LivePerson Announces Second Quarter 2021 Financial Results

NEW YORK, Aug. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ: LPSN) ("LivePerson" or the "Company"), a global leader in conversational AI, today announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2021.

Second Quarter Highlights

Total revenue was $119.6 million for the second quarter of 2021, an increase of 31% as compared to the same period last year. Within total revenue, business operations revenue for the second quarter of 2021 increased 31% year over year to $109.8 million, and revenue from consumer operations increased 29% year over year to $9.8 million.

LivePerson signed four seven-figure deals and 105 deals in total in the second quarter, comprising 29 new and 76 existing customer contracts. Trailing-twelve-months average revenue per enterprise and mid-market customer increased 35% in the second quarter to another record high of $535,000, up from approximately $395,000 in the comparable prior-year period.

"In Q2, we delivered record revenue, and AI-led volume on our platform hit an all-time high. We continue to see strong momentum in the market, with an accelerating demand environment for Conversational AI in both commerce and care use cases, said founder and CEO Robert LoCascio. Brands are increasingly turning to AI and messaging, leveraging our automation capabilities to communicate and engage with consumers. We are investing to capture the strong interest that we see in the market, including in new verticals, such as in the healthcare and cryptocurrency spaces and with new use cases, such as social media management."

"The second quarter marked our fifth consecutive quarter of 25% plus revenue growth, with the last two exceeding 30%, and our fourth consecutive quarter of operation at the Rule of 40. While our strategy to enhance operating leverage has clearly delivered the intended results, we see secular demand for Conversational AI as a signal to increase investment in our go-to-market capacity. With these investments, we expect to grow by at least 27% in 2022 with an exit run rate of 30%." added CFO John Collins.

Customer Expansion

During the second quarter, the Company signed contracts with the following new customers:

• A leading retail marketplace
• One of the fastest-growing and largest urgent care providers in the U.S.
• A Top 50 largest U.S. bank by asset size
• One of the largest life insurance providers in the U.S.
• A leading outdoor lifestyle retailer

The Company also expanded business with:

• One of the world's most popular audio streaming subscription services companies
• A Top 10 most valuable and largest fast food brand in the world
• One of the largest banking and financial services institutions in the world
• A Top 5 largest tour operator in the U.K.
• One of the largest e-commerce retailers in Japan

Net Loss and Adjusted Operating Income

Net loss for the second quarter of 2021 was $21.1 million or $0.31 per share, as compared to a net loss of $18.6 million or $0.28 per share in the second quarter of 2020. Adjusted operating income, a non-GAAP financial metric, for the second quarter of 2021 was $6.4 million, as compared to an adjusted operating income of $3.5 million in the second quarter of 2020. Adjusted operating income excludes amortization of purchased intangibles, stock-based compensation, other litigation and consulting costs, restructuring costs, contingent earn-out adjustments, interest income (expense), and other expense (income).

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial metric, for the second quarter of 2021 was $13.4 million or $0.18 per share, as compared to $9.3 million or $0.14 per share in the second quarter of 2020. Adjusted EBITDA excludes amortization of purchased intangibles, stock-based compensation, depreciation, other litigation and consulting costs, restructuring costs, contingent earn-out adjustments, provision for (benefit from) income taxes, interest income (expense), and other expense (income).

A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP measures has been provided in the financial tables included in this press release. An explanation of the non-GAAP financial measures and how they are calculated is included below under the heading "Non-GAAP Financial Measures."

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company's cash balance was $664.3 million at June 30, 2021, as compared to $654.2 million at December 31, 2020. 

Financial Expectations

The Company is updating its revenue guidance for full year 2021 to a range of $464.0 million to $471.0 million, up from the previous guidance range of $460.0 million to $468.0 million. The Company is targeting full year growth of 26.5% to 28.5%, up from 25.5% to 27.5%. Third quarter revenue guidance range is $117.0 million to $119.0 million, or 23.5% to 25.5% year-over-year growth.

The Company now expects to invest up to $24 million in expansion of its go-to-market capabilities and technology initiatives designed to drive increased revenue growth in 2022 and beyond. As a result, the Company is updating its guidance for 2021 adjusted EBITDA to a range of $14.8 million to $22.8 million or a 3.2% to a 4.8% margin, from a previous range of $33.5 million to $41.5 million, or a 7.3% to 8.9% margin. The Company is guiding for third quarter adjusted EBITDA in a range of $4.0 million to $8.0 million or a 3.5% to 6.8% margin.

The Company's detailed financial expectations are as follows:

Third Quarter 2021

Full Year 2021

Other Full Year 2021 Assumptions 

• Estimated IP litigation and consulting expenses of approximately $4.9 million ($0.07 per share) and severance and restructuring of $4.2 million ($0.06 per share)
• Amortization of purchased intangibles and finance leases of approximately $6.2 million
• Non-cash interest expense of approximately $35.8 million
• Stock-based compensation expense of approximately $70.7 million
• Depreciation of approximately $32.3 million
• Cash taxes paid of $3.0 million to $4.0 million. A GAAP tax liability of approximately $1.5 million
• Capital expenditures of approximately $47.1 million

Furthermore, as a percent of revenue for the year, including amortization of intangibles and stock-based compensation, but excluding non-recurring expenses discussed above, we anticipate gross profit to be in a range of 67.0% to 68.0%, sales and marketing 40.9%, product development 37.2%, and general and administrative 15.3%.

Stock-Based Compensation

Included in the accompanying financial results are expenses related to stock-based compensation, as follows:

Amortization of Purchased Intangibles  

Included in the accompanying financial results are expenses related to the amortization of purchased intangibles, as follows:

Supplemental Second Quarter 2021 Presentation

LivePerson will post a presentation providing supplemental information for the second quarter 2021 on the investor relations section of the Company's web site at http://www.ir.liveperson.com.

Earnings Teleconference Information

The Company will discuss its second quarter 2021 financial results during a teleconference today, August 3, 2021. To participate via telephone, callers should dial in five to ten minutes prior to the 5:00 p.m. Eastern start time; domestic callers (U.S. and Canada) should dial 1-877-407-0784, while international callers should dial 1-201-689-8560, and both should reference the conference ID "13721288."

The conference call will also be simulcast live on the Internet and can be accessed by logging onto the investor relations section of the Company's web site at http://www.ir.liveperson.com.

If you are unable to participate in the live call, the teleconference will be available for replay approximately two hours after the call. To access the replay, please call 1-844-512-2921 (U.S. and Canada) or 1-412-317-6671 (international). Please reference the conference ID "13721288." A replay will also be available on the investor relations section of the Company's web site at http://www.ir.liveperson.com.

About LivePerson

LivePerson makes life easier for people and brands everywhere through trusted conversational AI. Our 18,000 customers, including leading brands like HSBC, Orange, GM Financial, and The Home Depot, use our conversational solutions to orchestrate humans and AI, at scale, and create a convenient, deeply personal relationship - a conversational relationship - with their millions of consumers. LivePerson was named to Fast Company's World's Most Innovative Companies list in 2020 for its leadership in artificial intelligence. For more information about LivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN), please visit www.liveperson.com.  

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Investors are cautioned that the following financial measures used in this press release are "non-GAAP financial measures": (i) adjusted EBITDA, or earnings/(loss) before provision for (benefit from) income taxes, interest income (expense), other expense (income), depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation, restructuring costs, acquisition costs and other costs; (ii) adjusted operating income (loss), or operating income (loss) excluding amortization, stock-based compensation, restructuring costs, acquisition costs, deferred tax asset valuation allowance, and other costs; and (iii) free cash flow, or net cash provided by operating activities less purchases of property and equipment, including capitalized software.

Non-GAAP financial information should not be construed as an alternative to any other measures of performance determined in accordance with GAAP, or as an indicator of our operating performance, liquidity or cash flows generated by operating, investing and financing activities as there may be significant factors or trends that it fails to address. We present non-GAAP financial information because we believe that it is helpful to some investors as one measure of our operations.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release and on our earnings call regarding LivePerson that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future events or results to differ materially from such statements. Any such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to financial guidance, are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. It is routine for our internal projections and expectations to change as the quarter and year progress, and therefore it should be clearly understood that the internal projections and beliefs upon which we base our expectations may change. Although these expectations may change, we are under no obligation to inform you if they do. Some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained herein include, without limitation: major public health issues, and specifically the pandemic caused by the spread of COVID-19, and their effects on the U.S. and global markets; our ability to retain key personnel, attract new personnel and to manage staff attrition; strain on our personnel resources and infrastructure from supporting our existing and growing customer base; the ability to successfully integrate past or potential future acquisitions; our ability to secure additional financing to execute our business strategy; delays in our implementation cycles; payment-related risks; potential fluctuations in our quarterly revenue and operating results; limitations on the effectiveness of our controls; non-payment or late payment of amounts due to us from a significant number of customers; volatility in the capital markets; recognition of revenue from subscriptions; customer retention and engagement; the migration of existing customers to our new platform; our ability to attract new customers and new consumer users of our consumer services; our ability to develop and maintain successful relationships with social media and other third-party consumer messaging platforms and endpoints; the highly competitive markets in which we operate; general economic conditions; privacy concerns relating to the Internet that could result in new legislation or negative public perception; new regulatory or other legal requirements that could materially impact our business; governmental export controls and economic sanctions; industry-specific regulation and unfavorable industry-specific laws, regulations or interpretive positions; future regulation of the Internet or mobile devices; greater than anticipated income, non-income and transactional tax liabilities; failures or security breaches in our services, those of our third party providers, or in the websites of our customers; regulation or possible misappropriation of personal information belonging to our customers' Internet users; technology systems beyond our control and technology-related defects that could disrupt the LivePerson services; our dependence on the continued viability of the Internet; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights or potential infringement of the intellectual property rights of third parties; the use of AI in our product offerings; the presence of, and difficulty in correcting, errors, failures or "bugs" in our products; our ability to license necessary third party software for use in our products and services, and our ability to successfully integrate third party software; potential adverse impact due to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; additional regulatory requirements, tax liabilities, currency exchange rate fluctuations and other risks as we expand internationally and/or as we expand into direct-to-consumer services; risks related to our operations in Israel, and the civil and political unrest in that region; potential failure to meeting service level commitments to certain customers; legal liability and/or negative publicity for the services provided to consumers via our technology platforms; technological or other defects that could disrupt or negatively impact our services; our ability to maintain our reputation; our lengthy sales cycles; changes in accounting principles generally accepted in the United States; natural catastrophic events and interruption to our business by man-made problems; potential limitations on our ability to use net operating losses to offset future taxable income; and risks related to our common stock being traded on more than one securities exchange. This list is intended to identify only certain of the principal factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Readers are referred to the Company's reports and documents filed from time to time by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of these and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in forward-looking statements.

Investor Relations contact
Alan Katz
[email protected]
212-609-4214

SOURCE LivePerson, Inc.