Release Date: May 08, 2024
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
Positive Points
- DHI Group Inc (DHX, Financial) reported an increase in tech job postings from 142,000 in December to 191,000 in March, indicating a recovery in the tech labor market.
- The demand for AI-skilled professionals has risen, with 16% of all job postings in March including AI-related skills, showing a significant year-over-year increase.
- DHI Group Inc (DHX) has successfully secured several notable customers, including Coca-Cola, First National Bank, and the City of Kansas City, demonstrating the effectiveness of their platforms even in a weakened economic environment.
- The company has introduced new features and partnerships, such as the collaboration with Top Resonate and the launch of 'Discover Companies' on Dice, enhancing user engagement and the overall value proposition of their platforms.
- DHI Group Inc (DHX) reported a 24% adjusted EBITDA margin, up from 21% a year ago, and a 10% reduction in total operating expenses year over year, reflecting improved operational efficiency.
Negative Points
- Total revenue declined by 7% year over year, with Dice revenue decreasing by 14% due to lower new business bookings and renewals.
- The overall bookings performance was down 9% year over year in the first quarter, reflecting ongoing challenges in the market.
- The threat of a potential government shutdown during the majority of the quarter suppressed booking activities for ClearanceJobs, impacting overall performance.
- The company recorded a net loss of $1.5 million or a loss of $0.03 per diluted share, driven by tax expenses and other financial factors.
- Despite improvements, the tech job market has not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels, indicating that there may still be challenges ahead for DHI Group Inc (DHX) in achieving sustained growth.
Q & A Highlights
Q: Could you give a little incremental color maybe on your bundling strategy with Dice and CJ, are there any gives and takes there that you can you can point to?
A: (Arthur Zeile - DHI Group Inc - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director) Yes, we mentioned that virtually all of our new business deals were booked in this manner, and it was almost close to 100%. And I would say that we have found that this combination of unlimited job postings so there's no more concept of job slots, which is endemic to our industry as well as John boost and a company page in combination really drives success for our customers.
Q: First one is just on your bookings outlook for improvement and then returning to total growth for the second half of the year. If we think about that from a segment level, Dice and ClearanceJobs, what are you implying for I guess segment growth. So Dice was down 15% this quarter.
A: (Raime Leeby - DHI Group Inc - Chief Financial Officer) Yes, sure. I can take that one. And so when we think about Q1 '24 is still a difficult comparison versus prior year, as Q1 '23 was still very strong related to the macro tech hiring environment, including in our transactional bookings and revenue a year prior. We do expect the bookings year on year to show progressive improvement as booking comps ease throughout the year.
Q: Will you guys be sharing in actual ACV number as well as I guess, retention numbers for this new price bundling for like to help us get an idea on what kind of growth we're actually seeing on a contract value stand.
A: (Arthur Zeile - DHI Group Inc - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director) That's something that we're actively debating as to whether or not we're going to break that out separately, but I can appreciate the fact that everybody's interested in understanding the performance of the bundles themselves.
Q: Get to see that tech postings are up so 191,000 to from 142,000 December. I guess how does that trend?
A: (Arthur Zeile - DHI Group Inc - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director) So ultimately, we get that report about three to five business days into a new month. So we do have the benefit of April. April was just about the same level as March, a little bit below that. I'd say in a comparative way, it's statistically insignificant.
Q: Could you talk a little bit about how much AI is kind of driving interest into the Dice platform from a customer standpoint from? And then anything you guys are doing on your end to really capitalize on that?
A: (Arthur Zeile - DHI Group Inc - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director) I think that's a great question, Kevin. And I can tell you that we are seeing a lot of interest in terms of activity on our site associated with our AI. job articles as well as the two reports that we issued last month.
Q: Could you just talk about the trajectory of sales and marketing spending on? Is there a lot of incremental investments it's needed on either of those aspects?
A: (Raime Leeby - DHI Group Inc - Chief Financial Officer) Hi, Kevin. This is Rainey. And the sales and marketing spend is is down year on year based on the restructuring that we did in 2023, in addition to what I mentioned earlier, related to the efficiencies in our marketing campaigns.
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
