Trupanion, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRUP) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Josh Shanker: Thanks for that answer. And I don’t need specific numbers, I don’t think you had given them anyway, but when I look at the retention dipping a little bit, obviously, it should be expected as you raise prices. Is the movement coming into the first years, is it coming in those receiving 20% or greater rate increases or is it in the majority of the bulk. I guess that 80% of book that’s neither first year nor getting a 20% rate increase.

Darryl Rawlings: Well, it’s interesting, because that slight in retention, which as a reminder still well over 70 months and of double what we think the industry average. That includes our new initiatives, so it includes the new products that have lower coverage, distribution channel, if you pull those loans out. I think the retention rate would be very similar to what our average has been in the last couple of years. So it remains very strong. And it’s pretty consistent and there three buckets that we talked about in our shareholder letters between first year average rate increases and those that have higher. So nothing dramatic change their. Margi, you did – you have anything to add there.

Margi Tooth: I mean, I think you’re right, we did see – we saw a very strong start in Q2 retention as we get more and more rate, frankly, the book of business. It is our expectation that we see a little bit of a softness coming through. We saw a little bit about the end of the quarter, but generally, we feel like the retention has been very strong. I think the team has done a very good job in terms of execution and making sure that value proposition as well understood and they have a very robust upon in place for the remainder of the year, acknowledging that that rate increase will continue to tick up through the rest of 2023 and into 2024. So far, we feel confident in the way managing that process and will keep monitoring in those buckets.

It’s are elevated and there’s a lot more granular detail behind the scene and their retention metrics that way you said in terms of the 72 months with the overall book of business. What you have in there is a real mixture as Darryl mentioned of products. We see a very different retention experience for the newer products and very different retention experienced and different geographies as well as those we see that starting to take out about 17% that we mentioned earlier, you’re going to see a difference in that retention profile too, but so far so good and we feel like it’s in a good place.

Josh Shanker: Thank you very much for the answers.

Operator: The next question comes from Jon Block from Stifel. Please go ahead.

Jon Block: Great, thanks guys. Good afternoon. First question, can you just talk about the path back for the subscriber MLR. I think it came down 60 bps Q-over-Q, which was good to see. But it’s still pretty darn elevated at 77%. You’ve got some of the Southern California and New York. How should we think about that trend line, call it, into the back half of 2H 2023 – sorry, the back part of 2023 and even into 2024. Do you want to give a little bit more specifics on when you think you can get back to that 71% target.

Margi Tooth: Yes. So fair when we think about the – we’re happy to see that margin expansion. I think it’s back to a little bit more about predictability that we have known and loved over the last 20 plus years. In terms of the rate that we have flowing through at this 16% by the end of Q2. We’ve got by continuing to increase through this year. So you can expect without rate margin thoughts to expand even further and brings us closer to our value proposition still confident with that in mind, we continue to see the 15% increase of inflation across the book of business. If that continues, then by the end of next year, we expect to be back towards, target if it changes and obviously, that will change. We’ll adjust accordingly. But we feel confident with the plans we have in place and the rates we have flowing through Combined with our retention that we will see that happen in the back end of 2024.

Jon Block: Okay. Maybe just ask it differently. Is there a certain trend line that you need into the back part of this year more in order to hit your free cash flow positive target.