Atlanticus reports Q4 EPS $1.10, consensus 96c

Reports Q4 revenue $308.6M, consensus $306.38M. Jeff Howard, President and CEO at Atlanticus stated, “We continue to maintain our focus on managing risk, achieving adequate returns on our shareholder’s capital, and when appropriate, growth. We have maintained our conservative approach to underwriting that began in mid-2022 and will continue to do so until data, not forecasts, indicate a change would be prudent. Our most recent data indicate that the consumers we serve have adjusted to higher cost of living while benefiting from higher wage growth, which has resulted in a more stable credit environment. With this backdrop, we were able to sustain growth across each of our business lines. We once again achieved double digit growth in receivables purchased and receivables growth on the year in our retail credit line of business. This is primarily the result of continued growth with our strategic partners as well as new partnerships. We anticipate increased opportunities for growth as providers of prime credit continue to tighten their underwriting standards. We have already seen an increase both in the flow of applications we assess on behalf of our bank partner and the importance of our solution to new and existing merchant relationships. Our general purpose receivables also grew year over year even with our more conservative credit posture as we continue to grow the total number of customers we serve through our omnichannel origination platform. We are optimistic about growth for our general purpose receivables in 2024 but we will continue to employ our conservative approach to underwriting. While this may reduce the pace of growth in the short-term, our outlook for long-term growth remains.”