By Michael Loney
April 25 - (The Insurer) - U.S. personal lines insurance agency Goosehead Insurance has reported 17% total and core revenue growth for the first quarter, but investors sent its share price down on lower adjusted earnings.
Q1 $0.26 adjusted EPS drops 5% from $0.28 in prior-year period
Total revenues up 17% to $75.6 million, core revenues up 17% to $69.1 million
Total written premiums grow 22% in the first quarter to $1.0 billion
Adjusted Ebitda up 32% to $15.5 million; adjusted Ebitda margin of 21%, up from 18%
CEO wants Goosehead to be “largest distributor of personal lines insurance” in next 10 years
Westlake, Texas-based Goosehead reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.26, a 5% decrease in the first quarter.
Nasdaq-listed Goosehead’s share price fell 12.0% on Thursday, closing at $93.19. It fell a further 1.3% after markets opened on Friday, as of 9:40 a.m. ET (1340 GMT).
The agency’s total revenues grew 17% over the prior-year period to $75.6 million in the first quarter of 2025, while core revenues also increased 17% to $69.1 million.
Core revenue growth was driven by improved franchise productivity and client retention of 84%, and rising premium rates, Goosehead said.
The 17% core revenue growth in this year’s first quarter was down sequentially from 19% to $68.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2024 and compared with 13% growth to $58.8 million in Q1 2024.
Core revenues consist of new business commissions, agency fees, new business royalty fees, renewal commissions and renewal royalty fees.
In this year’s first quarter Goosehead grew total written premiums by 22% to $1.0 billion.
Policies in force increased 13% from the prior-year period to approximately 1.73 million.
Adjusted Ebitda of $15.5 million increased from $11.7 million in the prior-year period, while the adjusted Ebitda margin increased to 21%, from 18% in the prior-year period.
“We currently place roughly $4 billion in annual premium, still less than 1% of the over $500 billion U.S. personal lines market,” said Goosehead president and CEO Mark Miller in a statement. “We believe our runway is enormous and our competitive moat in the marketplace continues to expand.”
Goosehead reiterated its guidance for FY 2025 total written premiums between $4.65 billion and $4.88 billion, representing growth of between 22% and 28%.
It also expects total revenues for 2025 of between $350 million and $385 million, equating to growth of 11% to 22%.
On an investor call on Wednesday, Miller said: “To be the largest distributor of personal lines insurance in the next 10 years, we need to be roughly 25x larger than we are today. We believe this goal is possible, and we're focused on making it a reality.”
Miller added that “this challenging market has been a blessing in disguise” for Goosehead. He said the market is still hard in the key markets of Texas, California and Florida.
The executive also highlighted improving profitability of auto carriers has led to “an aggressive rebound in auto product availability” while new home product is re-entering multiple key markets.