼續投資這個代理網絡，然後透過這種貨幣化，就像我們對流量景觀和流量競價所做的那樣。所以我們對此充滿信心。

And then maybe a follow-up for Joseph. The VMM guide for Q1, it's a little bit of a pullback from Q4. Obviously, not surprising. Just curious with a strengthening market, where do you expect VMM to settle in? Or what is a more stable VMM look like as we look forward?

然後也許是約瑟夫的後續行動。第一季的 VMM 指南與第四季相比略有回落。顯然，這並不奇怪。只是好奇市場走強，您預期 VMM 會在哪裡立足？或者說我們期待的更穩定的VMM是什麼樣的呢？

Sure. So just some context. So in terms of our VMM, the guide, the VMM margins implied by our Q1 guide is the one to 34%, 33.8%. To put that in context, you know, with last year, obviously, we were pleased with our performance throughout last year, getting about just under 35% on average VMM margin; and 37% in Q4 last year.

當然。所以只是一些背景。因此，就我們的 VMM 指南而言，我們第一季指南隱含的 VMM 利潤率為 34%、33.8%。結合上下文來看，您知道，就去年而言，我們顯然對去年全年的表現感到滿意，平均 VMM 利潤率略低於 35%；去年第四季為 37%。

If you put that 35% in context for the year, it takes two pieces into it. One is a bit of a DTC in the first half of the exit in health, which has a higher VMM margin. And the second half of the year had depressed volumes where advertising costs are relatively low.

如果你把這 35% 放在今年的背景中，那麼它需要兩個部分。一個是在健康退出的前半段有點DTC，它具有更高的VMM裕度。下半年銷售低迷，廣告成本相對較低。

If you look at sort of normalized VMM margins in marketplace, it's around 30%-ish, as we've said before. And then we believe that we'll see VMM margins settle out between that 30%-ish in that 35% over the course of the year. You see it starting out just under 34% and we'd expect to see some downward pressure as we progress through the year as advertising cost becomes relatively more or less favorable to us as they arise.

如果你看看市場上標準化的 VMM 利潤率，你會發現它大約是 30% 左右，正如我們之前所說的。然後我們相信，今年 VMM 的利潤率將穩定在 30% 到 35% 之間。你會看到它一開始略低於 34%，隨著今年的進展，我們預計會看到一些下行壓力，因為廣告成本的增加對我們來說相對或多或少有利。

But I would emphasize that -- one piece of that we continue to feel very strong on over time, continue to build the VMM margins in future periods is what we've done with our data and technology investments around bidding. So we can more effectively acquire high-intent consumers who perform well and monetize well with carriers. That have continued to give enduring benefits.

但我要強調的是，隨著時間的推移，我們繼續感覺非常強大，在未來一段時間內繼續建立 VMM 利潤率，其中之一就是我們圍繞投標的數據和技術投資所做的事情。這樣我們就可以更有效地獲取那些表現良好且與營運商合作良好的高意向消費者。這繼續帶來持久的好處。

But again, the advertising environment will offset it. So that's why we see that. It's implied by the guidance sort of probably some incremental downward pressure, at least course of this year.

但同樣，廣告環境會抵消它。這就是我們看到這一點的原因。指導意見暗示，至少今年可能會出現一些增量下行壓力。

Got it. Thanks, gentlemen.

知道了。謝謝，先生們。

Ralph Schackart, William Blair.

拉爾夫·沙卡特，威廉·布萊爾。

Hi guys. Jayme, maybe can you sort of give your perspective on market share shifts? Have you seen them over the last couple of years? Obviously, that market's been fairly dynamic. And then kind of going forward, perhaps more importantly, the trends that you see there to potentially capture share when you talked about bidding technology using AI with your data scale, et cetera, just sort of if you could kind of reframe your competitive position going forward would be helpful.

嗨，大家好。Jayme，也許您能談談您對市場佔有率變化的看法嗎？過去幾年你有見過他們嗎？顯然，該市場相當活躍。然後，也許更重要的是，當您談論使用人工智慧與資料規模等進行競價技術時，您看到的趨勢可能會佔據份額，如果您可以重新建立您的競爭地位的話轉發會有幫助。

Yes, sure. So I think the two things that we really point to in terms of the competitive position, which will enable us to drive share gains as the market recovers, the first of what I just alluded to, which is the agency network and the amount of monetization that comes from that. So as we continue to strengthen that agent network, we are in an advantaged position in terms of our ability to compete for and acquire traffic in a paid traffic acquisition landscape. So that would be number one.

是的，當然。因此，我認為我們在競爭地位方面真正指出的兩件事將使我們能夠隨著市場復甦而推動份額增長，我剛才提到的第一件事是代理網絡和貨幣化金額這是從那而來的。因此，隨著我們繼續加強代理網絡，我們在付費流量獲取領域競爭和獲取流量的能力方面處於優勢地位。所以這將是第一。

But then the second thing that you alluded to, Mike (sic - "Ralph"), was that we have a -- been developing our bidding technology since the early days of EverQuote really. And we've gotten second-generation of bidding technologists and rolling out over the last couple of years.

但是，麥克（原文如此，「拉爾夫」），你提到的第二件事是，我們從 EverQuote 成立之初就開始開發我們的出價技術。我們已經擁有了第二代投標技術專家，並在過去幾年中推出。

So we as a company, we probably see nearly as much Internet insurance shopping traffic as anybody out there. And you referenced the number of quote requests that we processed last year was about $35 million or so quote requests. But the data that we generate through these transactions gives us a real unique competitive moat.

因此，作為一家公司，我們看到的網路保險購物流量可能與其他公司幾乎一樣多。您提到我們去年處理的報價請求數量約為 3500 萬美元左右。但我們透過這些交易產生的數據為我們提供了真正獨特的競爭護城河。

And we use the data from these transactions in that traffic bidding engine, which effectively allows us to kind of apply machine learning and AI to inference attributes or values about a consumer at various stages in their funnel. And use that to make better decisions about which consumers to bid for, how much to pay for them, how much to route them, improves the overall efficiency of our traffic acquisition engine of the marketplace.

我們在流量競價引擎中使用這些交易的數據，這有效地使我們能夠應用機器學習和人工智慧來推斷消費者在通路各個階段的屬性或價值。並利用它來更好地決定競標哪些消費者、為他們支付多少錢、路由多少，從而提高我們市場流量獲取引擎的整體效率。

And so it's the combination of better monetization engine and a better traffic acquisition engine that over time really will enable us to continue to build our share.

因此，更好的貨幣化引擎和更好的流量獲取引擎的結合，隨著時間的推移，確實將使我們能夠繼續擴大我們的份額。

That's helpful. Thank you, Jayme.

這很有幫助。謝謝你，杰梅。

Dan Day, B. Riley Securities.

丹‧戴 (Dan Day)，B. 萊利證券 (Riley Securities)。

Yes, thanks, guys, for taking the questions. Just some maybe a little on quote request volume, how it has kind of trended the last couple of months. I know you don't give the number anymore. Just generally speaking, have we seen a spike here since the calendars turned and some carriers have raised prices?

是的，謝謝各位提出問題。只是一些可能有關報價請求量的信息，以及過去幾個月的趨勢。我知道你不再提供號碼了。一般來說，自從日曆翻轉並且一些運營商提高價格以來，我們是否看到了這裡的飆升？

So hi, Dan, thanks. Since the rate cycle began in '22, we've been running with relatively elevated levels of consumer shopping for insurance. And so that was no different last year where I think we stepped up a bit from already elevated levels in 2022.

嗨，丹，謝謝。自 22 年利率週期開始以來，消費者購買保險的水平一直相對較高。所以這與去年沒有什麼不同，我認為我們在 2022 年已經較高的水平上又取得了一些進展。

I think the expectation is this year as rates continue to flow through and as carriers continue to take rate, we will continue to see elevated levels of shopping. That, combined with a favorable -- more favorable monetization backdrop, so more carrier demand out there and more carriers sort of advertising and inducing shopping behavior, I think would lend itself to sort of incremental step-up in quote request volume.

我認為今年的預期是，隨著費率繼續流動並且運營商繼續收取費率，我們將繼續看到購物水平的提高。再加上有利的——更有利的貨幣化背景，更多的運營商需求以及更多運營商的廣告和誘導購物行為，我認為這將有助於報價請求量的逐步增加。

But generally speaking, I would say things have been elevated since 2022. Remain that way in 2023. And I expect it to remain that way in 2024 as well.

但總的來說，我想說自 2022 年以來情況有所改善。2023 年仍維持這種狀態。我預計 2024 年也將維持這種狀態。

Okay, thanks. Another one just on like your general strategy for attracting consumers to the marketplace. You know, a lot of the questions you talked a lot about bidding strategies and mostly paid search and performance marketing. Have you guys thought about -- just given there might be a lot of consumers potentially looking to switch more traditional like brand advertising on TV, radio, those sorts of things, to maybe increase the number of people coming directly to everquote.com rather than through search or through ads?

好的謝謝。另一項就像您吸引消費者進入市場的整體策略一樣。您知道，您談到的許多問題都涉及出價策略，主要是付費搜尋和效果行銷。你們有沒有想過——考慮到可能有很多消費者可能希望轉向更傳統的方式，例如電視、廣播等上的品牌廣告，以增加直接訪問 Everquote.com 的人數，而不是透過搜尋還是透過廣告？

Yes, it's a good question. The answer is yes. We will compete in any channel that we can drive sufficient performance from. And there are some of the channels that you referenced, which lend itself to more of a performance brand approach by channels like OTT or something like that, which allow you to start to build brand, but do so in a highly performance-oriented context.

是的，這是一個好問題。答案是肯定的。我們將在任何能夠帶來足夠績效的管道中進行競爭。您提到的一些管道更適合 OTT 等管道的績效品牌方法，這允許您開始建立品牌，但要在高度績效導向的背景下進行。

I think that's probably where you'd see us go and our progression before we get to full-on brand advertising. But I do think there continues to be opportunity for us to expand the channels in which we participate, build more brand awareness over time, and drives more of that direct traffic as you suggest.

我認為在我們進行全面的品牌廣告之前，您可能會看到我們的發展方向和進展。但我確實認為我們仍然有機會擴大我們參與的管道，隨著時間的推移建立更多的品牌知名度，並按照您的建議吸引更多的直接流量。

Okay, great. Thanks, guys.

好的，太好了。多謝你們。

Thanks, Dan.

謝謝，丹。

Greg Peters, Raymond James.

格雷格彼得斯，雷蒙德詹姆斯。

Yes, hey, good afternoon. This is Sid on for Greg. Maybe just a cleanup question. In your prepared remarks, you mentioned the fourth quarter is typically more seasonally weak. I'm curious if the exit of the health vertical change the seasonality any in the business.

是的，嘿，下午好。這是格雷格的席德。也許只是清理問題。在您準備好的發言中，您提到第四季通常季節性更為疲軟。我很好奇健康垂直行業的退出是否會改變該行業的季節性。

See, the comments in terms of Q4 being seasonally because in the context of the auto and home vertical. When we had the health business, that kind of weigh to that typical seasonality dip for us.

看，第四季度的評論是季節性的，因為在汽車和家居垂直領域。當我們開展健康業務時，這種情況對我們來說會造成典型的季節性下降。

So the cost -- so Q4 is typically a seasonally (inaudible). What was unusual in Q4 of 2023 is we had some carriers who were looking to spend and actually in the second half of the quarter continued to spend, which is unusual for carriers historically (inaudible) the team's expected typically pullback in that period just given the sort of broader retail, but they did it this year.

所以成本 - 所以第四季通常是季節性的（聽不清楚）。2023 年第四季的不尋常之處在於，我們有一些運營商希望支出，實際上在本季度下半年繼續支出，這對於歷史上的運營商來說是不尋常的（聽不清），鑑於有點更廣泛的零售業，但他們今年做到了。

All right. Thanks.

好的。謝謝。

Jed Kelly, Oppenheimer.

傑德凱利，奧本海默。

Hey, great. Thanks for taking my questions. Just two, if I may. One that I get the reason behind not giving guidance, but can you just give us a sense from where you guide the 1Q? And then just how we should think about the seasonality of the business and balance that with the recovery?

嘿，太棒了。感謝您回答我的問題。如果可以的話，就兩個。我明白不提供指導的原因，但你能否給我們一個指導第一季的感覺？那麼我們應該如何考慮業務的季節性並在其與復甦之間取得平衡？

And then can you just talk about some of the competition you're seeing in terms of performance marketing with your competitors, maybe some that aren't as aggressive versus some that are being more aggressive in the recovery? Thanks.

然後，您能否談談您在效果行銷方面與競爭對手的一些競爭，也許有些競爭並不那麼激進，而有些在復甦過程中卻更加激進？謝謝。

Thanks, Jeff, for the questions. Why don't I take the first one and Jayme will follow up in the second. So in terms of our guide and our thought process for the year, so as you pointed out, we are guiding for Q1. It reflects our high competency. What we expect to happen in Q1, based on what we know now we expect to happen in the course of the remainder of the quarter in March.

謝謝傑夫的提問。為什麼我不拿第一個，Jayme 會跟進第二個。因此，就我們今年的指導和思考過程而言，正如您所指出的，我們正在為第一季提供指導。它體現了我們的高能力。根據我們目前所知，我們預計第一季會發生什麼，我們預計在 3 月該季度的剩餘時間內會發生這種情況。

When we look to the year, we did not give a guidance. We didn't have high confidence in what would happen with the auto recovery cycle, just given the variability and what the carriers are doing.

當我們展望這一年時，我們沒有給予指導。考慮到可變性和運營商正在做的事情，我們對自動恢復週期會發生什麼沒有很高的信心。

That being said, when we think about how the factors that would drive it, there's a couple of we would highlight. So one, obviously, that our guide was in Q1. We would look at seasonality in the business of auto and home. Again, excluding the health operations and so on are part of it.

話雖這麼說，當我們考慮如何推動它的因素時，我們會強調幾個因素。顯然，我們的指南是在第一季。我們會關注汽車和家居行業的季節性。同樣，排除衛生運營等也是其中的一部分。

If you look over since we've been public, auto, typically Q2 is down from Q1 sequentially. Q3 is up from Q2 and Q4 is down from Q3. That's sort of the typical seasonal pattern over the past five years of us being public. Admittedly, there's volatility and all of that, but that's the typical -- that would be the pattern if you look at the numbers.

如果您查看自我們上市以來的汽車狀況，通常第二季會比第一季連續下降。Q3 比 Q2 上升，Q4 比 Q3 下降。這是過去五年我們上市以來的典型季節性模式。誠然，存在波動性等等，但這是典型的——如果你看數字，這就是模式。

With regards to VMM margin, we talked about in the earlier question, which was our guide implies just under 34% for Q1, we'd expect to see some pressure on that as downward pressure on that as we progress through the year based on the advertising environment and relatively more possible. So you would see -- and we said it would settle out between that 30 markets -- 30% VMM margin of marketplace historically and the 35% we had last year.

關於 VMM 利潤率，我們在先前的問題中談到過，我們的指導意味著第一季略低於 34%，我們預計，隨著我們在今年的進展，基於廣告環境也相對更有可能。所以你會看到——我們說過這將在這 30 個市場之間解決——歷史上 VMM 市場利潤率為 30%，去年為 35%。

And then on the operating expense side, you find the last piece. When you think of that $23 million in Q1, we expect to -- we said that there would be step-up in Q1 from Q4. So '22 going to about '23, about a 6% step-up in Q1 of this year relative to last year, then we're going to be very disciplined and then adding [seasonal] cost.

然後在營運費用方面，你會發現最後一塊。當你想到第一季的 2300 萬美元時，我們預計 - 我們說過第一季將比第四季度增加。因此，從 22 年到 23 年左右，今年第一季相對於去年增加了約 6%，然後我們將非常嚴格，然後增加[季節性]成本。

And as you look at that, the impact throughout the year, what we think that means that you're going to get -- what it implies that you're going to get significant increase in operating leverage. And the amount of expansion you get in adjusted EBITDA can be a function of where our recovery -- how auto recovery shakes out. Those are some of the factors I look at: seasonality, VMM margin percentage as it progresses through the year, then (inaudible) expense.

當你看到這一點時，全年的影響，我們認為這意味著你將得到什麼——這意味著你的營運槓桿將顯著增加。調整後 EBITDA 的擴張量可能取決於我們的復甦程度——汽車復甦的方式。這些是我關注的一些因素：季節性、全年的 VMM 利潤百分比，以及（聽不清楚）費用。

And then, Jed, I will try to address your second question. I mean, with respect to competition in the performance marketing landscape, it's been very dynamic to start the year. And so we have technology and people who are literally like reacting in real time as things change. But generally speaking, we've seen meaningful growth from Q4, both in volume and in revenue.

然後，傑德，我將嘗試解決你的第二個問題。我的意思是，就效果行銷領域的競爭而言，今年開始就非常活躍。因此，我們擁有能夠隨著事物變化即時做出反應的技術和人員。但總的來說，我們看到第四季以來銷量和收入都出現了有意義的成長。

We've seen significant step-up in our revenue per quote request driven by carrier budgets and carrier expansion. And so we expect to see this quarter our carrier revenue step up by over 100%. So there's a lot happening on the sort of monetization side of the marketplace.

在營運商預算和營運商擴張的推動下，我們的每次報價請求收入顯著增加。因此，我們預計本季我們的營運商收入將成長 100% 以上。因此，市場的貨幣化方面發生了很多事情。

Now that, of course, will come with more competitive ad landscape. And so we are seeing commensurate improvement -- increases, I should say, in cost per quote request. Which is why Joseph mentioned, we do expect to see a bit of VMM compression as we progress through the year and through the recovery.

當然，現在廣告領域的競爭將會更加激烈。因此，我們看到了相應的改進——我應該說，每個報價請求的成本都有所增加。這就是 Joseph 提到的原因，我們確實預計隨著這一年和復甦的進展，VMM 會有所壓縮。

But net-net, it's all very positive and we feel really good about our position as monetization comes back. And we're seeing a lot of volume flowing into our marketplace.

但總的來說，這一切都是非常積極的，隨著貨幣化的回歸，我們對自己的地位感到非常滿意。我們看到大量的流量流入我們的市場。

So I guess -- I know it's hard, but would 1Q be the lowest quarter for revenue just given the arc of the recovery? Or is it too early to say?

所以我想——我知道這很難，但是考慮到復甦的弧線，第一季會是收入最低的季度嗎？還是現在說還太早？

Yes, it's too early to say, Jed. I mean, I think for us is we guided for Q1 so we have high comps in Q1. We can't give insight in the rest of the year and any specificity on what the exact split for revenue to be, just given the environment we're seeing.

是的，現在說還為時過早，傑德。我的意思是，我認為對我們來說，我們第一季的指導是這樣的，所以我們在第一季有很高的競爭力。考慮到我們所看到的環境，我們無法提供今年剩餘時間的洞察，也無法具體說明收入的具體分配情況。

Again, a very encouraging start to the year, but we're not going to claim victory at this point and have confidence in the exact slope of recovery for the year.

再次，這是今年非常令人鼓舞的開局，但我們不會在此時宣布勝利，並對今年的確切復甦斜率充滿信心。

All right. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

Thanks, Jed.

謝謝，傑德。

Mayank Tandon, Needham.

馬雅克坦登，尼達姆。

Thank you. Good evening, Jayme and Joseph. I wanted to piggyback off your comments, Joseph, onto the last question. Looking back and having covered you for a while, it almost seems reminiscent of EverQuote going from 2018 into 2019.

謝謝。晚上好，傑姆和約瑟夫。約瑟夫，我想藉用你的評論來討論最後一個問題。回顧過去一段時間，幾乎讓人想起 EverQuote 從 2018 年到 2019 年的經歷。

I know the dynamic might be very different. But we do look at 2019 as maybe the last sort of normal year before COVID. Is that -- I don't want to put you on the spot, but is that a good proxy for what the trajectory could look like if the recovery does hold on the auto side?

我知道動態可能會非常不同。但我們確實認為 2019 年可能是新冠疫情爆發前最後一個正常的年份。我不想讓你難堪，但如果汽車產業確實復甦的話，這是否能很好地反映汽車產業的發展軌跡？

So I would say this, right, when you think about the recovery, what's different in this period versus the last one, yes, there was a downturn, a hard market in 2017, 2018, and we recovered nicely coming out of that. It did very well as a business.

所以我想說的是，當你考慮復甦時，這段時期與上一個時期有什麼不同，是的，2017 年、2018 年出現了低迷和艱難的市場，我們從中恢復得很好。作為一項業務，它做得非常好。

I think the challenge in drawing comparisons is this has been a much deeper and more prolonged downturn. So in that environment, I think -- although there's insight you can see from looking back on what's happened on other downturns and how we recovered nicely as a business, I think it would be hard to draw that as at least the same thing would happen here because it's a much more prolonged. It's been a much more prolonged downturn.

我認為進行比較的挑戰在於，這是一次更深層、更持久的低潮。因此，在那種環境下，我認為，儘管你可以透過回顧其他經濟低迷時期發生的事情以及我們作為一家企業如何良好復甦來看到一些見解，但我認為很難得出這一點，因為至少會發生同樣的事情在這裡，因為它的時間要長得多。這是一場持續時間較長的低迷時期。

And as we've said before, we think different carriers will come back at different times. We continue to believe that. And we've seen signed smart carriers at the start of Q1 all showing positive signs, but specificity is still lacking. And so I can't really draw any specific conclusion beyond the trend. We saw the recovery was quite nice in that comparison. But sans represented this year, I think it's hard to draw that conclusion just given the difference in downturn and algorithms.

正如我們之前所說，我們認為不同的運營商會在不同的時間回歸。我們仍然相信這一點。我們在第一季初就看到簽約的智慧運營商都顯示出積極的跡象，但仍缺乏特異性。因此，除了趨勢之外，我無法真正得出任何具體結論。在那次比較中我們看到恢復得相當好。但今年的 sans 代表，我認為僅考慮到低迷和演算法的差異，很難得出這樣的結論。

Got it. Well, let's hope it plays out like that. So we will wait and see. The second question I have is on the customer. So I think, Jayme, you talked about growing within the installed base. I just wanted to get clarity.

知道了。好吧，讓我們希望事情能這樣發展。所以我們將拭目以待。我的第二個問題是關於客戶的。所以我認為，Jayme，您談到了在安裝基礎上的成長。我只是想弄清楚。

Like what are the gating factors to drive the increased penetration of the marketing spend, the ad spend after existing clients? And what are some of the sort of nuances around that? If you could just maybe walk us through that.

例如推動行銷支出、現有客戶之後的廣告支出滲透率提高的限制因素是什麼？周圍有哪些細微差別？如果你能帶我們經歷一下就好了。

Sure. Sure. So there's a number of dimensions of growth there. The first is just expanding into a market segment, which historically we have not penetrated very deeply, and that's the independent agent segment.

當然。當然。所以那裡有很多方面的成長。第一個是剛剛擴展到一個細分市場，歷史上我們還沒有深入滲透，那就是獨立代理細分市場。

So the independent agents are roughly equal in size with the captive agent market from an agent count standpoint. And we've historically focused on the captive agents. When I say captive, I mean, they're captive to one of the big carriers like Allstate agents or Farmers agents or State Farm agents.

因此，從代理商數量的角度來看，獨立代理商的規模與專屬代理商市場的規模大致相同。我們歷來關注的是俘虜特工。當我說「俘虜」時，我的意思是，他們被大型承運人之一俘虜，例如 Allstate 代理商、Farmers 代理商或 State Farm 代理商。

The benefit of being a captive is they tend to get support in the form of marketing dollars and/or technology and other infrastructure. It helps them get performance out of a channel like ours.

成為俘虜的好處是他們往往會獲得行銷資金和/或技術和其他基礎設施形式的支持。它可以幫助他們從像我們這樣的管道中獲得績效。

Independent agents lack that harness. And so we have to kind of build the harness for them and do some things differently with that market segment to help them be successful before we can expect to really scale with that segment of agents. And so one dimension of growth is expanding the market into this new segment of independent agents and growing with them.

獨立代理人缺乏這種能力。因此，我們必須為他們建立工具，並針對該細分市場做一些不同的事情，以幫助他們取得成功，然後我們才能真正擴大該細分市場的代理規模。因此，成長的一個面向是將市場擴展到獨立代理商這個新的細分市場，並與他們一起成長。

The other dimension is taking more wallet share within the installed base. And if you think about it from the agent's point of view, I own an insurance agency. I'm trying to get new customers in the door and I spend my money on a number of different sort of on lead gen channels -- one of which is with EverQuote. But I'm doing other things. I may be buying like live calls or ancillary services that are also oriented towards helping me grow my business.

另一個方面是在安裝基礎上佔據更多的錢包份額。如果你從代理人的角度考慮，我擁有一家保險代理機構。我正在努力吸引新客戶，我把錢花在了許多不同類型的潛在客戶開發管道上——其中之一就是 EverQuote。但我正在做其他事情。我可能會購買即時通話或輔助服務，這些服務也旨在幫助我發展業務。

I think there's an opportunity for us to kind of extend the offering that we provide to these local agents to capture them and consolidate that spend into one place and which play well into our strengths in terms of traffic acquisition and digital marketing. And so it's both more agents by expanding into new channels. It's also going deeper with the existing agents we have to help them consolidate their spend and better solve their needs as it relates to growing their agency.

我認為我們有機會擴展我們向這些本地代理商提供的服務，以吸引他們並將這些支出整合到一個地方，這可以很好地發揮我們在流量獲取和數位行銷方面的優勢。因此，它需要透過拓展新的管道來吸引更多的代理商。我們也與現有代理商進行更深入的合作，幫助他們鞏固支出並更好地解決他們的需求，因為這與發展他們的代理商有關。

Got it. Very helpful color. Thank you so much.

知道了。非常有用的顏色。太感謝了。

Thanks, Mayank.

謝謝，瑪雅克。

I will now turn the call back over to Jayme Mendal, CEO, for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

現在，我將把電話轉回給執行長傑米·門達爾 (Jayme Mendal)，他將發表結束語。請繼續。

All right. Well, thank you all for joining us today. I'll just conclude with an emphasis on our renewed sense of confidence, not only in a measured return to normalcy of the auto insurance market in the months to come, but also in EverQuote and our team's ability to execute effectively towards our vision.

好的。好的，謝謝大家今天加入我們。最後，我要強調的是我們重新燃起的信心，不僅是對未來幾個月汽車保險市場恢復正常的信心，而且是對 EverQuote 和我們團隊有效執行我們願景的能力。

As I said earlier, we entered this year leaner and more focused than any time in recent memory. And we are a more streamlined organization. We have a team that has grown stronger and more resilient. We have a debt-free balance sheet and we are returning to our roots of being a capital-efficient digital marketplace focused on driving consistent cash generation.

正如我之前所說，今年我們比近期記憶中的任何時候都更加精簡、更加專注。我們是一個更精簡的組織。我們擁有一支變得更強大、更有韌性的團隊。我們擁有無債務的資產負債表，我們正在回歸資本高效的數位市場的根源，專注於推動持續的現金產生。

All these factors are going to position us well to build an enduring and transformative business as insurance shopping continues to move online. Thanks for your time today.

隨著保險購物繼續向網上轉移，所有這些因素都將使我們能夠建立持久且變革性的業務。感謝您今天抽出時間。

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

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入，現在您可以斷開線路了。