PowerSchool Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PWSC) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

So that’s what you’re observing in the press release and our traction. We also talked about — in our prepared remarks that when you look at the growth of some of our add-on acquisition, this is where our strategy is working very well. The timeliness of our innovation on things like MTSS and Connected Intelligence but also our add-on acquisition like attendance interventions and curriculum, these are very timely based on what we are seeing as one of the key demand in the market. So being able to have the pulse of the 80% of the U.S. market and being able to quickly have the partnerships as well as add-on and acquisitions to react quickly to top needs is allowing us to really drive additional growth in the market based on what is the most important thing for our districts.

And you’re actually right. If you think about from a school district perspective, there a lot of urban school districts who are worried about, how do I get my enrollment and how do I get more attendance. So then this intervention really speaks to that and that’s why you’re seeing good growth. There are a lot of discussion about curriculum and making sure that teachers have a standardized curriculum, so you can be compliant with the state policy. That’s driving a lot of curriculum. And as you talk about SEL and behavior, there are still a lot of kids who are still struggling from the social, emotional side and giving them the support. So we are really addressing the most important things that our districts care about.

Unidentified Analyst: That makes sense. And then just second one for me quickly. I wanted to dig into the full year guidance a little bit. I know people have asked about this in a few different ways but just to clarify, is there any portion of the like $8 million increase in full year guidance that’s coming from outside of those 2 acquisitions you did?

Eric Shander: So yes, as you think about it, majority of it is going to be acquisition related. So — and I think while — Callie, it’s a good question. I think what’s important, too, while I’m addressing this, as you think about the full year is absolutely in line with our expectations. What’s important to understand, there has been a mix shift, if you will, between the categories. So our services business, given the fact that we’ve gotten more productive and more efficient as a team, services is coming in lower than our original expectations. That’s absolutely good because the team is being more efficient and productive. And obviously, that revenue comes with a bit lower of a margin as well. As you look at the full year though and I think it’s important and Hardeep and I look at not just the subs and support but then also the L&O because we look at that as the, if you will, the software component of the revenue pie.

That’s still going to be in the low double digits growth from a full year perspective. So a bit of a mix shift across some of the components but again, as you think about the full year, it’s very much in line with our expectations.

Operator: The next question is from Matt Hedberg with RBC Capital Markets.

Matt Hedberg: Hardeep, earlier on in the call, you — I think you said — you talked about some gen AI SKUs, products that were kind of just rolled out this quarter. I’m sort of curious, could you comment on any sort of thoughts on like pricing or adoption or just how we should think about the eventual — obviously, it would probably be slow at first. But just kind of how do we think about the monetization side of that?

Hardeep Gulati: Great point, Matt. And we are really excited about some of the innovation we’re putting on gen AI. I think when you look at from what we are seeing as not just the differentiation in the market but also from our ability to really do this at scale and embed it into the current applications these — our districts are already used to, we have a very unique proposition for school districts. And that’s why we’re getting a lot of strong interest from multiple of districts and even some state level. And one of the things what you will see is that these are individual areas of one of the products we talked about in the Performance Matters. I want to be able to have new items and want to be able to create quiz. Well, we are making a GA of that product.

I want to be able to create a full lesson plan. I want to have a tutoring help for my kids within Schoology. Well, that’s going to be, again, add-on to Schoology. We will have an add-on for our Connected Intelligence, Unified Insights because I’m going to be able to assess quickly the data and have gen AI help me assist and find the areas rather than me navigating. So that’s going to be an add-on to all of our data products. We are launching similarly on our parent side and within My PowerSchool and SchoolMessenger having a whole parent communication gen AI tool which allows you to engage with the parents in a way that your parents can actually talk to the — be able to use gen AI to understand how they can support their child and interact with the school.