EverQuote Inc (EVER) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Abby, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the EverQuote fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call. (Operator Instructions)

女士們、先生們，感謝你們的耐心等待。我叫艾比，今天我將擔任你們的會議接線生。在此，我謹代表 EverQuote 向大家歡迎參加 2025 年第四季及全年財報電話會議。（操作說明）

Thank you. And I would now like to turn the conference over to Brinlea Johnson with The Blue Shirt Group. You may begin.

謝謝。現在，我想把會議交給藍襯衫集團的布林利亞·約翰遜。你可以開始了。

Thank you. Good afternoon and welcome to EverQuote's fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call. We'll be discussing the results announced in our press release issued today after the market closed.

謝謝。下午好，歡迎參加 EverQuote 2025 年第四季及全年業績電話會議。我們將在今天股市收盤後，討論我們在新聞稿中公佈的業績。

With me on the call this afternoon are Jayme Mendal, EverQuote's Chief Executive Officer; and Joseph Sanborn, EverQuote's Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer.

今天下午和我一起參加電話會議的還有 EverQuote 的執行長 Jayme Mendal，以及 EverQuote 的財務長兼首席行政官 Joseph Sanborn。

During the call, we'll make statements related to our business that may be considered forward-looking statements under federal securities laws, including statements considering our financial guidance for the first quarter of 2026. Forward-looking statements may be identified with words and phrases such as expect, believe, intend, anticipate, 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 these forward-looking statements except as required by law.

在電話會議期間，我們將發表一些與我們業務相關的聲明，這些聲明可能被視為聯邦證券法下的前瞻性聲明，包括關於我們 2026 年第一季財務指引的聲明。前瞻性陳述通常包含諸如“預期”、“相信”、“打算”、“預期”、“計劃”、“可能”、“即將到來”等詞語和短語，以及類似的詞語和短語。這些聲明僅反映我們截至今日的觀點，不應被視為我們此後任何日期的觀點。除法律要求外，我們明確聲明不承擔更新或修改這些前瞻性聲明的任何義務。

Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from our expectations. For discussion of those risks and uncertainties, please refer to our SEC filings, including our annual report on Form 10-K and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on the Investor Relations section of our website.

前瞻性陳述受多種風險和不確定因素的影響，可能導致實際結果與我們的預期有重大差異。有關這些風險和不確定性的討論，請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，包括我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-K 表格年度報告和 10-Q 表格季度報告，這些文件可在我們網站的投資者關係部分查閱。

Finally, during the course of today's call, we'll 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.

最後，在今天的電話會議中，我們將提及一些我們認為對投資者有幫助的非GAAP財務指標。在今天收盤後發布的新聞稿中，我們包含了 GAAP 與非 GAAP 指標的調整表，該新聞稿可在我們網站的投資者關係部分查閱。

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

接下來，我將把麥克風交給傑米。

Thank you, Brinlea, and thank you all for joining us today. 2025 was a phenomenal year for EverQuote, and we're excited about our position entering 2026. We grew revenue by 38% in 2025, making material progress toward our vision of becoming the number one growth partner to P&C insurance providers.

謝謝布林利亞，也謝謝各位今天蒞臨現場。 2025年對EverQuote來說是意義非凡的一年，我們對2026年的發展前景充滿信心。2025 年，我們的收入成長了 38%，朝著成為財產和意外保險提供者第一成長合作夥伴的願景取得了實質進展。

We delivered this growth by scaling our marketplace, launching new products, further integrating AI into our operations, and deepening provider relationships, all of which accelerated our evolution to a growth solutions partner to our customers. More impressively, we delivered this growth with increasing operating leverage. We grew adjusted EBITDA by 62% as we continue to generate efficiency throughout our operations through the use of AI and other technologies.

我們透過擴大市場規模、推出新產品、進一步將人工智慧融入營運以及深化與供應商的關係實現了這一成長，所有這些都加速了我們向客戶成長解決方案合作夥伴的轉型。更令人印象深刻的是，我們透過不斷提高經營槓桿實現了這一成長。我們透過運用人工智慧和其他技術不斷提高營運效率，調整後 EBITDA 成長了 62%。

Thanks to the team's strong execution, we exited 2025 with record financial performance across all our key financial metrics, a highly capital-efficient operation, and a strong balance sheet. We entered 2026 from a position of strength and with a stable and healthy P&C insurance market.

由於團隊的出色執行，我們在 2025 年結束時，所有關鍵財務指標均創下歷史新高，營運效率極高，資產負債表穩健。2026 年伊始，我們擁有強大的實力和穩定健康的財產保險市場。

Consumer shopping levels remain elevated following rate increases in recent years. Carrier underwriting is profitable, and our carrier conversations about 2026 have centered around growth. This backdrop supports a confident outlook for 2026.

近年來利率上漲後，消費者的購物水準依然居高不下。核保業務有利可圖，我們與核保商就 2026 年的討論也主要圍繞成長。在這種背景下，人們對2026年的前景充滿信心。

Since going public in 2018, EverQuote Management has established a seven-year track record of delivering against our commitments while navigating an always dynamic set of market conditions. We now reiterate our next commitment, which is to achieve $1 billion of revenue while continuing to expand the cash generation of our marketplace.

自 2018 年上市以來，EverQuote Management 已在瞬息萬變的市場環境中，七年來始終履行承諾，並取得了良好的業績記錄。我們現在重申我們的下一個承諾，那就是在繼續擴大我們市場現金流的同時，實現 10 億美元的收入。

We will do this amidst continued dynamism in the market, this time brought on by the rapid acceleration of the capabilities of AI. We believe that we are well positioned to lead and benefit from this shift. Applying data and technology to insurance shopping to remove friction for consumers and deliver growth to providers has been deeply ingrained in our DNA since our founding.

我們將在市場持續活躍的環境下進行這項工作，而這次的市場活躍是由人工智慧能力的快速提升所帶來的。我們相信，我們已做好充分準備，引領並從這一轉變中獲益。自公司成立以來，我們一直致力於將數據和技術應用於保險購買，以消除消費者的摩擦並為保險公司帶來成長，這一理念已深深融入我們的基因之中。

We have amassed a one-of a-kind data moat from our hundreds of millions of historical insurance shopping events, each of which contributes proprietary data that could be used in many ways to create enhanced digital and AI native experiences.

我們透過數億次歷史保險購買事件累積了獨一無二的數據護城河，每一次購買事件都貢獻了專有數據，這些數據可以以多種方式用於創造增強的數位和人工智慧原生體驗。

In recent years, we have applied AI to automate our traffic bidding. We have rolled out products like Smart Campaigns, our AI provider bidding solution. We have deployed AI voice into our call center operations, and we have begun adopting GenAI throughout our operations to drive efficiency. All of these advances have contributed to our growing operating leverage, punctuated by last year's 62% growth in adjusted EBITDA and a more than doubling of our revenue since 2023, despite nearly zero increase in our operating expenses.

近年來，我們已將人工智慧應用於流量競價自動化。我們推出了諸如智慧廣告系列（Smart Campaigns）之類的產品，這是我們的人工智慧供應商競價解決方案。我們已將 AI 語音技術應用於呼叫中心運營，並已開始在整個營運中採用 GenAI 來提高效率。所有這些進步都促進了我們不斷增長的經營槓桿，去年調整後的 EBITDA 增長了 62%，自 2023 年以來收入翻了一番多，儘管我們的營運費用幾乎沒有增長。

In 2026, EverQuote will accelerate our evolution towards an AI-first future. Within our operations, we will further accelerate our engineering team's path to more fulsome agentic coding and adoption of AI tools and agents throughout our operations to drive further operating efficiency.

2026年，EverQuote將加速向人工智慧優先的未來發展。在我們的營運中，我們將進一步加快工程團隊向更全面的智能體編碼和人工智慧工具及代理的過渡，以在整個營運中提高營運效率。

For our customers, we will roll out new products and features that combine our unique data with newfound capabilities of generative AI to accelerate their ability to derive value from this technology. We look forward to sharing more about some exciting features we are developing later this year.

對於我們的客戶，我們將推出結合我們獨特數據和全新生成式人工智慧能力的新產品和功能，以加快他們從這項技術中獲得價值的能力。我們期待在今年稍後與大家分享我們正在開發的一些令人興奮的功能。

I want to thank and congratulate the EverQuote team for delivering results in 2025 that exceeded expectations. As we progress into 2026, we will build on this momentum and are taking steps that redefine EverQuote and insurance distribution for the age of AI.

我要感謝並祝賀 EverQuote 團隊在 2025 年取得了超出預期的成果。隨著我們邁入 2026 年，我們將在此勢頭的基礎上繼續前進，並採取措施重新定義 EverQuote 和人工智慧時代的保險分銷。

I'll now turn the call over to Joseph to discuss our financial results.

現在我將把電話交給約瑟夫，讓他來討論我們的財務表現。

Thank you, Jayme, and thank you all for joining. Today, I'll be discussing our financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2025, as well as our guidance for the first quarter of 2026.

謝謝你，傑米，也謝謝大家的參與。今天，我將討論我們 2025 年第四季和全年的財務業績，以及我們對 2026 年第一季的展望。

We delivered strong results in Q4, exceeding our prior guidance across all metrics, and closed out a record year in which we achieved total revenue growth of 38% year over year to $692.5 million and adjusted EBITDA expansion of 62% year over year to $94.6 million.

我們在第四季度取得了強勁的業績，所有指標均超過了我們先前的預期，並結束了創紀錄的一年，在這一年中，我們的總收入同比增長 38% 至 6.925 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 同比增長 62% 至 9,460 萬美元。

Total revenues in the fourth quarter grew 32% year over year to a record $195.3 million. Revenue growth was primarily driven by stronger carrier spend, which was up 39% year over year.

第四季總營收年增 32%，達到創紀錄的 1.953 億美元。營收成長主要得益於營運商支出增加，年增 39%。

Revenue from our auto insurance vertical increased to $179.9 million in Q4, up over 32% year over year. Full-year auto insurance revenue grew 41% year over year to $629.8 million.

第四季度，我們汽車保險業務的收入成長至 1.799 億美元，年增超過 32%。全年汽車保險收入年增 41%，達到 6.298 億美元。

Revenue from our home insurance vertical increased to $15.4 million in Q4, up 37% year over year. Full-year home insurance revenue grew 20% to $62.7 million.

第四季度，我們房屋保險業務的收入成長至 1,540 萬美元，年增 37%。全年房屋保險收入成長 20%，達到 6,270 萬美元。

As we mentioned last quarter, our strong revenue growth through the first nine months of 2025 gave us the opportunity to invest more in existing and new traffic lines during the fourth quarter to support future growth. The strategy worked. And as expected, these investments put temporary pressure on variable marketing dollars or VMD and variable marketing margin or VMM during the period, which in turn, impacted our Q4 adjusted EBITDA and associated margin.

正如我們上個季度所提到的，2025 年前九個月的強勁收入成長使我們有機會在第四季度加大對現有和新交通線路的投資，以支持未來的成長。這個策略奏效了。正如預期的那樣，這些投資在此期間為可變行銷資金或可變行銷利潤或可變行銷利潤帶來了暫時的壓力，進而影響了我們第四季度的調整後 EBITDA 和相關利潤率。

Fourth-quarter VMD was $49.3 million, an increase of 12% from the prior-year period, representing a 25.3% VMM. For the full year, VMD grew 24% to $191.9 million, representing a 27.7% VMM.

第四季 VMD 為 4,930 萬美元，比上年同期成長 12%，VMM 為 25.3%。全年來看，VMD成長了24%，達到1.919億美元，VMM成長了27.7%。

Turning to operating expenses and the bottom line. As we scale and drive top-line growth, we continue to expand the operating leverage in our business through the use of AI, other technologies, and disciplined expense management.

接下來談談營運費用和最終盈虧。隨著我們規模的擴大和營收的成長，我們將繼續利用人工智慧、其他技術和嚴格的費用管理來擴大業務的營運槓桿。

While other technology companies are describing their plans to make AI investments to deliver incremental efficiency, we have been on this path at EverQuote for over two years. In the fourth quarter, we grew GAAP net income to $57.8 million, up from $12.3 million in the prior year period. GAAP net income this quarter included a one-time, non-cash tax benefit $38.4 million, primarily driven by the release of the valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets.

當其他科技公司還在描述他們計劃透過投資人工智慧來提高效率時，EverQuote 已經在這條路上走了兩年多。第四季度，我們以美國通用會計準則計算的淨收入成長至 5,780 萬美元，高於去年同期的 1,230 萬美元。本季 GAAP 淨收入包含一次性非現金稅收優惠 3,840 萬美元，主要原因是釋放了針對遞延所得稅資產的估值準備金。

Full-year 2025 GAAP net income increased to $99.3 million compared to $32.2 million for 2024. Without the impact of these deferred tax benefits, we would have reported net income in Q4 and full year 2025 of $19.3 million to $60.9 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 57% and 89%, respectively.

2025 年全年 GAAP 淨收入增至 9,930 萬美元，而 2024 年為 3,220 萬美元。如果沒有這些遞延稅收優惠的影響，我們預計 2025 年第四季和全年淨收入將達到 1,930 萬美元至 6,090 萬美元，分別年增 57% 和 89%。

Q4 adjusted EBITDA increased 32% from the prior-year period to $25.1 million, representing a 12.8% adjusted EBITDA margin. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year increased 62% to $94.6 million, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 13.7%, an increase of approximately 200 basis points over 2024.

第四季調整後 EBITDA 比上年同期成長 32% 至 2,510 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 12.8%。全年調整後 EBITDA 成長 62% 至 9,460 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 13.7%，比 2024 年成長約 200 個基點。

Cash operating expenses, which excludes advertising spend in certain non-cash and other one-time charges, were $24.3 million in Q4, down modestly from Q3. For full year 2025, we also continue to drive strong operating leverage in our model with total cash operating expenses of approximately $97 million being effectively flat year over year.

第四季現金營運支出（不包括廣告支出以及其他非現金支出和其他一次性費用）為 2,430 萬美元，較第三季略有下降。2025 年全年，我們將繼續在我們的模型中實現強勁的營運槓桿，總現金營運支出約為 9,700 萬美元，與去年基本持平。

At the same time, our steadfast commitment to drive increasing efficiencies through automation in our core operations enable us to shift significant additional investment through 2025 into areas that drive future growth, such as AI capabilities, new products, and data science. As Jayme mentioned, since 2023, we have more than doubled revenues while keeping operating expenses essentially flat.

同時，我們堅定不移地致力於透過核心營運的自動化來提高效率，這使我們能夠在 2025 年前將大量額外投資轉移到推動未來成長的領域，例如人工智慧能力、新產品和數據科學。正如傑米所提到的，自 2023 年以來，我們的收入翻了一番多，而營運支出基本上保持不變。

We delivered strong operating cash flow of $27 million for the fourth quarter and $95.4 million for the full year 2025. We ended the period with no debt and cash and cash equivalents of $171.4 million. As a reminder, we implemented a $50 million share repurchase program last July. To date, we have repurchased approximately $30 million of shares, including approximately $9 million since the start of 2026.

我們在第四季實現了強勁的營運現金流，達到 2,700 萬美元，預計 2025 年全年將達到 9,540 萬美元。期末，我們沒有任何債務，現金及現金等價物為 1.714 億美元。再次提醒大家，我們在去年7月實施了5,000萬美元的股票回購計畫。迄今為止，我們已回購了約 3,000 萬美元的股票，其中自 2026 年初以來回購了約 900 萬美元。

We are pleased with our outperformance in the fourth quarter as we benefited from carriers who are well below their targeted combined ratios for the year and accelerated spend, deciding to not delay additional new customer acquisition until 2026. As a result of this dynamic, Q4 revenues were up a record 12% sequentially, meaningfully breaking with our previous seasonal pattern in which revenues declined sequentially on average in mid-single-digit percentage from Q3 to Q4.

我們對第四季度的優異表現感到滿意，因為我們受益於一些營運商的年度綜合比率遠低於其目標，並且加快了支出，決定不再將新增客戶獲取推遲到 2026 年。由於這種動態，第四季度營收環比增長了創紀錄的 12%，這顯著打破了我們之前的季節性模式，此前收入從第三季到第四季平均環比下降了個位數百分比。

Turning to 2026. We continue to operate in a favorable industry environment. Our carrier partners are indicating that 2026 will be a growth year in which they will compete more aggressively for profitable policy growth after a 2-plus year focus on rate restoration and underwriting margin recovery. We expect this growth to be measured.

展望2026年。我們繼續在有利的產業環境下運作。我們的保險公司合作夥伴表示，2026 年將是成長之年，在經歷了兩年多的費率恢復和承保利潤率回升之後，他們將更加積極地競爭盈利性保單增長。我們預計這一增長將是可控的。

Following carriers' record level of investment in new customer acquisition in Q4, we are seeing carriers take a more disciplined approach to Q1 marketing spend as they begin a new budget year and seek to position themselves to have greater flexibility as the year unfolds. This contrasts with our historical seasonal patterns in which we would have customarily see a sequential step up into Q1 as carriers will look to aggressively start a new year by quickly deploying budget and then consider tapering spend as they progress through the year based on their underwriting profitability.

繼營運商在第四季度創紀錄地加大對新客戶的獲取投入之後，我們看到運營商在新預算年度伊始，對第一季度的營銷支出採取了更加謹慎的態度，並尋求在這一年中擁有更大的靈活性。這與我們以往的季節性模式形成對比，以往我們通常會看到第一季度出現連續增長，因為保險公司會積極地在新的一年伊始迅速部署預算，然後根據其承保盈利能力，在一年中逐步減少支出。

Now turning to guidance for the first quarter of 2026. We expect revenue to be between $175 million and $185 million. We expect VMD to be between $49 million and $52 million. And we expect adjusted EBITDA to be between $23.5 million and $26.5 million.

現在展望一下2026年第一季的業績。我們預計營收將在 1.75 億美元至 1.85 億美元之間。我們預計VMD將在4900萬美元至5200萬美元之間。我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 將在 2,350 萬美元至 2,650 萬美元之間。

Entering 2026, we believe that we are well positioned to operate in a dynamic environment fueled by a rapidly evolving AI landscape. From our experience in serving insurance providers over the past few years, our battle-hardened team has honed its ability to quickly adapt our operations to changes in the environment with a clear-eyed view towards identifying opportunities that will both enable us to better serve our customers and drive strong financial performance.

展望 2026 年，我們相信我們已做好充分準備，在人工智慧領域快速發展的動態環境中運作。憑藉過去幾年為保險公司服務的經驗，我們身經百戰的團隊已經磨練出快速調整營運以適應環境變化的能力，並以清醒的眼光識別機遇，從而更好地服務客戶並推動強勁的財務業績。

As Jayme shared in his remarks, we have recognized and embraced AI capabilities that allow us to more aggressively adapt our operations and investment approach to create opportunities for EverQuote to deliver long-term sustainable growth. We look forward to sharing more with you on our achievements over the course of the year.

正如傑米在演講中所說，我們已經認識到並接受了人工智慧的能力，這使我們能夠更積極地調整我們的營運和投資方式，從而為 EverQuote 創造實現長期可持續成長的機會。我們期待與您分享我們在過去一年中取得的更多成就。

In summary, our record 2025 performance reflects our steadfast commitment to strong execution and a clear growth strategy. As we look at the remainder of this year and beyond, we are focused on our goal of creating $1 billion dollars revenue business over the next two to three years by being the leading growth partner for P&C insurance providers and doing so in a manner that will generate expanding levels of profitability and free cash flow.

總而言之，我們2025年創紀錄的業績反映了我們對強有力的執行和清晰的成長策略的堅定承諾。展望今年剩餘時間及未來，我們將專注於實現未來兩到三年內創造 10 億美元收入的目標，成為財產和意外傷害保險提供商的領先增長夥伴，並以一種能夠產生不斷增長的盈利能力和自由現金流的方式實現這一目標。

Jayme and I will now take your questions.

現在我和傑米將回答大家的問題。

Thank you, and we will now begin the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Maria Ripps, Canaccord Genuity.

謝謝，現在我們將開始問答環節。（操作說明）Maria Ripps，Canaccord Genuity。

Great. Thanks so much for taking my question. I know you're not providing full-year guidance at this time. But maybe any directional color you could share in terms of the growth trajectory throughout the year based on conversations sort of with your carrier partners? I guess how should investors think about sort of growth normalizing from this projected [to one] level?

偉大的。非常感謝您回答我的問題。我知道您目前不提供全年業績指引。但您能否根據與營運商合作夥伴的溝通，分享全年成長軌跡的大致方向？我想投資人應該如何看待成長從目前的預期水準逐漸正常化到目前的水準？

Sure. Thanks, Maria, for the question. Just want to make sure everyone can hear us okay. Yeah, have broken up a bit, Maria.

當然。謝謝瑪麗亞的提問。只是想確認一下大家都能聽清楚我們說話。是的，我們分手了一段時間，瑪麗亞。

Yeah. Would you like me to repeat my question?

是的。您想讓我再說一次我的問題嗎？

I think the question, Maria, just make sure I had it was outlook for full year 2026 based on the Q1 guide, can we give you -- can we give some insight on the rest of the year? No, we're not giving any of that.

瑪麗亞，我想問的問題是，根據第一季的業績指南，我們對 2026 年全年的展望是什麼？我們能否－我們能否對今年剩餘時間的情況提供一些見解？不，我們不會提供任何這類東西。

Perfect. So thank you, Maria. We will start with our carrier partners are indicating that 2026 will be a growth year for them broadly. And their focus in this growth year is really about competing for profitable policy growth. This is after sort of a two-plus year period where they were focused on getting rate adequacy and getting underwriting margins to be sustainable.

完美的。所以，謝謝你，瑪麗亞。首先，我們的營運商合作夥伴表示，2026 年對他們來說將是整體成長的一年。而他們今年的成長重點其實是爭奪有利可圖的政策成長。這是在他們花了兩年多時間專注於確保費率充足和承保利潤率可持續之後發生的。

As we think about how they're looking at this period, we're seeing it as a disciplined approach to starting Q1. In part reflecting a really strong Q4, we had this very strong Q4 dynamic where we were up sequentially 12% of record level. So coming into Q1, they're coming in with a view we're going to grow. And as we progress through the rest of the year -- I can touch more on Q1 questions if you have them.

當我們思考他們如何看待這段時期時，我們認為這是他們以嚴謹的態度開啟第一季。部分原因是第四季業績強勁，我們第四季的成長勢頭非常強勁，環比成長了 12%，創歷史新高。所以進入第一季度，他們的看法是我們將實現成長。隨著今年剩餘時間的推移——如果您有任何關於第一季的問題，我可以再詳細解答。

But for the rest of the year, I would prefer you to what we talked about in our November call, which is our path to $1 billion in revenues. It remains unchanged in our approach. We'll be a $1 billion company in revenues in two to three years. And as we think about what that implies for growth rates, if we did that in three years, that would -- say it'd be a 13% top-line growth. If we did that in two years, it'd be a 20%, 21% top-line growth. So I think that'd be the first data point I'd point to you. Obviously, some years will be higher, some years will be lower in terms of revenue growth.

但就今年剩餘時間而言，我更希望你們繼續關注我們在 11 月電話會議上討論的內容，也就是我們實現 10 億美元營收的路徑。我們的方法保持不變。兩到三年內，我們的公司營收將達到10億美元。當我們思考這對成長率意味著什麼時，如果我們在三年內做到這一點，那麼——比如說，總成長率將達到 13%。如果我們在兩年內做到這一點，營收將成長 20% 到 21%。所以我認為這應該是我要向你指出的第一個數據點。顯然，收入成長方面，有些年份會更高，有些年份會更低。

Then when you think about EBITDA, you're going down further down in the P&L, we've said in our November call that EBITDA margins in our path to $1 billion will go between 100 and 150 basis points. We're reiterating that view. There will be between 100 and 150 basis points. And consistent with what we said in the November call, for 2026, we think they'll be closer to 100 basis points. Reflecting that in 2025, we had 200 basis points of improvement.

那麼，當你考慮 EBITDA 時，你會發現它在損益表中排名更低。我們在 11 月的電話會議中說過，在我們實現 10 億美元目標的過程中，EBITDA 利潤率將在 100 到 150 個基點之間。我們重申這一觀點。漲幅將在100到150個基點之間。正如我們在 11 月的電話會議中所說，我們認為 2026 年的利率將接近 100 個基點。由此可見，到 2025 年，我們將取得 200 個基點的進步。

Probably the last insight I'd give you on this year is if you think about that top-line growth and that what that implies for EBITDA dollar growth, it implies at least 20% EBITDA dollar growth for 2026. And I think you'll see that on our path to $1 billion in -- along the way each year.

關於今年，我最後想給你們的見解是，如果你考慮一下營收成長以及這對 EBITDA 美元成長意味著什麼，那就意味著 2026 年 EBITDA 美元至少成長 20%。我認為你會在我們每年邁向 10 億美元的道路上看到這一點。

That's very helpful. And then can you maybe share a little bit more color around your traffic investments in Q4 and particularly anything you can share about AI-related search and quality of that traffic? And clearly, these investments benefited Q4. But do you anticipate any of those benefits of spilling over into Q1 and 2026?

那很有幫助。那麼，您能否更詳細地介紹一下您在第四季度的流量投資情況，特別是關於人工智慧相關搜尋以及流量品質方面的情況？顯然，這些投資在第四季取得了成效。但您預計這些好處會延續到 2026 年第一季嗎？

Yeah. I'm sorry, Maria. You're coming in a little choppy for us, but was the question about expectations for traffic coming from AI search going in 2026?

是的。對不起，瑪麗亞。你說話有點斷斷續續的，但你問的是關於 2026 年 AI 搜尋流量預期的問題嗎？

Yeah. Can you hear me now? Can you hear me okay?

是的。現在能聽到我說話嗎？你聽得清楚我說話嗎？

Yeah. I hear you better now.

是的。我現在聽得更清楚了。

I was just wondering if you could talk about your traffic investments in Q4 more broadly and then specifically as it relates to AI related search. Is there anything you can share about the quality of that traffic? And then as we think about sort of Q1 and going forward, do you anticipate any benefits from these investments in Q4 to sort of flow through into Q1 and into 2026?

我想請您更廣泛地談談您在第四季度的流量投資情況，然後再具體談談與人工智慧相關的搜尋方面的情況。關於流量質量，您能分享一些資訊嗎？那麼，當我們展望第一季及未來時，您是否預期這些在第四季度進行的投資所帶來的收益會延續到第一季以及 2026 年？

Yeah. Okay, so broadly, we mentioned in the previous call that we were making investments in expanding into underpenetrated traffic channels, particularly sort of higher funnel traffic channels. And we're investing in some of these new traffic programs kind of going from late last year into early this year. What we have experienced is more or less what we expected, which is we were able to drive some significant scale through some of these channels in Q4, as Joseph referenced that came -- any time we're standing up a new traffic program or channel, it does -- you have to kind of burn it in and so it takes some time to get to the steady state margin profile.

是的。好的，總的來說，我們在上一次電話會議中提到，我們正在投資拓展滲透率較低的流量管道，特別是漏斗較高的流量管道。從去年年底到今年年初，我們正在投資一些新的流量項目。我們所經歷的情況與預期基本一致，即我們在第四季度透過一些管道實現了相當大的規模，正如 Joseph 所提到的那樣——每當我們建立一個新的流量計劃或管道時，都需要一段時間來磨合，因此需要一些時間才能達到穩定的利潤率。

And now in Q1, you're starting to see the margin sort of normalize back to more of a steady state level. But this will be a process as we step into more channels over the course of the year. So our goal is to continue growing quote request volume and traffic to meet our customers' demand. And one of the key vectors to do that is to launch and scale up incremental channels of traffic and incremental programs. So that's going to plan.

現在到了第一季度，你會發現利潤率開始逐漸恢復到較穩定的水平。但這將是一個循序漸進的過程，我們將在今年內逐步拓展到更多管道。因此，我們的目標是繼續增加報價請求量和流量，以滿足客戶的需求。實現這一目標的關鍵途徑之一是啟動並擴大增量流量管道和增量專案。一切都在按計劃進行。

Then I think you asked to sort of double click specifically into any insight around some of the AI search traffic. And what I can share there is we're actively talking to and building into a big LLM chatbot platforms, and we do expect to start to see traffic grow from those platforms in 2026.

然後我想你是想深入了解人工智慧搜尋流量方面的一些見解。我可以透露的是，我們正在積極與大型 LLM 聊天機器人平台洽談並進行整合，我們預計到 2026 年，這些平台的流量將會開始成長。

There's a number of different ways that you can sort of integrate or start to receive traffic from them. One is through content, getting picked up in their training runs through kind of a new version of SEO. Two is through like technical integrations with them or building apps in those platforms. And third, now we're starting to see them open up to testing paid advertising.

你可以透過多種不同的方式整合它們或開始從它們那裡獲得流量。一種方法是透過內容，透過一種新版本的 SEO，在他們的培訓過程中被採納。第二種方法是透過技術整合或在這些平台上建立應用程式。第三，現在我們開始看到他們願意嘗試付費廣告。

So we are positioning to begin to access traffic across all three of those. We have on the content front the benefit of not having had an SEO program, a legacy program in the past, so all of that, we're approaching with a clean sheet from first principles. And we're going to start to build in to that content program in a way that is tailored to and customized for the way that these LLMs want to absorb information.

因此，我們正在做好準備，開始從這三個管道獲取流量。在內容方面，我們的優勢在於過去沒有SEO計劃或遺留計劃，所以所有這一切都是從零開始，從頭開始。我們將開始以一種量身定制的方式，將內容融入這些法學碩士（LLM）想要吸收資訊的方式中。

Number two, as I mentioned, we're beginning to sort of talk to and build into some of the LLM chatbots where I think the user experience will be more important and we'll be able to rely on some of our proprietary data and distribution relationships to create some really cool and differentiated user experiences.

第二點，正如我所提到的，我們正在開始與一些LLM聊天機器人進行溝通和構建，我認為用戶體驗將更加重要，我們將能夠依靠我們的一些專有數據和分銷關係來創造一些非常酷炫和差異化的用戶體驗。

And then the third piece is programmatic advertising, right? So there are a few companies out there who are more effective at programmatic advertising for insurance. And certainly, as these platforms open up to paid advertising, we'll be first in line to participate. So I hope that answered your question.

第三部分是程序化廣告，對吧？因此，有一些公司在保險程序化廣告方面更有效。當然，一旦這些平台開放付費廣告，我們一定會第一時間參與其中。希望我的回答能解答你的疑問。

Yeah, that's very helpful. Thank you very much.

是的，這很有幫助。非常感謝。

Cory Carpenter, JPMorgan.

科里·卡彭特，摩根大通。

Hey, good afternoon. Jayme, maybe one for you and one for Joseph. Hoping from you, Jayme, just an update. In the last few quarters, we talked a lot more about these new products and becoming a holistic suite. So maybe [if don't] they know where you're at and the progress you've made with the AI bidding and some of the smart campaign and subscription products that are in an earlier initiative stage for you guys.

嘿，下午好。傑米，也許給你一個，給約瑟一個。傑米，希望你能告訴我一些近況。在過去的幾個季度裡，我們談到了這些新產品以及如何成為一個整體套件。所以，即使他們不了解，他們也可能知道你們目前的情況，以及你們在人工智慧競價、智慧廣告系列和訂閱產品方面取得的進展，這些產品目前還處於你們的早期推廣階段。

And Joseph, for you, I think the question people are trying to square this afternoon is -- I think -- hear loud and clear the confidence of the $1 billion over two to three years and kind of those 13% to 21% guard rails. The 1Q guide implies -- if I'm doing my math right, 8% growth. So I guess the question is what's giving you confidence in that growth reaccelerating over the next year or two? Thank you.

約瑟夫，我認為今天下午大家試圖解決的問題是——我認為——要清楚地聽到人們對未來兩到三年內投入 10 億美元以及 13% 到 21% 的保障措施的信心。第一季業績指引顯示──如果我的計算沒錯的話──成長率為 8%。所以我想問的是，是什麼讓您對未來一兩年內成長重新加速充滿信心？謝謝。

Thanks, Corey. So as it relates to broadening the suite and evolving from a lead gen provider to more of a growth solution provider to customers, we made significant progress last year. You referenced Smart Campaigns, which is one of the products that has gotten the most attention. And that really expanded to the bulk of our carrier customers over the course of the last couple of years. And this year is the year where we're going to start to roll it out to local agents. So we've got a different version for agents.

謝謝你，科里。因此，在拓展產品組合、從潛在客戶開發提供者轉型為更注重客戶成長的解決方案提供者方面，我們去年取得了顯著進展。您提到了智慧行銷活動，這是最受關注的產品之一。在過去幾年裡，這種情況確實擴展到了我們的大部分營運商客戶。今年我們將開始向當地代理商推廣這項服務。所以我們為代理商準備了不同的版本。

We're also going to begin to cut it across different referral types and vertical markets. So for our calls product and for our home vertical, so we'll see continued development as it relates to Smart Campaigns. And then we're investing in improving the performance of the models themselves by adding new features like auction competitiveness and beginning to introduce more reinforcement learning into the model.

我們也將開始按不同的推薦類型和垂直市場進行細分。因此，對於我們的通話產品和家庭垂直領域，我們將看到與智慧行銷活動相關的持續發展。然後，我們正在投資改進模型本身的性能，例如添加拍賣競爭性等新功能，並開始將更多強化學習引入模型中。

So Smart Campaigns has been a sort of a big step forward for the way that providers fit into our auctions and get a performance from us. And by the end of this year, I think we'll have many agents on it, too. We'll still have really widespread adoption across our distribution.

因此，智慧行銷活動對於供應商參與我們的競價並從我們這裡獲得績效而言，算得上是一大進步。到今年年底，我想我們也會有不少代理人加入。我們的分銷管道仍將擁有非常廣泛的用戶群。

And then where we're focused on extending the product offering beyond that most acutely is with the local agents, right? The vision with the local agents is to evolve from a lead vendor to the one-stop growth partner for them by developing and rolling out value-added features and products on and around our core lead offering, and in doing so, accessing more of their growth budget, and really starting to expand the ways that we help agents grow.

然後，我們最著重於拓展產品供應範圍的，就是與當地代理商合作，對吧？我們與當地代理商的願景是，透過開發和推出圍繞我們核心線索產品及相關產品的增值功能和產品，從線索供應商發展成為他們的一站式增長合作夥伴，從​​而獲得更多他們的增長預算，並真正開始擴展我們幫助代理商發展的方式。

So that's come a long way too. I think we're -- we've stepped up once again from the last time we reported this number. We've now got 40% of agents using more than one of our products across the leads, calls, telephony, and digital solutions. So that strategy is more or less going as planned, and we're continuing to make significant inroads both with carriers and with the local agents.

所以這方面也取得了長足的進步。我認為我們——我們比上次公佈這個數字時又進步了。現在，已有 40% 的代理商在銷售線索、通話、電話和數位解決方案等領域使用我們的不只一種產品。所以這項策略基本上是按計畫進行，我們與承運商和當地代理商都繼續取得了重大進展。

So I'll take the second part of your question, Cory. So -- and thank you. I guess in terms of the path to $1 billion, maybe I'd pitch some high-level points and then I'll go into a little bit of sort of dynamics around what's going on in Q1 versus Q4 in the context for the year.

那麼，我來回答你問題的第二部分，科里。所以——謝謝。我想，就實現 10 億美元目標的路徑而言，我可能會先提出一些高層次的觀點，然後再稍微深入探討一下第一季與第四季在全年背景下的動態變化。

So our path to the $1 billion remains the same as we've articulated before. It comes across three areas principally. One is on the distribution side, the idea that we're going to get more carrier budget and pricing as we improve performance. And that's principally being driven by our AI products. As Jayme talked about Smart Campaigns, key part of why a carrier is coming to us, we're helping them drive better performance. Today's Smart Campaigns is used by a majority of our carriers. We think you will see more and more budget coming through Smart Campaigns over time.

因此，我們實現10億美元目標的路徑仍然與我們先前闡述的相同。它主要涉及三個方面。一方面是分銷方面，隨著我們性能的提高，我們將獲得更多的營運商預算和定價權。而這主要得益於我們的人工智慧產品。正如傑米談到智慧行銷活動時所說，營運商選擇與我們合作的關鍵原因在於，我們正在幫助他們提升業績。目前，我們的大多數營運商都在使用智慧行銷活動。我們認為，隨著時間的推移，您將看到越來越多的預算透過智慧行銷活動投入使用。

The second is we get more agents to get more share of their marketing budgets more broadly. We have talked about in the past how we're moving from a sort of being a one product company to agents now being a multi-product strategy with agents. At this point, we're at sort of 1.4 products per agent. Relative to where we were 18 months ago is much closer to 1, so we'll continue to make progress there.

第二點是，我們可以讓更多代理商更廣泛地獲得他們行銷預算的更大份額。我們過去曾討論過，我們正在從單一產品公司轉型為一家擁有多產品策略的代理商公司。目前，我們每位代理商大約負責 1.4 件產品。與 18 個月前相比，我們現在已經非常接近 1，所以我們將繼續在這方面取得進展。

Third is traffic expanding into new, more traffic channels. We've made some investments in Q4. We feel good about how those are progressing. Jayme talked a little about how AI search will change our landscape, and we feel that'll also benefit us well. And we're well positioned to take advantage of that.

第三，流量正在擴展到新的、更多的流量管道。我們在第四季進行了一些投資。我們對目前的進展感到滿意。Jayme 談到了人工智慧搜尋將如何改變我們的格局，我們認為這對我們大有裨益。我們已做好充分準備，可以利用這一點。

And then lastly, I look at verticals. Today, if you look at the -- our marketplace, we're roughly 90% auto, 10% home. If you think about the insurance landscape for P&C, home is roughly 50% of the size of auto. So we see a real opportunity between 10% and 50% to grow this over time at a faster rate. And we think in the medium-term horizon, you'll actually see home growing at a faster rate than auto.

最後，我也會看一下垂直領域。如今，如果你看看我們的市場，你會發現大約 90% 是汽車，10% 是房屋。如果你考慮一下財產和意外保險的市場格局，你會發現房屋保險的規模大約是汽車保險的 50%。因此，我們看到了一個真正的機會，在 10% 到 50% 的範圍內，隨著時間的推移，可以以更快的速度實現這一增長。我們認為，從中長期來看，房屋市場的成長速度實際上會比汽車市場更快。

And just to remind you on the home piece, home was a vertical that had some of the same dynamics of auto coming out of COVID. It was further behind in recovery, and we saw some nice growth last year at 20% growth year on year. Again, we feel bullish about that. So those are, I guess, the path to the billion that we continue to feel bullish about.

再提醒一下，關於家居領域，家居產業在新冠疫情後的發展趨勢與汽車產業有些相似。它的復甦進程較為滯後，但去年我們看到了一些不錯的成長，比去年同期成長了 20%。我們對此依然持樂觀態度。所以，我想，這就是我們持續看好並最終實現十億美元目標的途徑。

I guess the comments in terms of what's going on in Q1, maybe I could double click on that and give you a little context on the seasonal pattern. I think one of the dynamics we have emerging in the business is potentially a new seasonal pattern. We've had -- now based in the past two quarters. We had a Q4 dynamic where we had a record sequential increase from Q3 to Q4 of 12%. To put that in context, our seasonal pattern on average from Q3 to Q4 is usually down low single-digits, so we're up 12% on record.

關於第一季的情況，我想我可以雙擊相關評論，並向您簡要介紹季節性模式。我認為，目前商業領域正在湧現的一種動態可能是新的季節性模式。我們已經——現在基於過去兩個季度。我們在第四季度實現了創紀錄的環比成長，從第三季到第四季成長了 12%。換個角度來看，我們第三季到第四季的季節性波動通常是個位數百分比的下降，所以我們目前的增幅達到了創紀錄的 12%。

I think some carriers took Q4 as an opportunity when they were -- had very favorable combined ratios to sort of invest in growth last year and they pulled some of the Q1 into Q4. Then you look at the start of this year, we see growth coming across where carriers are clearly indicating to us they want to grow. And we've had -- broadly out, they were having carriers tell us that. I think what they are also telling us that they're going to do it in a measured way throughout the year to make sure they maintain flexibility as the year unfolds.

我認為一些航空公司把第四季度當作一個機會，因為他們去年的綜合比率非常有利，可以投資成長，並將第一季的一些成長轉移到了第四季。然後看看今年年初，我們看到成長勢頭強勁，營運商們明確地向我們表明他們想要發展。我們已經了解到——總的來說，他們讓運營商告訴我們這一點。我認為他們也想告訴我們，他們將在全年採取穩健的方式進行，以確保在這一年中保持靈活性。

When you put those dynamics together, different dynamic in Q4, different dynamic in Q1, we are actually encouraged by how carriers will be unfolding. We could see a change from what we used to see, which was carriers would start out of the gates really hot in Q1, then you'd have tapering throughout the year and some volatility. We think it could be a more sustained view from carriers as we look into 2026.

當你把這些動態因素綜合起來考慮時，第四季的動態因素與第一季的動態因素有所不同，我們實際上對營運商的發展前景感到鼓舞。我們可以看到與以往不同的情況，以前航空公司會在第一季開局非常火爆，然後全年都會逐漸放緩，並出現一些波動。我們認為，展望 2026 年，這可能是營運商更持久的觀點。

Probably, the last data point I'd give you in terms of the seasonal pattern, we're not giving guidance for the year. But as I look at Q1, typically, Q1 would be down to Q2. What we would suggest is -- probably a reasonable place to think about Q2 is sort of flattish and sort of flattish levels of revenues, VMD adjusted EBITDA versus Q1. So that would imply a much higher growth in Q2 than Q1 north of the taking three years to get to a path to $1 billion. I think it'd be a 15%, 16% growth.

關於季節性模式，我可能要給出的最後一個數據點是：我們不提供年度指導。但就我觀察第一季的情況來看，通常情況下，第一季會降到第二季。我們建議—對於第二季度，比較合理的理解是收入和 VMD 調整後的 EBITDA 與第一季相比將保持穩定。這意味著第二季度的成長將遠高於第一季度，而達到 10 億美元的目標需要三年時間。我認為成長率會達到 15% 到 16%。

That's very helpful. Thank you both.

那很有幫助。謝謝你們兩位。

Ralph Schackart, William Blair.

拉爾夫·沙卡特，威廉·布萊爾。

Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the question. First one for Jayme. There's obviously a lot of concern in the market with currently on how AI agents can disrupt some models. But just kind of curious how you see AI agents sort of progressing within sort of your platform and maybe more broadly within the P&C market.

你好。午安.感謝您回答這個問題。第一個是給傑米的。目前市場上顯然非常關注人工智慧代理如何顛覆某些模型。我只是有點好奇，您如何看待人工智慧代理在您的平台以及更廣泛的財產和意外保險市場中的發展。

And then maybe on the VMD for Joseph, it seems like the margin has sort of bounced back or at least guided to in Q1. How should we think about that margin as it progresses through the year? Thank you.

然後，就 Joseph 的 VMD 而言，利潤率似乎已經有所回升，或者至少在第一季得到了預期。隨著時間推移，我們應該如何看待這一差距？謝謝。

Thanks, Ralph. Yeah. So on the agentic AI piece -- I think I would start here. I think there is some broad-based probably misunderstanding about how exposed our business is and whether we're more likely to benefit or be challenged by the development of AI agent capabilities.

謝謝你，拉爾夫。是的。所以關於智慧人工智慧這部分——我想我會從這裡開始。我認為，對於我們的業務面臨的風險程度，以及人工智慧代理能力的發展究竟會讓我們受益還是帶來挑戰，可能存在一些普遍的誤解。

Yeah, I think I'd start by pointing out that we're not a software business, right? We're a data- powered, two-sided marketplace. And so the software layer of our stack is, say, 20% of the value. So much more of the value is in our proprietary data, our traffic engine, our distribution relationships, which, by the way, are with regulated entities and how we integrate all these things into a complex system whose sole purpose is to be the dominant industry-specific performance marketing platform. So that is not something that that we believe can be replicated by LLMs or AI agents without a lot of human involvement.

是的，我想我應該先指出，我們不是一家軟體公司，對吧？我們是一個以數據驅動的雙邊市場。因此，我們技術棧的軟體層價值約佔 20%。我們的價值更體現在我們的專有數據、流量引擎、分銷關係（順便說一句，這些關係是與受監管的實體建立的）以及我們如何將所有這些整合到一個複雜的系統中，該系統的唯一目的是成為行業領先的績效營銷平台。因此，我們認為，如果沒有大量的人工幹預，LLM 或 AI 代理是無法複製這種功能的。

Now I will acknowledge, of course, that shopping for everything will evolve. And in insurance specifically, there are some factors which will cause it to evolve differently than other categories. And first and foremost, it's very opaque. So rates for many of the best insurance products are not readily available or accessible through public APIs. And in fact, carriers go to great lengths as to prevent their rates from being accessed anywhere outside of their own quoting funnel.

當然，我也承認，購物方式會不斷發展改變。尤其是在保險領域，有些因素會導致其發展方向與其他類別有所不同。首先，它非常不透明。因此，許多最佳保險產品的費率無法透過公共 API 輕鬆取得或存取。事實上，營運商會竭盡全力阻止外界在其報價管道之外獲取其費率資訊。

So can LLMs or agents help at the top of the funnel? Yes. But I would say what we've seen so far and what we've been able to kind of do ourselves so far is a far cry from a transformative experience. And I think what's out there on the market today are basically taking a web experience and applying a very lightweight conversational front end to it before spinning the consumer back into a fairly common web-based quoting or binding experience. So there's not much depth to it just yet.

那麼，LLM（貸款行銷經理）或經紀人能否在銷售漏斗的頂端發揮作用呢？是的。但我認為，到目前為止我們所看到的以及我們自己所能做到的，距離變革性的體驗還相差甚遠。我認為目前市場上的產品基本上都是在網頁體驗的基礎上，添加一個非常輕量級的對話式前端，然後再將消費者引導回一個相當常見的基於網絡的報價或綁定體驗。所以目前為止，它的深度還不夠。

Now over time, I do think that these agents will enable more transformative change. So I want to be clear about that. And I also think it's likely that EverQuote will be in the driver's seat of bringing that to fruition. We've got the distribution relationships to access rates. We have the data to make consumer experiences more seamless. And we've got the technology chops to build the app or experience of the future, and we will, right? So these are things that we're actively working on and sort of building with.

現在，我認為隨著時間的推移，這些因素將促成更具變革性的變化。所以我想把這一點說清楚。而且我認為 EverQuote 很可能會在實現這一目標的過程中發揮主導作用。我們擁有獲取優惠價格的分銷管道。我們擁有數據，可以讓消費者體驗更加順暢。我們擁有打造未來應用程式或體驗的技術實力，而且我們一定會做到，對吧？所以這些都是我們正在積極努力和逐步建立的項目。

So for right now, like today, so can these AI agents make our -- can they help us by making our marketplace operations and performance more efficient? Absolutely, and they are. And can they start to improve how customers compare insurance options in a way that's more user friendly? Yeah, they can. And so this is all underway, but it's precisely what we're focused on this year is really harnessing the power of agentic AI to drive better results for our customers and for the business.

那麼就目前而言，就像今天一樣，這些人工智慧代理商能否幫助我們——它們能否透過提高我們市場營運和績效的效率來幫助我們？沒錯，他們確實是。他們能否開始改善客戶比較保險方案的方式，使其更加人性化？是的，他們可以。所以這一切都在進行中，但我們今年的重點正是真正利用智慧AI的力量，為我們的客戶和企業帶來更好的結果。

And then to turn to your question on the VMM margin sort of context for the year. So just context, we're over 25% in Q4, very much in line with what we said in our last call, which is we had a really strong start to the year in 2025 that first three quarters. So we consciously made a choice to invest in new channels in Q4, brought us down to around 25% as expected. The strategy worked.

然後，我想回答您關於 VMM 利潤率這一年的背景問題。所以，簡單介紹一下背景，我們第四季的成長率超過 25%，這與我們上次電話會議中所說的非常一致，即我們在 2025 年的前三個季度取得了非常強勁的開局。因此，我們在第四季度有意識地選擇投資新管道，正如預期的那樣，這使我們的利潤率下降到 25% 左右。這個策略奏效了。

As we looked at Q1, you're sort of seeing us coming back to a guide that shows that it plays in the high 20s, which -- 28% is at the midpoint, again, very much in line with what we expect and what we said would happen. If you look at where we were last year and the overall year, we were just under 28%.

當我們回顧第一季時，你會發現我們又回到了先前的指導方針，該方針顯示其運行在 20% 以上，28% 是中點，這再次與我們的預期和我們所說的情況非常吻合。如果看看我們去年的成績以及全年的成績，我們只佔不到 28%。

So when I think about the rest of this year, I'd say high 20s is where we expect to be. It'll bounce around certainly quarter to quarter. Why will it bounce around? Two reasons.

所以展望今年剩餘時間，我認為我們預計能達到20%以上。肯定會在每季之間波動。為什麼它會到處亂彈？原因有二。

One is we do not run the business on a day-to-day basis to drive VMM margin. We run the business on a day-to-day basis to drive VMD. That's first. Second is the what do we control and not control in in determining our VMD and VMM? We do not control advertising costs. What we do control is the efficiency with how we acquire advertising.

一是我們日常營運業務的目的不是為了提高 VMM 利潤率。我們日常經營業務是為了推動 VMD 的發展。這是第一點。其次，在確定我們的 VMD 和 VMM 時，我們可以控制什麼，不能控制什麼？我們無法控制廣告費用。我們能夠控制的是廣告投放的效率。

So in advertising costs, certainly, quarter to quarter, month to month, there can be pressures on advertising costs that drives those up or down. And we take advantage of those where we can, but we obviously are buying that as our sort of a raw material for our business.

因此，在廣告成本方面，當然，季度之間、月之間，廣告成本可能會受到壓力，導致廣告成本上升或下降。我們會盡可能利用這些資源，但顯然，我們購買這些資源是為了將其作為我們業務的原材料。

The last thing I'd say about our efficiency and how we buy things, the reference point I've given, actually, we did a road show in in December -- [Ralph, I remember] it was helpful -- was if you looked at our business back in 2023, where our business was $260 million auto insurance business, $270 million auto insurance business, that had a VMM in the high 20s. Today, the business is almost three times that size. We have a VMM still in the high 20s.

關於我們的效率和採購方式，我最後要說的是，我給出的參考點，實際上，我們在 12 月份做了一次巡迴演講——[拉爾夫，我記得]這很有幫助——如果你看看我們 2023 年的業務，當時我們的汽車保險業務規模為 2.6 億美元，2.7 億美元，VMM 值在 20 多。如今，公司的規模幾乎是當時的3倍。我們的 VMM 值仍在 20 多。

Certainly, the advertising environment has gotten significantly more competitive in that time period. There's no question about that. I think we have been able to maintain it because of the investments we've made in our technology, our AI getting traffic platforms to take advantage of our data. The efficiency with how we acquire that advertising is the thing we do control and we do that well.

當然，在此期間，廣告環境的競爭變得更加激烈。這點毋庸置疑。我認為我們能夠維持現狀，是因為我們對技術、人工智慧以及流量平台的投資，使它們能夠利用我們的數據。我們能夠控制的是我們獲取廣告的效率，而我們在這方面做得很好。

Great. That's helpful. Thanks, Joseph. Thanks, Jayme.

偉大的。那很有幫助。謝謝你，約瑟夫。謝謝你，傑米。

Mayank Tandon, Needham.

Mayank Tandon，尼德姆。

Thank you. Good evening, Jayme and Joseph. I was just curious, in terms of the potential upside case to 1Q, and then if we assume the basic case for 2026, even though, Joseph, you're not giving guidance is -- say, low teens growth based on your billion-dollar revenue target in three years -- what is the potential [bold] case to that?

謝謝。晚上好，傑米和約瑟夫。我只是好奇，就第一季的潛在成長情況而言，如果我們假設 2026 年的基本情況（儘管 Joseph，你沒有給出指導意見），比如說，基於你三年內十億美元的營收目標，實現兩位數左右的增長，那麼這種增長的潛在情況是什麼？

What I'm curious is California potential positive catalysts that could drive upside. I think last quarter, Jayme, you had mentioned that 20 of the top 25 carriers were still below peak spending levels. Is that something that could also be a potential upside here? So just curious in terms of what the catalyst might be that could drive faster growth than what you're currently maybe modeling or at least, indicating to the Street.

我比較好奇的是，加州有哪些潛在的積極催化劑可以推動股價上漲。傑米，我記得上個季度你提到過，排名前 25 的航空公司中有 20 家的支出水平仍低於峰值水平。這是否也是潛在的優勢之一？所以，我很好奇，究竟是什麼催化劑能夠推動比你目前模型預測的或至少是向華爾街表明的更快的成長速度。

Sure. Thanks, Mayank. So again, the range I would say is what we said in the November call, still a path to $1 billion in two to three years. That remains our goal for top-line growth. Mathematically, that implies if it takes two years, it's 20%. They do it in three years, it's 13%, just to give you the context and the numbers.

當然。謝謝，Mayank。所以，我再次強調，我們11月電話會議所說的範圍仍然是，兩到三年內仍有望達到10億美元。這仍然是我們實現營收成長的目標。從數學角度來說，這意味著如果需要兩年時間，成功率就是 20%。他們花了三年時間就做到了，比例是 13%，我只是想提供你背景和數字。

What could drive it to the higher in a year versus lower in a year? Probably a couple of things that point to. So first is you have one large national carrier who's really coming back online with us this year. That was a carrier that was a top three carrier for us prior to the downturn. We think that carrier could be certainly an important dynamic in our marketplace and beneficial. How exactly that plays out, how quickly, how slowly, a lot remains to be seen. But I think that certainly is one key dynamic.

什麼因素會導致一年內價格上漲，而一年內價格下跌？可能有兩件事指向這一點。首先，今年將有一家大型全國性營運商真正恢復與我們的業務往來。在經濟衰退之前，那家航空公司是我們前三名的航空公司。我們認為，營運商無疑會成為我們市場中一個重要的驅動因素，並且是有益的。具體情況如何發展，速度快慢，還有很多有待觀察。但我認為這無疑是個關鍵因素。

If you look at the state footprint, we have states coming back broadly. California is when we saw some progress in 2025. There is some room for incremental progress in 2025, certainly, as soon as -- excuse me, in 2026, but we have had some progress in '25. But I think some more there, I've referenced.

從各州的情況來看，很多州都在全面復甦。加州在2025年取得了一些進展。2025 年肯定還有一些漸進式進步的空間，當然，一旦——抱歉，應該是 2026 年——但我們在 2025 年已經取得了一些進展。但我認為還有一些我提到的內容。

The other dynamic I'd mentioned is when you look at where is auto in -- where is insurance going online relative to other industries? Insurance remains a lagger going online. With everything that has happened through the past few years, you can't lose sight of -- the key tailwind for our business is insurance remains an area that has gone online much more slowly than other areas. Lots of different stats you can look out there, but you know what, one of the ones I'd like to look at is relative to financial service is about a third fewer folks get insurance today online than -- versus broader financial services. There's this opportunity for insurance to grow.

我提到的另一個動態是，當你觀察汽車產業的發展現狀時——與其他產業相比，保險業的線上化程度如何？保險業的線上化過程仍然落後。經歷了過去幾年發生的一切，我們不能忽視一點——我們業務的關鍵順風在於，保險業的線上化進程仍然比其他領域慢得多。你可以查看很多不同的統計數據，但你知道嗎，我想看的其中一項是，相對於金融服務而言，如今在線購買保險的人數比透過更廣泛的金融服務管道購買保險的人數少了大約三分之一。保險業存在發展機會。

How fast that may grow and catch up with others, that also could bring it higher or lower within a given year. Those are probably the three key ones I'd point to.

它的成長速度以及趕上其他市場的速度，也可能導致它在一年內上漲或下跌。這大概是我要重點指出的三個面向。

Got it. Very helpful. And then Joseph, I think you like this question, so I'll ask you. In terms of capital allocation, you're [plus] with cash, a good problem to have, so you talked about the buyback program. But does this also potentially open up maybe more appetite for M&A or how else would you be able to leverage the cash on hand?

知道了。很有幫助。然後，約瑟夫，我想你會喜歡這個問題，所以我問你。就資本配置而言，你們手頭上有現金，這是個好問題，所以你們談到了股票回購計畫。但這是否也可能激發更多併購意願？或者，除了這之外，還能如何利用手邊的現金？

Sure, so thank you, Mayank. I appreciate the question. So I guess I'd start with just we expect to continue to generate meaningful cash flow from operations, and we have a high cash conversion from adjusted EBITDA and operating cash flow, subject to normal working capital in a quarter. But in Q4, cash conversion was around 100%. And as we ended the -- we ended Q4 with almost $171 million in cash, up from $146 million in [Q3], but the difference being the same as our EBITDA for the quarter.

當然，謝謝你，Mayank。感謝您的提問。所以我想先說明一點，我們預計將繼續從經營活動中產生可觀的現金流，並且我們調整後的 EBITDA 和經營現金流的現金轉換率很高，但需滿足季度正常的營運資本要求。但第四季現金轉換率約為 100%。在第四季末，我們的現金餘額接近 1.71 億美元，高於第三季的 1.46 億美元，但差額與我們該季度的 EBITDA 相同。

When we think about cash, we think about three things. So first, we think about having a strong balance sheet. We think a strong balance sheet is critical. We have no debt. We have access to up to $85 million, but we have no debt today. We have a fortress balance sheet and we want to make sure we continue to have that.

當我們想到現金時，我們會想到三件事。所以首先，我們要考慮的是如何擁有穩健的資產負債表。我們認為穩健的資產負債表至關重要。我們沒有債務。我們最多可以動用 8500 萬美元，但我們目前沒有任何債務。我們擁有穩健的資產負債表，我們希望確保繼續保持這種狀態。

The second is the share buyback program. We announced our inaugural share buyback program last summer. It has a one-year duration. It was a $50 million program. We used -- $30 million of that to date has been purchased, including $9 million since the start of this year. And we'll continue to be opportunistic in using the rest of that $20 million between now and that program's expiration this summer. And we'll continue to evaluate options to extend that program in future periods.

第二項是股票回購計畫。我們在去年夏天宣布了首個股票回購計畫。期限為一年。這是一個耗資5000萬美元的項目。我們已經使用了——其中3000萬美元迄今已用於採購，包括今年年初以來的900萬美元。我們將繼續抓住機會，在今年夏天該專案到期之前，充分利用剩餘的 2000 萬美元。我們將繼續評估在未來一段時間內延長該計劃的各種方案。

And then third, we'll continue to look at selectively at acquisitions. As we've talked about, we do not believe we need M&A on our path to $1 billion. Our path to $1 billion in revenue can be achieved entirely through organic growth. However, we do think there's an opportunity to potentially accelerate organic growth and importantly accelerate our strategy to be the leading growth provider to P&C carriers and agents, and M&A could play a part in that.

第三，我們將繼續有選擇地進行收購。正如我們之前討論過的，我們認為在實現10億美元目標的過程中，並不需要透過併購來實現。我們實現10億美元營收目標完全可以透過內生成長來實現。然而，我們認為有機會加速有機成長，更重要的是，加速我們成為財產保險公司和代理商領先成長提供者的策略，而併購可能在其中發揮作用。

And so as we talked about last year, we're spending more time thinking about that this year and being more thoughtful about it. And that could be a third use of cash as well.

所以正如我們去年討論的那樣，今年我們會花更多時間思考這個問題，並對此進行更深入的思考。這也可能是現金的第三種用途。

Excellent, very helpful. Thank you so much.

太好了，很有幫助。太感謝了。

Zach Cummins, B. Riley Securities.

Zach Cummins，B. Riley Securities。

Hi, good afternoon, Jayme and Joseph. Thanks for taking my question. So I'll do one for Jayme and one for Joseph.

嗨，傑米和約瑟夫，下午好。謝謝您回答我的問題。所以我將分別給傑米和約瑟夫各做一個。

So, Jayme, I think you touched on this a little bit earlier with your commentary. But can you give us a sense if you've seen any meaningful changes in the traffic that's coming onto your platform since we've seen more of an emergence with these large LLM platforms? Any sort of shift in terms of channels or where you're focusing your attention from a traffic standpoint?

傑米，我想你之前的評論中已經稍微提到過這一點。但是，自從這些大型LLM平台湧現以來，您能否告訴我們，您的平台流量是否發生了任何實質的變化？從流量角度來看，您在管道或關注重點方面是否有任何變化？

And the second one, maybe for Joseph. As you think about just the early conversations you're having with carriers, I mean, as you said, baseline expectations for this year, are you anticipating kind of a broadening of contribution that you see from your carrier base this year, or what's the right way to think about kind of contribution across the key carrier partners?

第二個，或許是給約瑟的。考慮到您目前與營運商進行的初步對話，我的意思是，正如您所說，對於今年的基本預期，您是否預計今年營運商的貢獻範圍會擴大？或者，對於主要運營商合作夥伴的貢獻，應該如何正確看待？

Sure, thanks. So I'll start. I'd say we felt no material impact, direct impact or mixed shift as a result of the growth of some of the AI search platforms. In fact, overall volume has remained at historically high levels, and that was true throughout the course of last year. And even search volume remains at historically high levels, so we haven't been impacted there.

好的，謝謝。那我先來。我認為，由於某些人工智慧搜尋平台的成長，我們沒有感受到任何實質的影響、直接的影響或混合變化。事實上，整體交易量一直維持在歷史高位，去年全年都是如此。而且搜尋量仍然處於歷史高位，所以我們在這方面沒有受到影響。

Recall we have -- I think the primary point of impact has been in organic traffic or SEO originated traffic which was really not never part of our mix. So in that regard, we've not really experienced any direct kind of effects from it. So that being said, we do see it as a growth opportunity moving forward as I sort of mentioned and kind of spoke to you in detail answering Maria's question.

回想一下，我認為主要的影響點在於自然流量或搜尋引擎優化帶來的流量，而這實際上從來都不是我們流量組合的一部分。所以在這方面，我們還沒有真正感受到它所帶來的任何直接影響。所以，正如我之前在回答瑪麗亞的問題時詳細提到的那樣，我們確實將其視為未來發展的一個機會。

So I think we'll start to originate a meaningful amount of traffic from these platforms in 2026 through a combination of content technical integrations and paid advertising. And they will -- it will become a channel of substance for us in 2026. At the same time, we're continuing to expand the traffic portfolio in other ways, primarily through some of these higher funnel channels. These are things like social video and so on and so forth. For those, we're -- we've been kind of working on an evolved digital experience that's more compatible with these channels. And that continues to be an area of investment going into this year.

所以我認為，到 2026 年，我們將透過內容技術整合和付費廣告結合的方式，從這些平台獲得可觀的流量。到 2026 年，它將成為我們重要的資訊管道。同時，我們也持續透過其他方式擴大流量組合，主要是透過一些更高層級的管道。例如社交影片等等。對於這些管道，我們一直在努力打造更完善的數位體驗，使其與這些管道更加相容。今年，這仍將是投資重點領域。

Maybe answer your -- to address your question, with regards to how we think about the carrier base and the broadening of it. Maybe I'll give you a few data points that may help you as we think about this year.

或許可以回答你的問題——關於我們如何看待營運者基礎及其擴大的問題。或許我可以提供一些數據點，幫助我們思考今年的計畫。

If you look at Q4, 75% of our top 25 carriers in Q4 were below their peak quarterly spend on the platform. So I'll give you that one stat. That shows to us there's ample room to grow for carriers. Obviously, not all carriers spend at the same quarter every time, so you'd expect that to ebb and flow. But again, 75% were not at peak quarterly spend in Q4. So that's one data point I'd give you in terms of composition.

如果看一下第四季度，我們排名前 25 的營運商中有 75% 在第四季度在該平台上的支出低於其季度峰值。所以我只能提供這一個數據。這向我們表明，營運商還有很大的發展空間。顯然，並非所有營運商每季的支出都相同，因此支出會有波動也是意料之中的。但同樣，75% 的公司在第四季的支出並未達到季度高峰。這是就成分而言，我能提供的一個數據點。

Another one I give you in terms of composition is in Q4, you had -- our top four carriers in Q4 were also our top 4 carriers in Q3. They had some movements in their relative share percentage in the quarters, but that fact did hold true from Q3 to Q4.

就組成而言，我再舉一個例子：在第四季度，我們第四季度排名前四的營運商也是第三季排名前四的營運商。他們在各季度的相對市場份額百分比有所波動，但從第三季度到第四季度，這一事實仍然成立。

And then what you saw in Q4 is that the -- from 4, sort of 5 through 10, you've had some movement around as you had competition within those carriers more meaningfully. As we look into Q1, I think there's a potential for some carriers to have more competition movement around.

然後，在第四季度，你會看到——從第 4 到第 5 到第 10 季度，隨著這些運營商之間競爭的加劇，出現了一些變動。展望第一季度，我認為一些航空公司可能會面臨更大的競爭壓力。

Why do we think that? We think that because what is driving carriers right now? It's all about profitable policy growth. That contrasts what we saw over the past few years where carriers were focused on getting rate adequacies and underwriting profitability. They were less focused on maintaining share. As you see this sort of soft market cycle evolve, you see them increasingly focused on how can we competitively grow, how can we more aggressively grow. Policies enforced and do it in a profitable way, we think that plays really well to digital channels. We also think it creates dynamic where there could be more competition between the carriers and some movement around in those positions within our marketplace.

我們為什麼會這麼想？我們認為這是因為目前推動航空公司發展的因素是什麼？一切都關乎獲利政策成長。這與我們過去幾年看到的情況形成鮮明對比，當時保險公司專注於獲得足夠的費率和承保盈利能力。他們不太注重維持市場佔有率。隨著這種疲軟的市場週期逐漸形成，你會發現他們越來越關注如何更具競爭力地成長，如何更積極地成長。我們認為，如果政策能夠有效執行並以獲利的方式實施，那麼它就能很好地適應數位管道。我們也認為這會創造一種動態，使營運商之間展開更多競爭，並在我們的市場中造成一些職位變動。

And related to that also, we have another national carrier coming on who was not involved in the marketplace last year. We think that'll also create a competitive dynamic as well, which I think will result in some movement around as we progress through the period of Q1 and into the rest of the year. And again, we think that's good for the marketplace. It creates a more dynamic and healthy marketplace. You have more carriers competing for profitable policy growth and digital channels like we provide are -- do that very effectively.

此外，還有一家去年尚未進入市場的全國性航空公司即將加入市場。我們認為這也會產生競爭氛圍，我認為這將導致第一季以及今年剩餘時間出現一些變動。我們再次認為這對市場有利。它能創造一個更具活力和健康的市場。越來越多的保險公司競相追求獲利的保單成長，而我們提供的這類數位管道——能夠非常有效地實現這一目標。

Understood. Well, thanks for taking my questions and best of luck with the rest of the quarter.

明白了。謝謝你回答我的問題，祝你這學期剩下的時間一切順利。

Thank you, Zach.

謝謝你，扎克。

Jed Kelly, Oppenheimer.

傑德凱利，奧本海默。

Hey, great. Thanks for taking my question and good year. I guess just -- these LLMs, they're commanding a ton of the market's attention. I guess historically, we've always seen the carriers not want to put their quotes on third-party sites. And that would imply to me that, I guess, aggregators like yourself should benefit into these new LLMs if the carriers aren't going to want to put the rates on LLMs. Is that the right way to think about it? And then I have a follow-up.

嘿，太好了。感謝您回答我的問題，祝您新年快樂。我想說的是——這些LLM（法學碩士）項目，它們吸引了市場的大量關注。我想從歷史上看，我們一直看到保險公司不願意把報價放在第三方網站上。這讓我覺得，如果營運商不願意在 LLM 上設定費率，那麼像你們這樣的聚合商應該會從這些新的 LLM 中受益。這種思考方式正確嗎？然後我還有一個後續問題。

Yeah, Jed. We share that perspective. And so I think I referenced that earlier. The carriers are very protective of their rates. They have gone to great lengths over the years to resist any kind of traditional rate comparison experience in the US insurance market. And that position has not changed.

是的，傑德。我們認同這種觀點。所以我想我之前提到過這一點。運營商對自己的費率保護非常嚴格。多年來，他們不遺餘力地抵制美國保險市場中任何形式的傳統費率比較體驗。而這立場沒有改變。

You can find examples of rate comparisons out there. But those experiences typically only show rates for maybe you know 30%, 40% of the available product and you're missing some of the best product -- Progressive Direct or so on and so forth.

網路上有很多利率比較的例子。但這些體驗通常只顯示了大約 30%、40% 的可用產品的價格，而你錯過了一些最好的產品——例如 Progressive Direct 等等。

And so that dynamic is not likely to be any different in the -- just with the technology shift, which continues to -- which creates an opportunity for players like us who have unique access to carrier distribution, whether that's in the form of a rate or in the form of connecting someone with a local agent or with the -- in the form of bridging them over to directly land on a quoting experience with the carrier. It is this complexity and kind of -- this like different and really dynamic distribution landscape that someone like us can organize on behalf of any given LLM that wants to connect their consumers with insurance distribution.

因此，這種動態不太可能有所不同——只是隨著技術的不斷變革，這為像我們這樣擁有獨特運營商分銷渠道的參與者創造了機會，無論是通過費率，還是通過聯繫當地代理商，或者通過橋樑將他們直接引導至運營商處獲取報價。正是這種複雜性，以及這種不同尋常且充滿活力的分銷格局，讓我們這樣的人能夠代表任何希望將其消費者與保險分銷聯繫起來的LLM公司進行組織。

So we think there is a role to play and there's an opportunity to really carve out a material role in that. And we're feel really well positioned, right? Like, you've got to remember like our our whole company was built on the ability to kind of strip -- marry our our data with technology to connect consumers with with insurance distribution.

所以我們認為我們可以在其中發揮作用，並且有機會真正地在其中扮演重要角色。我們感覺自己處於非常有利的位置，對吧？你要記住，我們整個公司都是建立在這樣的能力之上的：將我們的數據與技術結合，從而將消費者與保險分銷聯繫起來。

And now 15 years on, we've built this data asset from hundreds of millions of historical insurance shopping events, each of which gives us some proprietary data that we can use to streamline, optimize, and innovate digital and AI-native experiences. So we feel like we're in a really good position to go on offense here, and we're looking forward to this next chapter.

15 年後的今天，我們已經從數億次歷史保險購買事件中建立了這一數據資產，每一次事件都為我們提供了一些專有數據，我們可以利用這些數據來簡化、優化和創新數位和 AI 原生體驗。所以我們感覺我們現在處於非常有利的進攻位置，我們期待下一個篇章的到來。

And then I guess just as a follow-up to that, if AI -- if the carriers implement AI and that makes them more profitable, assuming they're -- the profitability -- it costs them to underwrite, a policy goes up, won't that make them want to lean more into channels that can drive that traffic?

然後我想作為後續問題，如果人工智慧——如果保險公司實施人工智慧，並且這讓他們更有利可圖，假設他們的盈利能力——承保成本上升，保單價格上漲，這難道不會讓他們更傾向於能夠帶來流量的管道嗎？

Yeah, I think that's likely. And I mean, look, it's going to happen, it's just a question of when. I mean, we've been deploying AI throughout our business over the last couple of years, through our traffic bidding, through Smart Campaigns, through our operations, most notably in like engineering where AI coding tools have really become like a productivity multiplier call center operations, right? We're seeing AI voice. In real time, take on more and more customer interactions in an insurance funnel.

是的，我覺得很有可能。我的意思是，你看，這件事一定會發生，只是時間問題。我的意思是，在過去的幾年裡，我們一直在整個業務中部署人工智慧，包括流量競價、智慧廣告系列、營運等等，尤其是在工程領域，人工智慧編碼工具已經真正成為呼叫中心運營的生產力倍增器，對吧？我們看到了人工智慧語音。在保險銷售漏斗中即時進行越來越多的客戶互動。

So I think it's an inevitability that these insurance carriers will find material cost savings which will improve their combined ratios, which will give them more capacity to spend in marketing. And again, this is an area where I think our our strength is we are a trusted partner to these carriers.

所以我認為，這些保險公司必然會找到節省成本的有效方法，從而改善其綜合比率，使它們有更多能力投入行銷。再次強調，我認為我們的優勢在於我們是這些業者值得信賴的合作夥伴。

So not only could we be the beneficiary on the marketing side, but we think there's a broader opportunity to step into you know helping these carriers get leverage from AI faster and more effectively than they might be able to do on their own -- whether that's through productizing some of the things that we can do like we've done with Smart Campaigns or otherwise embedding teams with the carriers to help them sort out their own AI strategy.

因此，我們不僅可以在行銷方面受益，而且我們認為還有更廣泛的機會介入，幫助這些運營商比他們自己更快、更有效地利用人工智慧——無論是透過將我們能夠做的一些事情產品化（例如我們透過智慧行銷活動所做的那樣），還是將團隊嵌入營運商，以幫助他們制定自己的人工智慧策略。

But we feel lucky to have access to the carriers, to the talent. Our Chairman, Dave Blundin, he's like a prominent figure on the leading edge of AI. He's been very involved in helping us shape our AI strategy and access some top AI talent. So we see this as like a really interesting space where the carriers are going to need help and we're the trusted partner to help them.

但我們很幸運能夠接觸到這些承運商和人才。我們的董事長戴夫·布倫丁，他是人工智慧領域的傑出領導者。他一直積極參與幫助我們制定人工智慧策略，並幫助我們引進頂尖的人工智慧人才。所以我們認為這是一個非常有趣的領域，運營商需要幫助，而我們是值得信賴的合作夥伴來幫助他們。

Mitchell Ribin, Raymond James.

米切爾·裡賓，雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Hey, good evening. This is Mitch on behalf of [Greg]. Congratulations on the quarter and the year. In the prepared remarks, you mentioned carriers taking a more disciplined approach in the first quarter of '26 from the record levels observed in the fourth quarter. Is the pullback broad-based across carriers or concentrated among specific relationships?

嘿，晚上好。我是代表米奇的[格雷格]恭喜您本季和本年度的出色表現。在準備好的發言稿中，您提到，與第四季度創紀錄的水平相比，2026 年第一季各航空公司採取了更加自律的做法。此次回檔是遍及所有營運商，還是集中在特定關係中？

Sure. Yeah, I would say when I think about carriers across Q1, there are multiple carriers who are -- we have this dynamic with. I think some have -- I think the idea of discipline is a theme we're seeing across carriers -- and I think why is it, right?

當然。是的，我想說，當我考慮第一季的營運商時，有多家營運商——我們與它們之間存在這種動態關係。我認為有些人——我認為紀律的概念是我們看到各個運營商都在強調的一個主題——我想這是為什麼呢，對吧？

We're seeing carriers who are pivoting from a period of getting rate adequacy, restoring rates and getting underwriting profitability to getting into a period now where they are -- want to aggressively compete for profitable policy growth. They're also recognizing, at least, what we're seeing and hearing in our discussion, which is the dynamic is changing. The normal pattern seems to be changing for them. And that, I think, reflects as they think ahead for the year, they want to have flexibility.

我們看到，保險公司正在從追求費率充足、恢復費率和實現承保盈利的階段，轉向積極競爭以實現盈利性保單增長的階段。他們至少也意識到了我們在討論中看到和聽到的內容，那就是情況正在改變。他們的正常模式似乎正在改變。我認為，這反映出他們在展望未來一年時，希望保持彈性。

So as opposed to the old pattern of start the year, new budget, let's go crazy, and then we'll sort of see how the year progresses, they're being very thoughtful about how they do things throughout the year. And so we're seeing that with multiple carriers. Some more so than others, but again, multiple carriers, I think would be the -- what we're seeing.

所以，與以往年初制定新預算、大手筆投入，然後看看這一年進展如何的模式不同，他們現在對全年的各項工作都深思熟慮。因此，我們看到這種情況發生在多家業者身上。有些情況更嚴重，但話說回來，我認為我們現在看到的現像是多家業者共同作用的結果。

Thank you for the additional detail there. Could you provide some more color on the tax -- the deferred tax benefit recorded in the quarter and what criteria that they -- are met that led to the [valuation] allowance release?

感謝您提供的更多細節。您能否更詳細地說明一下稅務方面的情況—本季記錄的遞延所得稅收益，以及滿足哪些標準才導致[估價]準備金釋放？

Sure. So with regards to the tax valuation release, this is mentioned in our -- my prepared remarks. The full year and Q4 tax benefit were the same approximately $38 million. The benefit was primarily driven by the release of our valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets. And think about it very similarly is we had NOLs that we -- now that we're becoming a profitable company, you have the ability to use those NOLs and requires a change in recognition.

當然。關於稅務估值發布的問題，我在準備的發言稿中已經提到了。全年和第四季的稅收優惠相同，約為 3800 萬美元。這項收益主要源自於我們釋放了針對遞延所得稅資產的估價準備金。類似地，我們之前有一些淨經營虧損（NOL），現在我們是一家獲利的公司，我們有能力使用這些淨經營虧損，這就需要改變確認方式。

It effectively viewed this as this was a non-cash charge, and so it's important to note it's a non-cash and one-time charge. But it does reflect this dynamic of now that we have sustained profitability, they are now on our balance sheet and we're subject to be to be able to use them as we're making more money.

它實際上將此視為非現金收費，因此需要注意的是，這是一筆非現金且一次性收費。但這確實反映了這種動態，即既然我們已經實現了持續盈利，它們現在就在我們的資產負債表上，隨著我們賺到更多錢，我們就可以使用它們。

And what I would say on these as well is we're not the first to have this experience. You may have that -- other companies in our space have had the same issue as well, so it's a common issue, across our space.

我還要補充一點，我們並不是第一個遇到這種狀況的人。您可能遇到過這種情況——我們這個領域的其他公司也遇到過同樣的問題，所以這是我們這個領域普遍存在的問題。

And that concludes our question-and-answer session. I will now turn the conference back over to management for closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。現在我將把會議交還給管理階層，請他們作閉幕致詞。

Thank you and thanks all for joining. Just to recap, we had a phenomenal year in 2025 with records across all our key financial metrics. And we're carrying that momentum into 2026 with a healthy insurance market that's hungry for growth.

謝謝大家，也謝謝各位的參與。簡單回顧一下，2025 年我們取得了非凡的成績，所有關鍵財務指標都創下歷史新高。我們將把這種勢頭延續到 2026 年，保險市場健康發展，渴望成長。

As a team with a longstanding track record of using our proprietary data and technology to drive profitable growth, we see the recent acceleration in AI capabilities as a huge opportunity for EverQuote moving forward. We feel very well positioned going into 2026, and we're going to become the company that leads insurance distribution into a more AI-native future. Look forward to updating everyone as the year progresses.

作為一個長期以來一直利用我們專有的數據和技術來推動獲利成長的團隊，我們認為人工智慧能力的近期加速發展是 EverQuote 未來發展的巨大機會。我們感覺自己已經為 2026 年做好了充分準備，我們將成為引領保險分銷邁向更人工智慧未來的公司。隨著時間推移，我會陸續向大家報告最新情況。

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call, and we thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束，感謝各位的參與。您現在可以斷開連線了。