Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

John W. Gamble, Jr.: Yes. So we’ll give you that detail when we give guidance, obviously, for 2024. But in the fourth quarter, it’s similar to what it was in the third.

Operator: Thank you. Next question is coming from Seth Weber from Wells Fargo. Your line is now live.

Seth Weber: Hi, good morning. I just wanted to follow up on Boa Vista for a second. The footnote on Slide 4 seems to suggest the margins were higher excluding Boa Vista, but I thought at the time of the acquisition, EBITDA margins for that asset were running like in the high 30% range. So were there some kind of like onetime costs there that impacted the results or is there something — I’m just trying — I’m just looking at the footnote on Slide 4? Thanks.

John W. Gamble, Jr.: Fair enough. The EBITDA margin was — for Boa Vista was slightly below, it was below the Equifax average margin. And what we’re expecting over time, as Mark talked about, through the investments we’re making through integrating them into Equifax processes that will work to drive that margin higher. But yes, for what you saw in the footnote, the BVS margins were below the Equifax margins for the third quarter. Now as a reminder, we’ve owned them for about six weeks, so we’ll see what happens as we move through the fourth quarter and then into 2024.

Seth Weber: No, that’s fair. I just — I thought that the acquisition, the margins were high 30s. That was the frame and spirit of the question. But — and then just another follow-up. Sorry if I missed this, but are there any more details on this, the new $1.2 billion contract, when that starts, how that rolls in, is that ratable over the term of the contract or just how we should start thinking about filtering that into our forecasts? Thanks.

Mark Begor: Yes. Remember, that’s an extension of an existing contract. So we’ve had a contract for five-plus years and maybe longer with CMS. It’s certainly larger and it will roll in both at the federal and then at the state level as we go through fourth quarter in 2024 and 2025 and beyond.

John W. Gamble, Jr.: I think it’s an outstanding, as Mark said, largest contract we’ve ever signed. Just as you take a look at over the next five years it doesn’t mean you’re going to — we’ll generate all the revenue up to the maximum amount of the contract. So what it does is gives us the opportunity to work with states and obviously with the federal government to drive increasing revenue under the auspices of the agreement, which is extremely positive, but it is certainly in no way a guarantee of revenue at that level.

Seth Weber: Got it, okay. Thank you guys, I appreciate it.

Operator: Thank you. The next question is coming from George Tong from Goldman Sachs. Your line is now live.

George Tong: Hi, thanks. Good morning. You’ve previously seen evidence of mortgage insourcing of their verification needs within EWS. Can you provide an update on some of those trends and in-sourcing activity outside of the mortgage vertical?

Mark Begor: So George, I’m not sure what you mean by in-sourcing or I think you used the terms we provided evidence. Are you referring to our comments in July about the manual work we were doing for customers that was where we did not have records?

George Tong: No, it’s where mortgage originators because volumes are down so much and because they apparently had so much time on their hands they were just doing it themselves rather than…

Mark Begor: And that was the discussion we had back in July, and it was around where we were doing the manual efforts for our customers and a very small operation in Iowa, where we did not have the records. And we talked about the fact that I was moving in house. We haven’t seen any evidence of mortgage originators shifting from using our instant solution to doing it themselves. So that has not been a dialogue from Equifax.

George Tong: Got it. And assuming that the same holds true outside of the mortgage vertical.

Mark Begor: Yes, for sure. That’s how we’re growing our business because they’re using more of our solutions. We deliver productivity and we deliver speed and accuracy. So that’s fundamental. We see no trends in any of the verticals of where they’re going back to manual what you’re seeing in the business. That’s how we’re delivering the double-digit growth in the quarter and the double-digit growth we expect in the fourth quarter of — one of those levers is more conversions of existing manual effort to using our instant solution.

George Tong: Got it, thank you for that. And then sticking with EWS. Workforce Solutions, non-mortgage, nongovernment, can you discuss some of the trends that you’re seeing there and the sensitivity of customers to pricing trends in the Verifications business?

Mark Begor: Yes. Do you want to talk about talent or exclude talent from that, too?

George Tong: Focus on verifications.