EverQuote (EVER) Exits Health Business to Improve Efficiency
EverQuote, Inc. EVER recently decided to exit from its health insurance vertical, effective Jun 30, 2023. EVER sold its health insurance, like Medicare insurance, from its online marketplace and direct-to-consumer agents. This business contributed roughly 10% to the company’s total revenues in 2022.
This move comes in a bid to reduce expenses and enhance capital efficiencies. The health insurance business requires a handsome amount of capital investment to scale and compete with others. The company had earlier announced its intention to streamline business operations to focus on core operations, that is, Auto insurance and thus improve profitability. The company aims to reduce non-marketing operating expenses by 15%.
EverQuote has also decided to reduce its workforce, which will cost the company between $2 million and $3 million by the second quarter of 2023. The company reduced its expenses by 4.1% in the first quarter. It also aims to drive operational efficiencies by streamlining operations. Expense savings from abandoning health insurance operations are expected to be spent on marketing campaigns for auto insurers which are clients of EVER. As auto carriers return to normal patterns of marketing their products through digital channels, EVER will benefit from this opportunity and gain traction.
EverQuote acts as a bridge between buyers of insurance products and insurance carriers or agents. It earns from referring customers and selling policies through agents. It leverages its data and technology to better refer the relevant insurance products to customers. More marketing spend in the auto insurance space will enhance EVER’s data capabilities and bring in more buyers, fueling the top line in the future. By streamlining its operations, EVER is expected to drive sustainable growth and generate more return on its capital investment.
Price Performance
Shares of EverQuote have gained 3.2% in the quarter-to-date period against the industry’s decline of 0.4%.
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Zacks Rank & Key Picks
EverQuote currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks from the Multi-line Insurance space are Assurant, Inc. AIZ, CNO Financial Group, Inc. CNOand Enact Holdings, Inc. ACT. Assurant sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while CNO Financial and Enact Holdings carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Assurant’s bottom line outpaced estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed once. The average earnings surprise is 10%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AIZ’s 2023 earnings indicates a 0.3% rise, while the same for revenues suggests 2.7% growth from the prior-year reported figures.
CNO Financial’s bottom line outpaced estimates in two of the trailing four quarters, met once and beat once. The average earnings surprise is 15.4%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CNO’s 2023 earnings indicates a 19.3% rise, while the same for revenues suggests 3.8% growth from the prior-year reported figures.
The bottom line of Enact Holdings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters and missed once, the average surprise being 28.6%.
The consensus mark for ACT’s 2023 earnings has moved 5% north in the past 60 days.
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