Title segment operating revenues in the third quarter 2024 increased $31.2 million, or 6 percent, primarily driven by higher revenues from our domestic commercial and agency title operations, while total segment operating expenses increased $28.4 million, or 6 percent, compared to the third quarter 2023. Agency retention expenses in the third quarter 2024 increased $15.0 million, or 7 percent, primarily resulting from $16.8 million (6 percent) higher gross agency revenues compared to the third quarter 2023.

Total title segment employee costs and other operating expenses increased by $14.6 million, or 6 percent, in the third quarter 2024 compared to the prior year quarter, primarily due to higher outside search and incentive compensation expenses related to higher commercial revenues. As a percentage of operating revenues, these expenses were 47.4 percent in both third quarters of 2024 and 2023. Title loss expense in the third quarter 2024 decreased $1.0 million, or 4 percent, primarily due to an overall favorable claim experience compared to the prior year quarter. As a percentage of title revenues, title loss expense was 3.8 percent for the third quarter 2024 compared to 4.3 percent in the third quarter 2023.

In addition to the net realized and unrealized losses and gains presented above, non-GAAP adjustments to the title segment's pretax income for the third quarters 2024 and 2023 included $3.2 million and $4.8 million, respectively, of total acquisition intangible asset amortization and other expenses (refer to Appendix A).

Direct title revenues information is presented below (dollars in millions):

Total non-commercial domestic revenues in the third quarter 2024 were comparable to the prior year quarter, primarily due to the higher average fee per file offsetting the slightly lower total non-commercial domestic transactions in the third quarter 2024. Domestic commercial revenues in the third quarter 2024 increased $15.5 million, or 30 percent, due to a higher average transaction size and a 4 percent improvement in commercial transactions closed compared to the third quarter 2023. Third quarter 2024 average domestic commercial fee per file was $17,700, which was 25 percent higher compared to $14,200 from the prior year quarter, while average residential fee per file was $3,000, a 2 percent improvement compared to the prior year quarter.

Real Estate Solutions Segment
Summary results of the real estate solutions segment are as follows (dollars in millions, except pretax margin and adjusted pretax margin):

Segment operating revenues in the third quarter 2024 increased $28.2 million, or 41 percent, compared to the prior year quarter, primarily due to improved revenues from our credit information and valuation services. On a combined basis, segment employee costs and other operating expenses in the third quarter 2024 increased $24.2 million, or 41 percent, in line with the higher operating revenues. Non-GAAP adjustments to pretax income shown in the schedule above were related to acquisition intangible asset amortization expenses.

Corporate and Other Segment
The segment's results were primarily driven by net expenses attributable to corporate operations, which decreased to $9.5 million in the third quarter 2024, compared to $10.8 million in the third quarter 2023, primarily due to a prior acquisition-related settlement expense in the third quarter 2023.

Expenses
Consolidated employee costs in the third quarter 2024 increased $12.4 million, or 7 percent, compared to the prior year quarter, primarily driven by increased incentive compensation on higher title and real estate solutions revenues. As a percentage of total operating revenues, employee costs improved to 29.8 percent in the third quarter 2024 compared to 30.7 percent in the third quarter 2023.

Consolidated other operating expenses in the third quarter 2024 increased $25.2 million, or 19 percent, primarily driven by higher service expenses and outside search fees related to higher revenues from real estate solutions and commercial title operations, respectively, compared to the third quarter 2023. As a percentage of total operating revenues, total other operating expenses for the third quarter 2024 increased to 24.0 percent compared to 22.1 percent in the prior year quarter, primarily due to increased real estate solutions service expenses.

Other
Net cash provided by operations in the third quarter 2024 was $76.1 million compared to $59.5 million in the third quarter 2023, primarily driven by increased consolidated net income in the third quarter 2024.

Third quarter Earnings Call
Stewart will hold a conference call to discuss the third quarter 2024 earnings at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, October 24, 2024. To participate, dial (800) 343-5172 (USA) or (203) 518-9856 (International) - access code STCQ324. Additionally, participants can listen to the conference call through Stewart's Investor Relations website at https://investors.stewart.com/news-and-events/events/default.aspx. The conference call replay will be available from 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time on October 24, 2024 until midnight on October 31, 2024 by dialing (800) 839-5634 (USA) or (402) 220-2560 (International).

About Stewart
Stewart (NYSE-STC) is a global real estate services company, offering products and services through our direct operations, network of Stewart Trusted Providers? and family of companies. From residential and commercial title insurance and closing and settlement services to specialized offerings for the mortgage and real estate industries, we offer the comprehensive service, deep expertise and solutions our customers need for any real estate transaction. At Stewart, we are dedicated to becoming the premier title services company and we are committed to doing so by partnering with our customers to create mutual success. Learn more at stewart.com.

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements. Certain statements in this earnings release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Such forward-looking statements relate to future, not past, events and often address our expected future business and financial performance. These statements often contain words such as "may," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "will," "foresee" or other similar words. Forward-looking statements by their nature are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to be materially different than those expressed in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the volatility of economic conditions; adverse changes in the level of real estate activity; changes in mortgage interest rates, existing and new home sales, and availability of mortgage financing; our ability to respond to and implement technology changes, including the completion of the implementation of our enterprise systems; the impact of unanticipated title losses or the need to strengthen our policy loss reserves; any effect of title losses on our cash flows and financial condition; the ability to attract and retain highly productive sales associates; the impact of vetting our agency operations for quality and profitability; independent agency remittance rates; changes to the participants in the secondary mortgage market and the rate of refinancing that affects the demand for title insurance products; regulatory non-compliance, fraud or defalcations by our title insurance agencies or employees; our ability to timely and cost-effectively respond to significant industry changes and introduce new products and services; the outcome of pending litigation; our ability to manage risks associated with potential cybersecurity or other privacy or data security breaches; the impact of changes in governmental and insurance regulations, including any future reductions in the pricing of title insurance products and services; our dependence on our operating subsidiaries as a source of cash flow; our ability to access the equity and debt financing markets when and if needed; our ability to grow our international operations; seasonality and weather; and our ability to respond to the actions of our competitors. These risks and uncertainties, as well as others, are discussed in more detail in our documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, and if applicable, as supplemented by any risk factors contained in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and our Current Reports on Form 8-K filed subsequently. All forward-looking statements included in this earnings release are expressly qualified in their entirety by such cautionary statements. We expressly disclaim any obligation to update, amend or clarify any forward-looking statements contained in this earnings release to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date hereof, except as may be required by applicable law.

ST-IR

 

 

 

 

Appendix A
Non-GAAP Adjustments

Management uses a variety of financial and operational measurements other than its financial statements prepared in accordance with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to analyze its performance. These include: (1) adjusted revenues, which are reported revenues adjusted for net realized and unrealized gains and losses and (2) adjusted pretax income and adjusted net income, which are reported pretax income and reported net income after earnings from noncontrolling interests, respectively, adjusted for net realized and unrealized gains and losses, acquired intangible asset amortization, office closure costs, executive severance expenses, and nonrecurring expenses. Adjusted diluted earnings per share (adjusted diluted EPS) is calculated using adjusted net income divided by the diluted average weighted outstanding shares. Adjusted pretax margin is calculated using adjusted pretax income divided by adjusted total revenues. Management views these measures as important performance measures of core profitability for its operations and as key components of its internal financial reporting. Management believes investors benefit from having access to the same financial measures that management uses.

Below are reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures used by management to the most directly comparable GAAP measures for the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023 (dollars in millions, except shares, per share amounts and pretax margins, and amounts may not add as presented due to rounding).

 

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SOURCE Stewart Information Services Corporation