QuoteMedia, Inc. (PNK:QMCI) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Dave Shworan: Yes. I mean our interactive content solutions is web displays, web development, all of the delivery of all this information across the web for brokerage firms, banks, trading systems, etcetera. So that is the biggest growth area for QuoteMedia. Many firms are coming to us. They want us to create all of their solutions, build their portal, build their trading system, add all of the research in there. We are that one-stop shop for all of that development as well as all of the data. So certainly, our web content solutions is has grown, is continuing to grow and I think is going to be a big part of what we’re doing. The corporate Quotestream is the other side that we’re focused on. So taking our Quotestream products, our Quotestream web, our Quotestream trader, our Quotestream mobile, our Quotestream professional products to firms and taking them to many, many users, whether it’s the retail audience of thousands of users or whether it’s the professional audience or the financial advisers area to hundreds of users in firms.

That’s our other focus. The individual Quotestream is the kind of one-off sign-ups for putting a credit card to get access. We still put some focus on that but our big focus is going after the large, large firms and the big contracts and the big partnerships.

Unidentified Analyst: Got you. And as we see the margin improved in the quarter, a significant improvement. Can we just talk a little bit about — is that just solely related to the revenue mix? Or is there a function of other things that are happening that might — to account for the margin improvement? And then if you could just give us a sense of what you think are sustainable margins as we go into 2023?

Dave Shworan: Keith, do you want to talk about margins?

Keith Randall: Yes. I think in 2022, most of the improvement in gross margin was due to the growth — the new contracts we started that had higher gross margins. Now the second large contract with the bank only started in November, so we didn’t really get that the impact or much of the impact of that contract. So I’m expecting the margins again to improve in the next year, not only because of the revenue mix but also we’re finding areas where we can replace data providers or reduce our data costs, so which will — the cost of revenue. So that will also improve our margins. So the combination of those 2 factors, we’re expecting our margins to be in the 52% to 53% range for 2023.

Dave Shworan: Yes. I think I’ll also add that the new companies that are coming to us, we’re meeting with quite a few more firms now, they’re all coming to us with similar models and similar data requirements and products that they want. So it looks like it’s going to be a continuation of this trend.

Unidentified Analyst: Got you. And then I was just wondering if you can give us a sense of the current business environment, particularly you mentioned in the past that when things kind of get a little rough, you think that this is when your company is going to shine because companies look for customized solutions that might be a little cheaper. And I know that you went through a period of investments in 2020 and 2021 so that you can offer a number of data sets and feature sets. Do you feel like you have all of the solutions that you need? Or are there continued investments that need to be made? I’m just trying to get a sense of the prospect that we go through another wave of investments that might crimp margins in the future? And then if you could just talk a little bit about, again, going back to the business climate, what you’re seeing out there right now?