Earnings Call: Q1 2021

May 6, 2021

To the FNF 2021 First Quarter Earnings Call. During today's presentation, all parties will be in a listen only mode. Following the presentation, the conference will be opened for questions with instructions to follow at that time. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Jamie Lillis, Investor Relations for FNF. Please go ahead, sir. Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our Q1 2021 earnings conference call. Joining me today is our CEO, Randy Quirk President, Mike Nolan CFO, Tony Park and F and G's CEO, Chris Blunt. We'll begin with a brief strategic overview from Randy, Mike will review the title business, Chris will review F and G, Tony will finish with a review of the financial highlights. We'll then open the call for your questions and finish with some concluding remarks from Randy. But before we begin, I would like to remind you that this conference call may contain forward looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, In particular, the COVID-nineteen pandemic. There is significant uncertainty about the duration and extent of the impact of this pandemic. Additionally, statements that are not historical facts, including statements about our expectations, hopes, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on management's beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management at the time of this call. Because such statements are based on expectations as to future financial and operating results and are not statements of fact, Actual results may differ materially from those projected. We undertake no obligation to update any forward looking statements whether as a result of new information, Future events or otherwise, the risks and uncertainties which forward looking statements are subject to include, but are not limited to, The risks and other factors detailed in our press release dated yesterday and in the statement regarding forward looking information, Risk Factors and other sections of the company's Form 10 ks and other filings with the SEC. This conference call will be available for replay via webcast at our website atfnf.com. It will also be available through phone replay beginning at 3 pm Eastern Time today through May 14. The replay number is 844-512-2921 and the access code is 137,18,683. Let me now turn the call over to our CEO, Randy. Thank you, Jamie. I would like to start by thanking our employees for their efforts in helping FNF achieve industry leading results to start the year. Our team continued to perform at a high level despite the challenging environment that we have all endured as they kept our operations running smoothly while maintaining a steadfast focus on our customers. In our title segment, we achieved record first quarter results generating adjusted Pretax title earnings of $512,000,000 compared to 279,000,000 In the year ago quarter and a 19.9 percent adjusted pre tax title margin compared with 14.4% in the Q1 of 2020. We also continue to invest in technology as we roll out new applications, which enhance User experience, efficiency and safety of the title and closing process, while leveraging our unmatched national scale. Mike will go into more detail on this in a minute. Turning to F and G, we continue to execute on our growth strategy with strong top line growth and bottom line profitability during the quarter. Fixed index annuity sales for the quarter were at record levels And growth was further fueled by our momentum in the bank and broker dealer channel, where we are gaining significant traction within the 1st year of launch. As a result of our asset growth and disciplined approach to managing net investment spread, We delivered strong earnings during the Q1, which Chris will discuss further in a few minutes. The credit rating upgrades as a result of the acquisition have enabled which will be a significant or strategic focus this year. With the strong growth opportunities that we see, Additional capital will be necessary to realize F and G's full potential. However, our current plan includes utilizing a 3rd party reinsurance strategy to provide that necessary growth capital. The plan also includes an expected return of capital of $150,000,000 annually from F and G to F and F or roughly 6% of our original investment beginning in 2022. We believe this is a meaningful return on capital and a sustainable long term. Looking forward, we remain committed to long term value creation for our shareholders for our thoughtful capital allocation program, while also focusing on supporting the future growth of our business. Yesterday, we announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.36 per share And at the end of 2020, we announced a share buyback program of $500,000,000 During the Q1, we purchased 2,800,000 shares For $112,000,000 at an average price of $39.95 per share and since announcing the buyback plan we have purchased 6,900,000 shares for $264,000,000 at an average price of $38.28 per share. Let me now turn the call over to Mike Nolan to discuss the title insurance business in more detail. Thank you, Randy. Randy touched upon our record Q1 results as we continued to benefit from low interest rates, driving strong origination demand and the continued rebound in commercial real estate activity. For the Q1, we generated adjusted pre tax title earnings of $512,000,000 84% increase over the Q1 of 2020. Our adjusted pre tax title margin was 19.9%, a 550 basis point increase over the prior year quarter. We had a 58% increase in direct orders closed, driven by a 103% increase in daily refinance orders closed, a 21% increase in daily purchase orders closed and a 12% increase in total commercial orders closed. Total commercial revenue was $257,000,000 compared with the year ago quarter of $245,000,000 due to the 12% increase in closed orders, while total commercial fee per file was down slightly compared to the year ago quarter. For the Q1, total orders opened averaged 12,600 per day With January at 13,500, February at 13,300 and March at 11,400. For April, total orders opened were over $10,700 per day as we continue to see strong demand in purchase activity, While we have begun to see some decline in the refinance market compared to last year's robust levels. Daily purchase orders opened were up 18% in the quarter versus the prior year. For April, daily purchase orders opened were up 90% versus the prior year. Refinance orders opened increased by 15% on a daily basis versus the Q1 of 2020. For April, daily refinance orders opened were down 23% versus the prior year. Lastly, total commercial orders opened per day increased by 12% over the Q1 of 2020. Commercial open orders per day remain strong compared to the Q4 and to the year ago Q1. For April, total commercial Orders opened per day were up 72% over April of 2020. We remain optimistic The order volumes we have seen over the last several quarters will drive strong commercial performance in 2021. We are also pleased with the ongoing rollout of our strategic technology initiatives that improve the production and delivery of our core products and services and better the overall transaction experience of homebuyers and sellers, borrowers and real estate professionals. Our proprietary title automation technology and the engines that search, collect and process data remain at the core of our operations. Our digital inHear experience platform continues to be deployed and has been well received by our expert local escrow and settlement employees, Consumers and clients. Let me now turn the call over to Chris Blunt to review F and G's Q1 highlights. Thanks, Mike. The Q1 kicked off a great start to 2021 with record sales levels. Our fixed indexed annuity or FIA sales in the first quarter were $1,000,000,000 up 11% from the sequential quarter. Total annuity sales of $1,600,000,000 In the Q1, we're up 16% from the sequential quarter. We continue to see significant growth ahead, driven by Strong momentum in our primary independent agent channel and traction in new channels. We're now 3 quarters into our Financial Institutions channel launch and continue to be thrilled with the results. The Q1 total annuity results include $410,000,000 from our newest channel, And we expect to comfortably exceed our $1,000,000,000 goal for 2021. With these strong sales results, we grew average assets or AAUM to $29,000,000,000 driven by approximately $1,100,000,000 of net new business flows in the Q1. Our spread results continue to track in line with historical trends, demonstrating our continued pricing discipline and Active in force management to achieve targeted spread. Total product net investment spread was 255 basis points in the quarter and FIA net investment spread was 298 basis points. Adjusted net earnings for the Q1 were $78,000,000 Strong earnings were driven by steady spread results and AAUM growth. Net favorable items in the period were $12,000,000 primarily as a result of favorable mortality Including notable items were $66,000,000 up from $60,000,000 in the 4th quarter, which included $4,000,000 of higher strategic spend for faster than Turning briefly to the investment portfolio as of quarter end, the portfolio's net unrealized gain position Remain strong at $1,100,000,000 and there were no credit related impairments in the quarter. In summary, we continue to execute on our plan coming out of the FNF acquisition, and we remain confident in our future prospects. With that, I will now turn the call over to Tony Park to review FNF's Q1 financial highlights. Thank you, Chris. We generated $3,100,000,000 in total revenue in the Q1 with the title segment producing $2,500,000,000 F and G producing $539,000,000 and the Corporate segment generating $42,000,000 First quarter net earnings were $605,000,000 which includes net recognized gains of $43,000,000 Versus net recognized losses of $320,000,000 in the Q1 of 2020. The net recognized gains and losses in each period are held in our investment portfolio. Excluding net recognized gains and losses, our total revenue was $3,100,000,000 as compared with $1,900,000,000 in the Q1 of 2020. Adjusted net earnings from Continuing operations were $455,000,000 or $1.56 per diluted share. The Title segment contributed $395,000,000 F and G contributed $78,000,000 and the Corporate and Other segment had an adjusted net loss of $18,000,000 Excluding net recognized losses of $59,000,000 our title segment Generated $2,600,000,000 in total revenue for the Q1 compared with $1,900,000,000 in the Q1 of 2020. Direct premiums increased by 37% versus the Q1 of 2020. Agency revenue grew by 45% And escrow, title related and other fees increased by 22% versus the prior year. Personnel costs increased by 18% And other operating expenses increased by 7%. All in the title business generated a 19.9% adjusted pretax title margin, representing a 550 basis point increase versus the Q1 of 2020. Interest income in the title and corporate segments Of $29,000,000 declined $24,000,000 as compared with the prior year quarter due to reduction of short term interest rates on our corporate cash balances and our 10/31 exchange business. FNF debt outstanding was $2,700,000,000 on March 31st For a debt to total capital ratio of 24.6 percent. Our title claims paid of $46,000,000 were $35,000,000 lower Then our provision of $81,000,000 for the quarter. The carried reserve for title claim losses is currently $87,000,000 or 5.7% above the Actuary Central estimate. We continue to provide for title claims at 4.5% of total title premiums. Finally, our title and corporate investment portfolio totaled $5,900,000,000 at March 31. Included in the $5,900,000,000 are fixed maturity and preferred securities of $2,300,000,000 with an average duration Of 2.9 years and an average rating of A2, equity securities of $1,300,000,000 Short term and other investments of $300,000,000 and cash of $2,000,000,000 We ended the quarter with just over $1,100,000,000 in cash and short term liquid investments at the holding company level. Let me now turn the call back to our operator to allow for any questions. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will be conducting a question and answer A confirmation Our first question comes from the line of John Campbell with Stephens. Please proceed with your question. Hey, guys. Good morning. Congrats on a great quarter. Hey, thanks, John. Good morning. Hey. On the centralized refi channel, I just want to touch on that real fast. If you guys can maybe just talk to maybe the percent of refi orders running through that channel now and then just kind of directionally how the margins have looked Sure, John. It's Mike. Generally, ServiceLink has about 25% to 30% Of our open refi volume, it can move around depending on the month, but that's a pretty good number over time. And the Q1 margins were 36%, which is really strong margin actually in the centralized refi channel. I think that was up against 33% or so. Yes, 30 3 percent in the prior year. In the prior year, we've had nice revenue growth there. I think the revenue is up 81% quarter over quarter. So pleased with what we've seen on the ServiceLink side and 34% in the Q4 of 2020. So pretty consistent. Yes, thanks. Okay. That's helpful. And then as we think about the prospects of refi Maybe lightening up a little bit here next couple of quarters. How easy is it to protect that type of margin on the way down? Well, John, we'll do what we always do as we see those volumes come out, particularly in refi, We'll have to adjust our expenses accordingly. Whether you can maintain A 36% margin is really a function of just how far it's falling off. But We're pretty confident that we can manage the expenses as those orders fall off if they do. Okay, makes sense. And then the $1,100,000,000 of cash at the holding company level, that seems like that's way above what you guys typically carry. Any particular reason that's such a high level and any thoughts about what you might do with that over the next couple of quarters? Yes, John, this is Tony. It's a good question. And you're right, when you're generating the kind of cash flow that we are, it does accumulate. We started the quarter at about $1,000,000,000 We upstreamed from both regulated and unregulated It was about $400,000,000 We spent $107,000,000 on our common dividend, about $30,000,000 in interest expense. And as we mentioned earlier, dollars 112,000,000 in buybacks. So we landed a little over $1,100,000,000 at the end of Q1. We'll look for various uses as we work our way through the year. Obviously, our dividend It is very important to us and that'll run us a little over $400,000,000 for the course Of 2021, we have about $80,000,000 in interest expense obligations throughout the year. We have another roughly we're about halfway through our commitment of $500,000,000 in buybacks. So we have about 250,000,000 Left over the course of really into the Q3 to exhaust that commitment and then the Board will have to Take a look at where we stand in terms of the authorization, but my expectation Would be that they would strongly consider re upping on the buyback if we continue to sit on large volume of cash As I would expect we do. I mean, we're going to have a strong cash flow year, I believe, again, similar to what we did last year and the year before, Probably well north of $1,000,000,000 in cash flowing up to parent. So We'll see where we stand. I think you heard in Randy's comments thoughts around F and G. We believe now it won't start until 2022, but we do believe that we'll be getting a return of capital from F and G based on our expectations and strategies there. So that'll just add to the corporate coffers in terms of cash flowing up to The parent now we may provide some leverage. They have room to borrow on F and G's balance So we may provide some intercompany leverage to them to the tune of maybe $350,000,000 So that can be a use and of course M and A opportunities that show up on the title side, we're always looking. Some of those show up where we buy them within the title subs And some of them use parent company cash. So I know kind of a long winded explanation, but that's where we stand. And of course, it's a good problem to have $1,000,000,000 plus in parent company cash. Yes, undoubtedly. That's a risk management problem. So that's a good place to be for sure. If I could squeeze in maybe one more here, and I'm guessing this has fallen off probably a pretty good bit over the last, call it, 2 years, but how big is the 1031 exchange business how much are you guys generating out of that now? I don't have that number right in Yes, on the I do have on the interest side, which is I would say the biggest part of it, it's fallen off substantially. We were running Call it almost $19,000,000 a quarter in interest income in our 10/31 exchange business. Now it's running $4,000,000 on a quarterly basis. So we've already seen that. In fact, we've seen that over the last Several quarters, I think our net spread there is something like 33 basis points, which is better than short term money right now, but It's well off to almost 200 basis points that we were earning back before the Fed made those adjustments. In terms of falling off from a business standpoint, that hasn't happened at all. I mean, we're between what $4,000,000,000 $5,000,000,000 in balance? We're actually a little bit over $5,000,000,000 We're Actually at record balance levels, John and record transactional levels, but I did pull up a number while Tony was speaking and Because of the change in rates, even though we have record transaction levels, as I've said and balances, our Revenue Q1 over Q1 last year is down 9,000,000 From 22 last year to 13 this year and if you went back one more year, there'd be another substantial fall off because this has been kind of a 2 year Falling knife, if you will, around the rates. Yes, makes sense. And I guess, We'll have to wait and see what the Biden administration does with 1031 exchange, but $4,000,000 a quarter seems like it's pretty bearable either way it goes. Okay. Thanks, guys. Our next question comes from the line of Mark DeVries with Barclays. Please proceed with your question. Yes. I had a question about The implications of the really robust home price appreciation we've been seeing for kind of average revenue per order, Is it still right to assume that roughly 50% of that gets kind of passed on? So if we've had 12% HPA over the last year that you've got a nice, let's call it 6% Tailwind to average revenue per order, kind of just ignoring the impact of mix? Yes, I think that's Fair, Mark. I mean 50% or 60%. It is kind of a staggered scale. So it's a little I guess you earn more on a $200,000 home as a percentage than you do on a $300,000 So it's kind of a gradual Increase. But yes, we certainly benefit from home price appreciation. I did some rough numbers and on the purchase, the refi side It's been fairly consistent for a long period of time at roughly $1,000 in order title and closing. On the purchase side though, I did some rough numbers. I think it was March to March or April to April. And it looked to me like we've seen about a 14% Increase in average fee per file. Now some of that may be geography and deal size, but some of that certainly is going to be just home price appreciation. Okay, that's helpful. And then, if you could just give us some color on what you're seeing in your commercial pipeline, Kind of deal size, kind of diversity of transactions you're seeing and how that's shaping up? Sure, Mark. It's Mike. And as I said in the opening, we're very optimistic on commercial. A couple of data points in the Q1, Our average open orders per day were over 1,000 total commercial orders. We've never done that before, so that's a record. April was also over a1000. So that just gives you an idea that sort of the transactional velocity we're seeing. We've also seen Good growth in our national orders in the Q1 up high single digits, both to the Q4 last year and the first Quarter last year, so that's very encouraging. And I would say our national Commercial managers are reporting and optimistic that we're seeing some bigger transactions coming back into play, some multi sites. So I think that'll bode well as we get into the 2nd and third quarters. Kind of from an asset class standpoint, It's pretty similar to what we've talked about before, still seeing strength in multifamily and industrial. Those are probably the consistent strong asset classes across the past quarters. Energy, gaming, kind of is in and out, but very good when we have it. And I think health and medical is another area that's a good segment. And I think people are That we might see some improvement in some of the segments that have lagged more like retail and hospitality as we move into the year. And kind of on a geographic basis, all markets are improving and we're even seeing in New York where we've Kind of have that as one of the tougher markets given the shutdowns there and other things, seeing a nice rebound there. And I think as the economy further opens up, it bodes very well for commercial. Okay. And how are those commercial margins coming in relative to your average title margins? 1st quarter, it looks like commercial margins were For our national operations, so not our total commercial because that's kind of embedded, we were at 26% And our direct operations, which include local commercial, we're just under 29%. So pretty similar. I think those national Margins will kind of come up as we go through the year and we close more hopefully larger transactions and just more transactions overall. Okay, great. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Kligerman with Credit So just following up on the earlier question about capital deployment. I think in the past, we've talked about Fidelity National being able to roll run the hold at the holdco Unencumbered with up to as low as $150,000,000 of cash. So the question is, Where is a good place for it to be? I mean, what you were talking about being at $1,100,000,000 and with a lot of cash flow coming up to the HoldCo, What's kind of a comfortable area where you'd like to be? And perhaps you could talk about some of the Specific M and A opportunities that you might be seeing out there right now? Yes. Just on the comfort level and in cash, $150,000,000 is probably adequate only because we do expect Recurring regular dividends up from our subs. Now if we entered a period of time where the market were a little more challenging, then you'd probably want To be sitting on a little more of that, we have to be cognizant of debt as it comes due. Most of our debt has been Extended out and is frankly pretty cheap. But we do have I think $400,000,000 of debt coming due in September of 2022. So that's Something that's it's in the back of the mind a little bit. But yes, I mean it is a good problem to have to be flush with cash at this I think the buyback is second only maybe to the dividend. The buyback Is very prominent. Do you guys want to comment a little bit on that? Yes, I would just say, this is Randy. We probably have 15, 20 potential acquisitions around the country on the board that we're looking at relative to the agency side of our business, some small, maybe some escrow companies And then some medium to larger opportunities, but we always have those in the flow and work those pretty regularly. We don't know which ones are going to come to fruition yet, but we stay and play with that on a regular basis to kind of fill out Our footprint, which is pretty extensive, but there's still more opportunities. We've got 2 or 3 that are on the board that look like That they might get to conclusion. We have our real estate technology companies. We're always looking at Maybe adding to our menu of services in the lead generation business, the CRM business. So we're staying in play. We just need to get to the right deals that makes sense and then we'll execute. I see. So it sounds like there are some deals that could absorb the bulk of that cash at the HoldCo, no? Well, I would say that these are not large, large deals and they take some time and We pass on many and then we move on others, but I don't know Tony might talk about how that all adds up, But they are for the most part midsize acquisitions. I could see it's been $100,000,000 to $300,000,000 maybe On title company acquisitions, I don't think it would be anything more than that. Got it. And just a quick follow-up on that really solid answer to the commercial question. So I mean with closed orders up 12% in the quarter, open orders up 10%. It kind of the read through would be that It could be that or even better as we go through the year. Was that the right read on your earlier response? Well, you mean in terms of that being the trend for future quarters, service open and closed. I don't know that I'm saying that, Andrew, because you have more volatility really in commercial Order flow quarter to quarter, but we are seeing record levels of commercial orders right now And that really bodes well for I think closings as we go through the next few quarters and also Encouraged by the improvement in orders in the national operations, which probably bore a little bit more of the brunt of the fall off in the pandemic last year. And just as a maybe a reminder, we have 21 national commercial offices And they generate about 60% of the total revenue in commercial in the company. So they're very, very important. And then about 40% is done through our local distributed footprint that's also handling residential refinance and purchase transactions. Got it. And just one last one for Chris. The MYGA business at 460,000,000 In retail volume, I think that was fourfold versus last year in the same quarter. And it sounds like it's these new channels, but maybe Chris, could you give a little color on has that number kind of leveled out? Do you think it could grow a lot? And What's the competitive landscape? Are you getting good returns in that business? Yes. All great questions. So, yes, the business has been quite steady. As you know, it's a core product for banks in particular, Unlike the independent agent channel where we were always quite competitive, but it was much more of an opportunistic or secondary product For that channel. So I do think we're going to continue to see growth there. We do like the returns that we're getting. Obviously, it's not the same margin that we get on FIA sales, but what we're really pleased with is where we're selling fixed annuities, we are getting the flow through and also selling Indexed annuities. So it is a bit of a door opener. It's a very easy thing. It's an excuse for new producers to get licensed with your company, learn the F and G story. So What we're most pleased with is that is then translating into the cross sale and getting them interested in our FIA product. So we feel really, really good about the direction of the channel right now. And the other is just banks are drowning in deposits. I mean, you probably read this everywhere, but it's the numbers are just Astronomical and they don't have any place to put the money. And annuity revenues have become a meaningful source of revenue for the banks. So they're not only not fighting it, they're quite supportive of us, selling fixed annuities through their channels. Thanks, Chris. Our next question comes from the line of Bose George with KBW. Please proceed with your question. Good afternoon. Hey, Bose. I have a follow-up question. So first on the margin side, what's the margin on the agent channel in the quarter? The agency margin for the quarter was 10%, which is what might be the best Quarter we've ever had are right there with the best quarter we've had in terms of agency that compares up against 7.9% In the prior year, actually the Q4 was 10.4%. So we're just down from the Q4, but still a Really strong margin. And I think Q4 was a record at 10.4%. Okay, great. Thanks. And then switching to F and Just in terms of the operating earnings this quarter, should we just sort of pull out that, I guess, dollars 12,000,000 of One time items and is that kind of a reasonable run rate? Yes, I'd probably say maybe pull out Half of it. And the reason that I say that is we've had very consistent mortality gains in our SPIA book, our immediate annuity book. It's a very Say it in a polite way, it's an old group of policies. So average age is in the 80s. So there's more upside than downside there. So that's core. Clearly, we saw some elevated mortality gains and I suspect we're doing the analysis. I Suspected sadly COVID related. So I think if you look back over time, we've averaged probably $6,000,000 a quarter last year of positive Gain there, this one was 16. So if you said the 66 versus the 78, It's probably somewhere in between the 2. Okay, great. That's helpful. Thanks. And then let's see, just one follow-up on the Question about the 1031. In terms of transactions, commercial transactions, you guys like if it's a 1031 transaction that's happened, Do you know what percentage that is of your transactions or when it takes place, you don't necessarily know if it's a 1031 or not or just any color for the percentage of that volume as a total commercial volume? I don't think we have that number. Tony, I just don't think we have that. I don't either. I mean not every 1031 exchange is a commercial. No, there's a lot of residential actually 1031s. Yes. I think we've also learned just looking at the proposed tax policy, which certainly isn't policy yet. At least I learned that a lot of our transactions are actually well below $500,000 in proceeds. Not I mean, I don't know how much of the gain is included in that, but the fact that the $500,000 is proceeds, you know the gain is Lower than that. And so there's really a lot that I guess would be un impacted by policy change. Right. Okay. That's helpful. Okay, great. Thanks a lot, guys. Thanks, Bose. There are no further questions in the queue. I'd like to hand the call back to Randy Quirk for closing remarks. Thank you. We are very pleased with our Q1 title results as the year is off to a great start. Our team continues to execute delivering industry leading performance. In addition to our title results, F and G's strong results, solid investment portfolio And growth initiatives remain on track and we look forward to their further execution on these initiatives in 2021. Lastly, our capital allocation priorities remain focused on deploying capital in a way that best maximizes shareholder value through our quarterly dividend, share repurchases and continued investment in our business. We look forward to speaking with you and updating you on our Q2 earnings call. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time and have a wonderful day.