Westwood Holdings Group Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
July 31, 2024

There are 5 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Second Quarter 2024 Westwood Holdings Group Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question and answer session. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

Operator

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, John Ehinger, Chief Compliance Officer. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, and welcome to our Q2 2024 earnings conference call. The following discussion will include forward looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause results to be materially different from those contemplated by

Speaker 2

the forward looking

Speaker 1

statements. Additional information concerning the factors that could cause such a difference is included in our press release issued earlier today as well as in our Form 10 Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2024, that will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements. In addition, in accordance with SEC rules concerning non GAAP financial measures, the reconciliation of our economic earnings and economic earnings per share to the most comparable GAAP measures is included at the end of our press release issued earlier today.

Speaker 1

On the call today, we have Brian Casey, our Chief Executive Officer and Terry Forbes, our Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call over to Brian Casey.

Speaker 2

Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us for Westwood's Q2 2024 Earnings Call. I'm looking forward to discussing our results and key developments from the past quarter as well as giving you a quick look into our outlook for the remainder of the year. Before diving into the details, I'd like to highlight a few key points that we will be discussing today. Within our distribution channels, we funded exciting new mandates in our institutional business and saw positive flows into our energy strategies. Significant developments included our investment in the Texas Stock Exchange, which is seeking regulatory approval to launch next year and the successful launches of our ETFs and our Managed Investment Solutions capability.

Speaker 2

We have lots of exciting news to share, so let's get started with our long term performance, which continues to be a source of pride for us here at Westwood. The Q2 presented a challenging and complex market environment for investors. The S and P 500 rose, but returns were highly concentrated among a handful of mega cap growth stocks, particularly if linked to artificial intelligence. This narrow market leadership led to significant performance disparity with the Russell 1,000 Growth Index gaining 8.3%, while the Russell 2,000 Value Index declined 3.6%. Outside of large cap growth, most market segments struggled with 6 out of 7 S and P 500 secondtors declining.

Speaker 2

Economic data was mixed with growth slowing and then persistent inflation and this pushed expectations for interest rate cuts further out into the future. In the bond market, returns were muted as interest rates held relatively steady. High yield bonds led the way as investors take comfort from the concept that a growing economy together with stable interest rates will avert potential defaults. Longer dated treasury bond prices declined as the long end of the yield curve rose given the general expectation that higher rates will stick around longer. The yield curve remained inverted, however, much to the consternation of many economists who insist that a yield curve inversion implies a future recession.

Speaker 2

This environment underscores the benefits to investors of Westwood's focus on identifying and investing in high quality companies across market capitalizations and asset classes. Our U. S. Value strategies have demonstrated long term consistency as they all outperformed over trailing 3, 5 10 year periods. Also, our SMID cap strategies outperformance over 3 5 years places it among the top performers in its Morningstar peer category.

Speaker 2

Our multi asset strategies are also delivering strong results with most of them outperforming over the trailing 3 years. Our alternative income strategy ranked in the top 35 of its Morningstar peer category for trailing 3 years and our credit opportunity strategy finished in the top 23% of its divestment category for the trailing 3 years. As for income alternatives, our global real estate and real estate income strategies both posted strong 3 year track records, landing in the top 12% and 3% of their respective eVestment categories. Lastly, our MLP and Energy Infrastructure strategy has also begun to improve in performance and peer rankings. Our MLP and Energy Infrastructure Mutual Fund and SMA strategies are important elements in our suite of energy product offerings, and we're very pleased with their recent improvements.

Speaker 2

While the market's narrow leadership presents short term challenges, we believe our focus on high quality companies positions us well in environments when growth becomes scarcer. Turning to our Wealth Management business, we experienced net outflows of $89,000,000 a third of which were for expected tax payments, required minimum distributions from IRAs and small pension outflows. On a positive note, our new business pipeline has grown with our engagement with centers of influence, which should foster future opportunities for Westwood Wealth. Our ongoing work to enhance our client experience includes the implementation of new alternative asset tracking software, which provides the most accurate and timely reporting for our clients holding alternative assets, and we held very successful client events in Houston and Dallas this past quarter. Most importantly, we've made a number of experienced key hires in Houston and Dallas to help us lead and grow the Trust and Wealth Management business.

Speaker 2

Moving to our institutional and intermediary distribution channels. We had net outflows of $193,000,000 $100,000,000 of this came from a 25 year institutional client who rebalanced from equities to fixed income. We're excited about several new mandates, including a new $43,000,000 SMID CIT client that funded during this past quarter. Our pipeline remains robust and we recently secured a new $125,000,000 SMID mandate that should fund later this year. To recap, our institutional team won several mandates in the first half and most should fund in the second half.

Speaker 2

Our 1, but not funded levels are approaching $400,000,000 and our pipeline is north of $1,500,000,000 in future business. We're particularly excited for the coming launch of our Managed Investment Solutions capability, which we expect to take place during the Q3. We have already conducted numerous meetings with prospects, including in-depth discussions with premier national consultants. I would have to say that the reception has been overwhelmingly positive, and we hope to have secured new clients for Managed Investment Solutions by this year end. Our intermediary channel had net outflows of $103,000,000 but there were bright spots too, particularly in our MLP strategies where our mutual fund reported positive net inflows.

Speaker 2

Our small cap strategies also experienced positive net flows in both mutual fund and UMA vehicles. Small cap has witnessed an increase in search activity recently and many broker dealers are highlighting Small cap valuations as highly attractive relative to other equities and they're recommending increased exposure. We anticipate this trend to continue to play out in the second half, which should lead to increased flows and search activity for our small cap and mid cap strategies. In addition, concerns over high equity market valuation are driving potential allocations to other strategies, including income opportunity, which is a tactical asset allocation strategy focused on long term capital appreciation potential, downside protection and distributed income. After facing years of headwinds in traditional energy, Westwood is excited and well positioned to benefit from positive tailwinds forming in the energy space.

Speaker 2

Our mutual fund has improved in relative performance and peer rankings and our recently launched ETFs. MDST and WEI are gaining traction. Our first ETF, Westwood Salient Enhanced Midstream Income, ticker symbol MDST, launched in early April and our second ETF Westwood Salient Enhanced Energy Income, ticker symbol WEI launched in May. Both are actively managed funds designed to provide advisors and investors with robust solutions for generating high distributable monthly income, combining dividend yield and options premiums from covered call, plus potential equity appreciation with the midstream and broad energy sectors. Our ETFs have provided monthly distributions since their inception.

Speaker 2

Based on June's distributions paid on July 2 and at that day's closing prices, our funds had annualized yields of 11.3% for WEEI and 10.7% for MBST. The MBST ETF is approaching $50,000,000 in assets under management and is experiencing good volumes, an important threshold for broader platform inclusion. We continue to execute our ETF distribution strategy, focusing on registered investment advisors and intermediary platforms with trading access to both ETFs. We recently made a strategic hire to lead our ETF sales and distribution strategy. Chris Doran came on board on July 15, bringing with him over 25 years of ETF sales experience.

Speaker 2

Chris has directed ETF external sales teams, developed sales strategies to increase market share, fostered relationships with centers of influence at home offices and coached internal sales and hybrid personnel. ETFs represent the fastest growing segment of the asset management industry, and there are few professionals with more experience than Chris in raising assets in the ETF industry. We're excited about our entry into the ETF market, and having Chris join us will accelerate our plans to participate in this growing segment of the industry. I'm very pleased to report that our private fund, Westwood Energy Secondaries 1, was fully invested and due to the demand and the attractiveness of investments available to the fund, we created a continuation vehicle of $14,000,000 for AspenLeaf, a private Canadian oil and gas company, which was fully invested. With Westwood's full suite of energy product offerings and vehicles, including mutual funds, ETFs, private funds and separate account strategies, we really feel we're at the right place at just the right time with the right solutions to cater to the needs of our clients.

Speaker 2

Now let me highlight some new developments for Westwood. Westwood has just made a $1,500,000 investment in the brand new Texas Stock Exchange, which is seeking regulatory approval to launch next year, and we are honored to be among the list of founding investors. Westwood is the only Texas based publicly traded asset management and wealth firm listed as a founder of the TXSE. We are proud to have our business headquarters in Texas, always working together with a can do attitude to find a way forward. CEOs from around the world are taking notice and moving their headquarters to Texas.

Speaker 2

We have positive demographics, pro business environment, great cost of living and no state income tax. Looking ahead, we're excited about several more initiatives. We're planning to expand our Collected Investment Trust, CIT offerings and our small cap and large cap strategies to better serve larger defined contribution plans. We're considering launching Westwood Energy Secondaries 2 later this year as we believe the energy market may be entering a secular bull market. We have demonstrated our confidence in Westwood's future and have also accelerated our buyback program.

Speaker 2

This quarter, we returned approximately $1,100,000 to shareholders via our share repurchase program, buying back 86,000 shares. As we move into the second half, we see significant opportunities, particularly in our multi asset and real asset funds that span real estate and energy. Our multi and real asset strategies are really attractive options for yield conscious investors in a market where valuations are compelling and we're seeing more interest in our small cap and mid cap strategies as brokered dealers highlight their attractive valuations to their clients. In closing, while the current market presents challenges, it also offers opportunities that play to Westwood's strength. Our diverse range of strategies, expanding product and business capabilities and our bedrock commitment to delivering value to clients position us well.

Speaker 2

We are particularly excited about the potential multi year tailwind for energy where our full suite of product offerings across various vehicles is ready to go. Thank you for your continued support and confidence in Westwood, where we remain committed to delivering long term value to our clients and shareholders. I will now turn the call over to Terry Forbes, our CFO.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Brian, and good afternoon, everyone. Today, we reported total revenues of $22,700,000 for the Q2 of 2024 compared to $22,700,000 in the 1st quarter and $21,900,000 in the prior year Q2. Revenues were flat to the Q1 and up from last year's Q2. Our 2nd quarter comprehensive loss of $2,200,000 or $0.27 per share compared with income of $2,300,000 or $0.27 per share in the Q1 due to changes in the fair value of contingent consideration and income taxes, which resulted in a loss for the quarter. Non GAAP economic losses were $500,000 or $0.06 per share in the current quarter versus earnings of $3,000,000 or $0.36 per share in the Q1.

Speaker 3

Our 2nd quarter comprehensive loss of $2,200,000 or $0.27 per share compared with last year's 2nd quarter income of $2,900,000 or 0 point 3 6 per share, primarily due to changes in the fair value of contingent consideration and income taxes, which resulted in a loss for the quarter. Economic losses for the quarter were $500,000 or $0.06 per share compared with earnings of $4,000,000 or $0.49 per share in the Q2 of 2023. Firm wide assets under management and advisement totaled $16,800,000,000 at quarter end consisting of assets under management of $15,800,000,000 and assets under advisement of $1,000,000,000 Assets under management consisted of institutional assets of $7,600,000,000 or 48 percent of the total, wealth management assets of $4,200,000,000 or 27 percent of the total, and mutual fund assets of $3,900,000,000 or 25 percent of the total. Over the quarter, our assets under management experienced market depreciation of $51,000,000 and net outflows of 300,000,000 dollars and our assets under advisement experienced market depreciation of $5,000,000 and net outflows of 51,000,000 dollars Our financial position continues to be very solid with cash and short term investments at quarter end totaling $44,100,000 and a debt free balance sheet. I'm happy to announce that our Board of Directors approved a regular cash dividend of $0.15 per common share payable on October 1, 2024 to stockholders of record on September 2, 2024.

Speaker 3

That brings our prepared comments to a close. We encourage you to review our investor presentation we have posted on our website reflecting quarterly highlights as well as discussion of our business, product development and longer term trends in revenues and earnings. We thank you for your interest in our company and we'll open the line to questions.

Operator

Thank And our first question comes from Max Sykes of GameCo. Your line is open.

Speaker 4

Good afternoon, everyone. Since it's a successful launch of your ETFs and the new hires, I was wondering if you could just give us a little more color on the strategy going forward. I mean, do you see more of a complete suite of ETFs that represent your broader products? Or do you see yourself yes, we intend to make a much

Speaker 2

We intend to make a much bigger expansion into the ETFs, And we are taking a look at what products we have internally that we could potentially convert to ETFs. We're also watching closely to see what others are doing with respect to creating dual share classes within a current mutual fund. I think that could be very interesting as well. And we've got some great product ideas ahead. So we're excited about it.

Speaker 2

We have had some pretty good volume so far with the 2 ETFs that we have and we really feel like the energy sector is entering a secular bull market as I mentioned in my prepared comments. We're just seeing a lot of interest across the board. We designed these ETFs so that they pay a monthly income and those are double digit annualized yields, which are terrific and are very attractive in today's world. Any other questions beyond that, Mac?

Speaker 4

No, that's fine. And just one follow-up. On the Texas Exchange investment, in the past you've made a few investments. Should we think about this as more of a unique investment for capital appreciation on your capital? Or there's some synergies there in terms of marketing with the exchange and being in Texas, etcetera?

Speaker 2

Yes. So we think it will be a great investment. It's exciting it's exciting because Dallas is really becoming viewed as the center coast, if you will. Companies continue to move here in droves. People are moving here constantly.

Speaker 2

The economy is booming in Texas and we're excited to be a part of it. One of the goals of the Texas Stock Exchange is to list not only the companies that are here today, but the companies that are coming here today. And I think last count, we've got 53 or so of the Fortune 500 companies that are now in Texas. They also want to make a push to list the ETFs and ETNs. So that's a big part of what they want to do.

Speaker 2

So it's exciting to be part of it. They'll be right down the street. I'm sure there'll be lots of opportunities to market with them. And we do think that it'll be a very good long term investment if it is approved.

Speaker 3

Thank you.

Speaker 2

Great. Well, are there any other questions?

Operator

I will now turn it back to Brian for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Okay, great. Well, thanks, everybody. The contingent consideration for our Salient transaction made for messy earnings this quarter, but we only have one more quarter of this calculation that will impact earnings. So we'll be done with that. But we're making good progress.

Speaker 2

We've had some funded wins in July. And so just to give you an update, as of seventhirty one today, AUM is back to where it was at the Q1, which is close to $17,200,000,000 In addition, we're funding a $207,000,000 mandate this Friday, and our new business pipeline is well over $1,000,000,000 with several, loan but not yet funded wins coming over the next month or 2. The collective investment trust we created have been particularly popular with some of the larger consulting firms as they are able to white label them and their clients to find contribution or 401 plans. So we are going to expand that with our small cap and large cap strategies in hopes of attracting additional business into what is a very fast growing segment for the consulting community. And then I'd also say that Managed Investment Solutions is making great progress on systems, and we should be ready for due diligence from prospective clients in a week or so.

Speaker 2

And every single meeting request has been accepted and we're anxious to land our first client. And as we look ahead, as I mentioned, we intend to really expand our ETF business and we'll have some exciting news to share with you in the months ahead. So thanks for taking time to listen today and please call me or Terry if you have further questions or visit westwoodgroup.com and go to the Investor Relations section. Have a great day.

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Earnings Conference Call
Westwood Holdings Group Q2 2024
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