loanDepot announces year-end and fourth quarter 2022 financial results

Company exits 2022 with significantly lower expense base driven by strong execution of Vision 2025 Plan.

Investments in technology and expanded product offerings position the Company for future success.

Fourth quarter 2022 highlights:

• Quarterly revenue decrease of $104.5 million driven primarily by lower market activity due to increased interest rates and seasonal slowdown in purchase volume.
• Reduced total expenses by $91.4 million, or 21%, from third quarter primarily driven by lower staffing levels, marketing spend and Vision 2025 related costs.
• Net loss increased 15% to $157.8 million in fourth quarter from third quarter driven by lower revenues partially offset by aggressive expense reductions.
• Company exited the year with cash balance of $864.0 million.

Full-year 2022 highlights:

• Total revenue declined from $3.7 billion during 2021 to $1.3 billion during 2022 driven primarily by lower market volumes and exit of wholesale channel.
• Exceeded Vision 2025 expense reduction target by reducing non-volume related expenses by $129.8 million from the second quarter to the fourth quarter, an annualized reduction of $519.3 million.
• Reduced total expenses by $1.1 billion, or 36% from 2021 to 2022; excluding goodwill impairment of $40.7 million and Vision 2025 related expenses of $60.5 million incurred during 2022; total expenses decreased $1.2 billion, or 40%.
• Launched our HELOC solution providing customers fast, easy way to harness their home equity to improve overall financial wellness.
• Completed transition of mortgage servicing portfolio to in-house platform, improving customer experience, increasing cross-sell opportunities, and benefiting from the operating leverage.

IRVINE, Calif., March 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- loanDepot, Inc. (NYSE: LDI), (together with its subsidiaries, "loanDepot" or the "Company"), today announced results for the year-end and fourth quarter ended December 31, 2022. 

"2022 was a year of dramatic volatility and extreme challenge for the mortgage and broader housing markets," said President and Chief Executive Officer Frank Martell. "Virtually no part of the housing ecosystem was left unaffected as participants in the housing market grappled with substantial and rapid increases in the cost of home loans, the cumulative impact of significant home price appreciation over the past four to five years driven by structural supply and demand imbalances, as well as the depressive impact of high inflation on available household incomes. 

"To address the short- to medium-term impacts of lower market activity, as well as to position loanDepot to capitalize on longer-term opportunities inherent in shifts in homebuyer demographics, technology enhancements and process optimization, we announced the launch of our Vision 2025 strategic plan in July 2022. 

"Vision 2025 focuses on creating long-term shareholder value by creating an innovative, purpose-driven, and durable mortgage origination footprint focused on first-time homebuyers and serving diverse communities. We believe that a laser focus around putting first-time buyers into homes positions loanDepot to be a customer's trusted resource when making key homeownership and other financial decisions. We also continued to centralize our operational functions and unified the leadership of our origination channels to sharpen our focus and accelerate the implementation of Vision 2025.

"In addition to centralizing and simplifying our organization, we also focused on growing revenue generating opportunities, including the successful launch of our HELOC solution in the fourth quarter of 2022 as well as the formation of our tenth joint venture. To support the goals of Vision 2025, loanDepot also made important and significant investments in its quality, delivery, compliance and risk management capabilities over the course of 2022. 

"In response to unprecedented market conditions, loanDepot had to reset its cost structure during 2022. When we announced Vision 2025, we established a goal of reducing our expenses by an annualized $375 to $400 million. During the year, we exceeded the expense reduction goal by more than 25%. 

"The size of our targeted reductions and the bias for speed of implementation reflect just how unique and sizable this market downturn has been. We believe that the mortgage market will remain challenged in 2023 and we must remain vigilant and respond quickly to unfavorable changes in the market. We plan to continue to reduce our costs and optimize our operating model. With a sizable cash balance, we believe we are positioned to continue to invest in our people and platforms, as we benefit from ongoing industry consolidation."

Fourth Quarter Highlights:

Financial Summary

Vision 2025

Our Vision 2025 plan is designed to address current and anticipated mortgage market conditions and position loanDepot for sustainable long-term value creation. Building on the foundation of our strong balance sheet and liquidity, we have achieved the following since the announcement of Vision 2025:

• Rolled out our HELOC solution initially in five states and are currently offering the product in 38 states, with plans to include more. This solution gives homeowners a powerful option for accessing the equity they have built in a fast, easy and efficient way without refinancing their low-cost first mortgage. Only a small number of HELOC loans were funded before quarter end so their contribution to revenue was not material to our results.
• Recently completed our two-year project to transition our mortgage servicing portfolio from our third-party sub-servicer to our in-house platform. Eliminating sub-servicing costs further reduces our third-party vendor spending, which allows us to benefit from the operating leverage of this highly scalable business. Transitioning servicing in-house also resulted in a significantly improved customer experience.
• Achieved quarterly non-volume related expense reductions of $129.8 million since announcing Vision 2025, an annualized impact of $519.3 million, surpassing our Vision 2025 goal of $375-$400 million in savings.
• Quarterly volume related expenses, consisting of commissions and direct origination expenses, decreased by $87.1 million since the second quarter.
• Incurred expenses related to the Vision 2025 plan during the quarter of $11.9 million, including $6.3 million of real estate exit costs, $3.2 million of personnel related expenses, and $2.5 million of professional services fees. Vision 2025 expenses totaled $37.0 million in the third quarter and totaled $101.3 million, including goodwill impairment, since announcing the plan in the second quarter.

Operational Results

• Pull through weighted lock volume of $4.2 billion for the three months ended December 31, 2022, a decrease of $4.6 billion or 52% from the third quarter of 2022, resulting in quarterly total revenue of $169.7 million, a decrease of $104.5 million, or 38%, over the same period. The decrease in volume was related primarily to the seasonal slowdown in home buying activity and higher interest rates reducing borrower demand.
• Loan origination volume for the fourth quarter of 2022 was $6.4 billion, a decrease of $3.5 billion or 35% from the third quarter of 2022.
• Purchase volume increased to 76% of total loans during the fourth quarter, up from 70% of total loans during the third quarter of 2022 and 34% of total loans during the fourth quarter of 2021, reflecting our progress in executing a purpose-driven lending strategy of assisting our customers in buying a home.
• For the twelve months ended December 31, 2022, our preliminary organic refinance consumer direct recapture rate[1] remained strong at 71%. This highlights the efficacy of our marketing efforts, the strength of our customer relationships, and the value of our servicing portfolio for additional revenue opportunities.
• Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2022 of $157.8 million as compared to net loss of $137.5 million in the third quarter of 2022. Net loss increased quarter over quarter primarily due to lower revenues offset somewhat by a decrease in total expenses.
• Adjusted LBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2022 was $92.0 million as compared to adjusted LBITDA of $114.1 million for the third quarter of 2022. Adjusted (LBITDA) EBITDA excludes the impact of fair value changes of our mortgage servicing rights, net of hedging results, impairment charges, and other operating expenses.

Outlook for the first quarter of 2023

• Origination volume of between $3 billion and $5 billion.
• Pull-through weighted rate lock volume of between $4 billion and $6 billion.
• Pull-through weighted gain on sale margin of between 180 basis points and 220 basis points.

Servicing

As of December 31, 2022, approximately $257.0 million, or 0.2%, of our servicing portfolio was in active forbearance. This represents a decrease from $319.5 million, or 0.2%, as of September 30, 2022.

Balance Sheet Highlights

The decrease in cash and cash equivalents from September 30, 2022, was due to a reduction in our cash collateral requirements related to our hedges and our decision to fund more loans available for sale with cash instead of warehouse line advances. A decrease in loans held for sale at December 31, 2022, resulted in a corresponding decrease in the balance on our warehouse lines of credit. Total funding capacity with our lending partners decreased to $4.1 billion at December 31, 2022 from $5.7 billion at September 30, 2022. The decrease of $1.7 billion was primarily due to our decision to reduce our borrowing capacity, reflecting lower volume expectations. Available borrowing capacity was $1.8 billion at December 31, 2022.

Consolidated Statements of Operations

Consolidated Balance Sheets

Loan Origination and Sales Data

Fourth Quarter Earnings Call

Management will host a conference call and live webcast today at 5:00 p.m. ET on loanDepot's Investor Relations website, investors.loandepot.com, to discuss its earnings results.

The conference call can also be accessed by dialing (888) 440-6385 using conference ID number 2021948. Please call five minutes in advance to ensure that you are connected prior to the call. A replay of the webcast and transcript will also be made available on the Investor Relations website following the conclusion of the event, or can be accessed by dialing (800) 770-2030 following the conclusion of the event through April 7, 2023.

For more information about loanDepot, please visit the company's Investor Relations website:  investors.loandepot.com.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To provide investors with information in addition to our results as determined by GAAP, we disclose certain non-GAAP measures to assist investors in evaluating our financial results. We believe these non-GAAP measures provide useful information to investors regarding our results of operations because each measure assists both investors and management in analyzing and benchmarking the performance and value of our business. They facilitate company-to-company operating performance comparisons by backing out potential differences caused by variations in hedging strategies, changes in valuations, capital structures (affecting interest expense on non-funding debt), taxation, the age and book depreciation of facilities (affecting relative depreciation expense), the amortization of intangibles, and other cost or benefit items which may vary for different companies for reasons unrelated to operating performance. These non-GAAP measures include our Adjusted Total Revenue, Adjusted Net Income (Loss), Adjusted Diluted Earnings (Loss) Per Share, and Adjusted EBITDA (LBITDA). We exclude from each of these non-GAAP financial measures the change in fair value of MSRs and related hedging gains and losses as they add volatility and are not indicative of the Company's operating performance or results of operation. We also exclude stock compensation expense, which is a non-cash expense, management fees, IPO expenses, gains or losses on extinguishment of debt and disposal of fixed assets, non-cash goodwill impairment, and other impairment charges to intangible assets and operating lease right-of-use assets as management does not consider these costs to be indicative of our performance or results of operations. Adjusted EBITDA (LBITDA) includes interest expense on funding facilities, which are recorded as a component of "net interest income (expense)", as these expenses are a direct operating expense driven by loan origination volume. By contrast, interest expense on our non-funding debt is a function of our capital structure and is therefore excluded from Adjusted EBITDA (LBITDA). Adjustments for income taxes are made to reflect historical results of operations on the basis that it was taxed as a corporation under the Internal Revenue Code, and therefore subject to U.S. federal, state and local income taxes. These non-GAAP measures have limitations as analytical tools, and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for revenue, net income, or any other operating performance measure calculated in accordance with GAAP, and may not be comparable to a similarly titled measure reported by other companies. Some of these limitations are:

• they do not reflect every cash expenditure, future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;
• Adjusted EBITDA (LBITDA) does not reflect the significant interest expense or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payment on our debt;
• although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized will often have to be replaced or require improvements in the future, and Adjusted Total Revenue, Adjusted Net Income (Loss), and Adjusted EBITDA (LBITDA) do not reflect any cash requirement for such replacements or improvements; and
• they are not adjusted for all non-cash income or expense items that are reflected in our statements of cash flows.

Because of these limitations, Adjusted Total Revenue, Adjusted Net Income (Loss), Adjusted Diluted Earnings (Loss) Per Share, and Adjusted EBITDA (LBITDA) are not intended as alternatives to total revenue, net income (loss), net income (loss) attributable to the Company, or Diluted Earnings (Loss) Per Share or as an indicator of our operating performance and should not be considered as measures of discretionary cash available to us to invest in the growth of our business or as measures of cash that will be available to us to meet our obligations. We compensate for these limitations by using Adjusted Total Revenue, Adjusted Net Income (Loss), Adjusted Diluted Earnings (Loss) Per Share, and Adjusted EBITDA (LBITDA) along with other comparative tools, together with U.S. GAAP measurements, to assist in the evaluation of operating performance. See below for a reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to their most comparable U.S. GAAP measures.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements," which reflect loanDepot's current views with respect to, among other things, its business strategies, including the Vision 2025 plan, our HELOC product, financial condition and liquidity, competitive position, industry and regulatory environment, potential growth opportunities, the effects of competition, operations and financial performance. You can identify these statements by the use of words such as "outlook," "potential," "continue," "may," "seek," "approximately," "predict," "believe," "expect," "plan," "intend," "estimate," "project," or "anticipate" and similar expressions or the negative versions of these words or comparable words, as well as future or conditional verbs such as "will," "should," "would" and "could." These forward-looking statements are based on current available operating, financial, economic and other information, and are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including the risks in the "Risk Factors" section of loanDepot, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q as well as any subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are difficult to predict. Therefore, current plans, anticipated actions, financial results, as well as the anticipated development of the industry, may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in any forward-looking statement. loanDepot does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect future events or circumstances, except as required by applicable law.

About loanDepot

loanDepot (NYSE: LDI) is a digital commerce company committed to serving its customers throughout the home ownership journey. Since its launch in 2010, loanDepot has revolutionized the mortgage industry with a digital-first approach that makes it easier, faster and less stressful to purchase or refinance a home. Today, as one of the nation's largest non-bank retail mortgage lenders, loanDepot enables customers to achieve the American dream of homeownership through a broad suite of lending and real estate services that simplify one of life's most complex transactions. With headquarters in Southern California and offices nationwide, loanDepot is committed to serving the communities in which its team lives and works through a variety of local, regional and national philanthropic efforts.

Investor Relations Contact:
Gerhard Erdelji
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations
(949) 822-4074
[email protected]

Media Contact:
Rebecca Anderson
Senior Vice President, Communications & Public Relations
(949) 822-4024
[email protected]

LDI-IR

¹ We define organic refinance consumer direct recapture rate as the total unpaid principal balance ("UPB") of loans in our servicing portfolio that are paid in full for purposes of refinancing the loan on the same property, with the Company acting as lender on both the existing and new loan, divided by the UPB of all loans in our servicing portfolio that paid in full for the purpose of refinancing the loan on the same property. The recapture rate is finalized following the publication date of this release when external data becomes available.

SOURCE loanDepot, Inc.

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