Q1 2025 Guild Holdings Co Earnings Call

In This Article:

Participants

Unidentified Company Representative

Terry Schmidt; Chief Executive Officer, Director; Guild Holdings Co

David Neylan; President, Chief Operating Officer; Guild Holdings Co

Desiree Kramer; Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President; Guild Holdings Co

Rick Shane; Analyst; JPMorgan

Don Fandetti; Analyst; Wells Fargo

Michael Goldberg; Analyst; Citizens JMP

Jake Katsikas; Analyst; BTIG

Presentation

Operator

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Guild Holdings Company first quarter 2025 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session with instructions to follow at that time. As a reminder, this call will be recorded.
I would now like to turn the conference over to investor relations. Please go ahead.

Unidentified Company Representative

Thank you and good afternoon, everyone. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that comments on this conference call may contain certain forward-looking statements regarding the company's expected operating and financial performance for future periods and industry trends.
These statements are based on the company's current expectations. Preliminary results for any portion of a quarter may not be indicative of full quarter results and are subject to management and auditor customary review procedures. Actual results for future periods may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to a number of risks or other factors that are described in greater detail under the section titled Risk factors in Guild's most recently filed annual report on Form 10-K and in other reports subsequently filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Additionally, today's remarks will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the corresponding GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release furnished today with the SEC and are also available on Guild's investor relations website.
I'd now like to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Terry Schmidt. Terry?

Terry Schmidt

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for our first quarter 2025 earnings call. With me today is David Neylan, our President and Chief Operating Officer; and Amber Kramer, our CFO. Our results once again demonstrate the success of our growth strategy, our positive momentum in market share gains, and our ability to execute in every market cycle.
I am pleased to report in the first quarter we achieved 35% growth in originations year over year to $5.2 billion while delivering positive adjusted EBITDA of $36.4 million and adjusted net income of $21.6 million. These results showcase the benefits of our strategy to invest through market downturns, and we continue to grow at a faster rate than the broader industry. Our year over year growth in originations reflects not only the academy acquisition we made in the first quarter of last year, but also the organic recruiting efforts we've completed throughout the past year.
Since the end of 2020, we have more than doubled our loan officer headcount. Our servicing business also continues to expand now with more than $94 billion in our portfolio, despite market volatility. This homegrown portfolio provides financial stability, fuels our customers for life strategy, and gives our loan officers more at-bats with their past clients.
We have built a model designed to perform in every market cycle, and we have successfully navigated multiple cycles throughout our history. Our consistent productivity improvements showcase the strength and deep experience as we continue to thrive, even as the broader market is experiencing prolonged volatility. We do not expect the current conditions to change in the short term, but we are all well positioned for success, even in today's uncertain landscape.
As we look ahead, we are particularly pleased with our ability to leverage our balanced business model. Core platform advantages and the strength of our brands continue to drive our growth. While we do not control the market environment, we built a durable, balanced business model that should perform in all cycles. This includes our continued focus on purchasing distributed retail, which has proven to be a significant advantage in this rate environment.
A servicing book that provides stability with consistent cash flows. Integrated servicing recapture platform to create customers for life and deliver additional origination volume when refi and life events occur. Robust product offerings to deliver specialty programs for unique situations. Continued organic growth as we benefit from industry consolidation and the strength of our brand in times of uncertainty and prudent financial management and flexibility that position us to selectively pursue opportunistic acquisitions and further invest in our platform.
Looking ahead, we believe we have a position guild for outperformance relative to the industry, regardless of the current market. We anticipate continued volatility, but we remain confident that we already have the balanced model needed for this environment, as we have spent decades building this business model to adapt to a variety of markets. We believe those who can be flexible and adjust in these conditions will be the winners, which is exactly how we have built our platform.
We continue to capitalize on opportunities while remaining disciplined in our approach. Our focus remains consistent. Market share gains, operational efficiencies, new product development, organic recruiting, and opportunistic M&A.
With that, I'd like to turn it over to David to provide more details on our operational achievements and outlook. David?