Health Catalyst (HCAT) Earnings Call zu Q3 2026: Guidance bestätigt, da Kundenbindung Priorität hat

Health Catalyst (NASDAQ: HCAT) hat für das dritte Quartal 2026 einen Umsatz und ein bereinigtes EBITDA über dem oberen Ende der eigenen Prognosespannen gemeldet. Das Management bestätigte seinen Ausblick für das Gesamtjahr und nannte Kundenbindung, Kostenanpassung, Portfoliovereinfachung sowie operative Umsetzung als wichtigste Prioritäten.

Wichtigste Erkenntnisse

• Der Umsatz im dritten Quartal 2026 lag bei 56,3 Millionen US-Dollar und übertraf damit die Prognosespanne des Unternehmens von 55 bis 56 Millionen US-Dollar.
• Das bereinigte EBITDA erreichte 779.000 US-Dollar und lag damit über der Prognose des Managements, die von der Gewinnschwelle bis 500.000 US-Dollar gereicht hatte.
• Die bereinigte Bruttomarge sank auf 44,3 % gegenüber 52,6 % im Vorjahreszeitraum. Die Marge im Bereich Professional Services ging auf 1,7 % zurück, da der Umsatz schneller fiel als die Bereitstellungskosten und medizinische Leistungsansprüche die Aufwendungen für Sozialleistungen erhöhten.
• Health Catalyst bestätigte die Prognose für das Gesamtjahr 2026 von 246 bis 249 Millionen US-Dollar beim Umsatz sowie 18 bis 18,5 Millionen US-Dollar beim bereinigten EBITDA.
• Das Unternehmen rechnet für 2026 nun damit, dass die Auftragseingänge das obere Ende der bisherigen Zielspanne von 22 bis 26 Millionen US-Dollar übertreffen werden, wenngleich die Kundenabwanderung das Wachstum bei den Auftragseingängen in den ausgewiesenen Ergebnissen weiterhin aufzehrt.
• Nach Angaben des Managements dürfte die migrationsbedingte Kundenabwanderung weitgehend bis Ende 2027 anhalten. Die Kundenbindung ist die vordringlichste operative Priorität des neuen CEO.

Wichtige Finanzdaten

Die Ergebnisse des dritten Quartals enthielten einen vollen Monat von Vitalware, bevor der Verkauf am 31. Juli abgeschlossen wurde. Anschließend tilgte Health Catalyst seine Kreditfazilität vollständig, sodass das Unternehmen schuldenfrei ist.

Höher als erwartet ausgefallene medizinische Leistungsansprüche erhöhten die internen Aufwendungen für Mitarbeiterleistungen im Quartal um rund 1,6 Millionen US-Dollar. Etwa die Hälfte davon wurde in den Umsatzkosten und die andere Hälfte in den Betriebskosten verbucht. Die Kosteneinsparungen durch das Projekt Nexus blieben auf Kurs, doch Investitionen in die Belegschaft sowie Aufwendungen für Sozialleistungen machten einen Teil der Kostensenkung gegenüber dem Vorjahr zunichte.

Geschäftliche und operative Entwicklung

Das Management konzentriert sich darauf, Auftragseingänge schneller in Umsatz umzuwandeln. Ein Kunde implementierte ein integriertes Produkt rund 75 Tage nach Vertragsunterzeichnung. Nach Angaben des Unternehmens berichtete der Kunde, dass 86 % der Verschreibungen innerhalb von 24 Stunden abgewickelt wurden und das Anrufaufkommen in der jüngsten Woche um 8 % zurückging.

Der neue CEO Simeon Kohl umriss vier Prioritäten: Verbesserung der Kundenbindung, Anpassung der Kosten an die aktuelle Umsatzbasis, Verringerung der organisatorischen und produktbezogenen Komplexität sowie eine konsistentere operative Umsetzung.

Die Kundenbindung steht unmittelbar im Fokus, da die Abwanderungsrate weiterhin über dem vom Management angestrebten Niveau liegt. Health Catalyst plant, Kunden früher im Verlängerungszyklus anzusprechen, bestehende Technologien einschließlich DOS weiterhin zu unterstützen und flexiblere Bereitstellungsoptionen anzubieten.

Das Unternehmen beabsichtigt zudem, die Präsentation und Integration seiner Technologie-, Daten- und Gesundheitskompetenzen zu vereinfachen. Das Management erklärte, dass eine einfachere Implementierung parallel zu den bestehenden Systemen der Kunden die Einführungshürden senken und den adressierbaren Markt erweitern könnte.

Zudem beendet Health Catalyst zum Ende des Jahres 2026 eine unrentable Interoperabilitätsbeziehung mit einem großen Kunden aus dem Bereich Gesundheitsdatennetze (Health Information Exchange). Das Management bezeichnete diese Entscheidung als Teil seiner Ausrichtung auf nachhaltige, profitable Umsätze.

Prognose des Managements

Die Jahresprognose impliziert einen bereinigten EBITDA-Verlust im vierten Quartal von 1,3 bis 1,8 Millionen US-Dollar. Das Management erklärte, das vierte Quartal werde das erste volle Quartal ohne Vitalware sein und sowohl die anhaltende Kundenabwanderung als auch saisonal bedingt höhere Aufwendungen für medizinische Leistungsansprüche widerspiegeln. Der vollständige Wegfall von Vitalware dürfte den Großteil des sequenziellen Rückgangs beim bereinigten EBITDA ausmachen.

Es wird erwartet, dass der Barmittelbestand im vierten Quartal moderat sinkt, was vor allem auf den Zeitpunkt von Lieferantenzahlungen und eine umfangreiche Vorauszahlung für die Hosting-Infrastruktur zurückzuführen ist. Rechnungsstellungen an Kunden, die typischerweise das vierte und erste Quartal begünstigen, dürften diese Mittelabflüsse teilweise ausgleichen.

Risiken und Beobachtungspunkte

Die migrationsbedingte Kundenabwanderung bleibt der wesentliche Gegenwind für den Umsatz. Das Management rechnet damit, dass das Unternehmen diesen Druck bis Ende 2027 weitgehend überstanden haben dürfte, wies jedoch darauf hin, dass die Abwanderung die positive Dynamik bei den Auftragseingängen derzeit aufzehrt.

Die Rentabilität im Bereich Professional Services ist ein weiterer wichtiger Problembereich. Die bereinigte Marge lag im dritten Quartal bei lediglich 1,7 %, da der Dienstleistungsumsatz schneller schrumpfte als die Bereitstellungskosten. Health Catalyst hat begonnen, die Bereitstellungsaufwendungen an die aktuelle Vertragsbasis anzupassen.

Zu den weiteren Unsicherheiten zählen erhöhte Kosten für medizinische Leistungsansprüche, die Auswirkungen des Vitalware-Verkaufs auf das Ergebnis des vierten Quartals sowie die erforderliche operative Umsetzung, um die Kundenbindung zu stärken und gleichzeitig Kosten zu senken und das Geschäft zu vereinfachen.

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Ausführungen des Managements

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Operator

Welcome to the Health Catalyst Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call.

[Operator Instructions]

I would now like to turn the call over to Stephanie St. Clair, Senior Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations.

Stephanie St Clair

Good afternoon and welcome to Health Catalyst Earnings Call for the Third Quarter of 2026. I'm Stephanie St. Clair, Senior Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. With me today are Simeon Kohl, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Jason Alger, our Chief Financial Officer. Complete disclosure of our results can be found in our press release issued today and our related Form 8-K furnished to the SEC, both of which are available on the Investor Relations section of our website at ir.healthcatalyst.com. A replay of this call will be available afterward.

Today's call includes forward-looking statements pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including about our financial outlook, expectations for the fourth quarter and full year 2026, client migrations and client retention, future growth and strategic priorities, our ability to strengthen our foundation, our ability to achieve profitable revenue growth and deliver returns to shareholders, long-term opportunities, retention, bookings, the impact of the Vitalware divestiture, and the general anticipated performance of our business. These forward-looking statements reflect management's views as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date.

We disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statement or outlook. Actual results may materially differ. Please see the risk factors in our 2025 Form 10-K filed March 12, 2026 and our third quarter Form 10-Q filed today. We will also discuss non-GAAP measures. Reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures are in our press release. Non-GAAP financial information is presented for supplemental purposes only, has limitations as an analytical tool, and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. We will provide forward-looking guidance for certain non-GAAP measures in this earnings call, not for the most directly comparable GAAP guidance measures or reconciliations because some items are not within our control or cannot be reasonably forecasted. Simeon joined us as President and CEO on September 14.

With that, I'll turn the call over to him.

Simeon Kohl

Thank you, Stephanie, and good afternoon, everyone. Earlier this afternoon, we reported third quarter revenue of $56.3 million and adjusted EBITDA of $779,000, both above the high end of our guidance ranges of $55 million to $56 million and $0 to $500,000, respectively. Given our performance year-to-date, and with Project Nexus cost reductions on track, we are reaffirming our full-year revenue and adjusted EBITDA outlook. As a reminder, Project Nexus is our strategic initiative designed to fundamentally transform our operating model and deliberately reposition our business. Before turning the call over to Jason for details on our financial performance and outlook, I'd like to share my initial perspectives on Health Catalyst, what attracted me to this opportunity, and the priorities that will guide our decisions and actions. As Stephanie mentioned, I joined in mid-September, and over these first several weeks, I've spent considerable time connecting with our leaders, team members, clients, and many of you. Those conversations have reinforced many of the reasons I was excited to join Health Catalyst.

Health Catalyst has deep healthcare expertise, longstanding client relationships, and proven measurable outcomes. Data and analytics technology, together with solutions in clinical quality, financial performance, interoperability, and consumer engagement, helps healthcare organizations connect complex data and turn it into actionable insights that address some of healthcare's most pressing challenges. But equally important, we have a team deeply committed to improving healthcare. Their expertise and dedication are fundamental strengths of this business and will be essential as we build on the results we've currently delivered to clients. We also have a stronger financial foundation following the Vitalware divestiture and the retirement of our credit facility. We are debt-free with approximately $79 million in cash, giving us increased flexibility as we move forward. So my view is straightforward. I believe Health Catalyst has meaningful assets and a compelling long-term opportunity, and our immediate priority is to strengthen the foundation of the business.

At the same time, there are areas where we can do better and client retention is the most immediate focus. Churn has been higher than we would like and strengthening our ability to retain and grow existing client relationships is a top priority. We are approaching it with urgency and a focus on sustained improvement. My experience at Performant gave me the opportunity to build and lead a healthcare business through considerable challenges and difficult decisions, which ultimately supported Performant's journey towards increased profitable growth. Along the way, we made deliberate choices about where to invest, how to differentiate, and how to create sustainable value for clients and shareholders. The circumstances here are different, but many of those same principles apply and they inform my four priorities. The first is retention. We must do more to preserve our client relationships and the revenue they represent.

That starts with gaining a better understanding of what clients need, addressing where we fall short, and continuing to deliver value as their needs evolve. Health systems have invested heavily in technology, and many, understandably, want to get more from those investments without adding complexity. Our role is to meet clients where they are by continuing to support the technology they use today, including DOS, offering greater flexibility in how they deploy our solutions, and aligning our modernization and optimization efforts with their priorities. Ultimately, we want clients to choose Health Catalyst for the value we deliver with technology and deployment options that work best for them. We're focused on building stronger relationships with our clients, staying close to their priorities, and working across the organization to deliver the value they expect from us. Retention is foundational to everything else we want to accomplish. It's difficult to build sustainable, profitable growth when we're continually replacing lost revenue. As we've said before, we expect to be generally through the migration-related churn headwinds by the end of 2027.

Second, greater cost alignment. We intend to grow Health Catalyst, and our focus is on building durable, profitable revenue that creates lasting value for our clients and attractive returns for our shareholders. This requires aligning our cost base with the revenue we can support today and investing with discipline in opportunities for future growth. We're sharpening our understanding of the economics across the business to identify where we generate attractive returns, where performance needs to improve, and where investment can create the most value. That insight will guide how we allocate resources, improve efficiency, and strengthen our financial foundation to support future growth. We will act with both urgency and care.

Third, less complexity. We've become more complex than we need to be, and we're focused on simplifying how we operate and how we present our capabilities to clients and prospects. Over the years, Health Catalyst has developed and acquired a broad portfolio of technology, data, and healthcare expertise. We have an opportunity to bring those strengths together more effectively, making it easier for clients to understand the value we offer, adopt our solutions, and expand their relationships with us. As healthcare organizations work to improve clinical outcomes, lower costs, and deliver a better consumer experience, I believe our combined capabilities position us well to help them achieve those goals.

Our immediate opportunity is to make better use of what we already have by simplifying how we present our solutions, improving integration across the portfolio, and helping clients realize more value from our capabilities. Making our solutions easier to deploy alongside clients' existing technology can also reduce barriers to adoption and broaden our market.

Fourth, more consistent execution. We have talented people throughout Health Catalyst, and we need to translate that talent into more consistent results. That requires clear priorities, shared accountability, stronger coordination across functions, and reliable information to guide our decisions. We're establishing a more disciplined operating cadence and bringing our product, engineering, and client-facing teams into closer alignment so we can execute as one Health Catalyst.

Stepping back, these priorities reinforce one another. Stronger retention can make our revenue more predictable and durable. Greater cost alignment can strengthen profitability and our ability to invest in products that meet clients' evolving needs. A simpler, more integrated approach can help clients get more value from our product partnership, and more consistent execution helps to drive a more reliable, high-quality delivery. Together, we believe these priorities lay the foundation for a more profitable, predictable business positioned for sustainable growth.

We're also realistic about where we stand today and the work required to improve our performance. We see opportunities to strengthen the economics of the business, improve commercial effectiveness, and unlock more value from the capabilities we already have. We're making disciplined decisions grounded in those opportunities with growth and investment tied to where we believe we can create clear client value and generate attractive returns.

I also want to be clear about what you should expect from me and our leadership team: transparency about our progress and our challenges, discipline in how we invest, and accountability for the commitments we make. Financial results will ultimately be the most important measure of our success, and we want to give you better visibility into what drives them. We're evaluating a focused set of measures to help you assess our progress, and we'll share more of that as work advances.

We also benefit from a board with deep experience of healthcare delivery, technology, and business transformation, further strengthened by the recent additions of Steve Nelson and Tami Reller. I appreciate the perspective and active engagement of our entire board as we move these priorities forward.

Let me close with this. I'm still early in my tenure, and we have important decisions ahead. We won't have every answer immediately, and meaningful improvement will require sustained execution, but I'm encouraged by our combination of healthcare expertise, technology and data assets, and trusted relationships with organizations tackling the most difficult challenges in healthcare. Our responsibility is to bring those strengths together with greater discipline and accountability, and to earn your confidence through results.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Jason.

Jason Alger

Thank you, Simeon. As Simeon noted, third quarter revenue and adjusted EBITDA both came in above the high end of our guided ranges. One item to keep in mind, third quarter results include 1 full month of Vitalware in July before the divestiture closed on July 31.

Let me walk through the details on the third quarter. Total revenue was $56.3 million, against our guided range of $55 million to $56 million. Technology revenue was $40.7 million, and professional services revenue was $15.6 million. We continue to make progress on bookings with a focus on converting those wins into revenue as quickly as possible. Clients achieve value sooner when implementations move fast, and we benefit from quicker revenue recognition. One client went live on our embedded product in about 75 days after signing, and they've reported that 86% of prescriptions are now completed within 24 hours, with call volume down 8% in the most recent week.

Adjusted gross margin was 44.3% compared to 52.6% in the prior year period. Adjusted technology gross margin was 60.6%, consistent with the trend we discussed last quarter. The adjusted professional services gross margin was 1.7% because services revenue declined faster than our delivery costs, and elevated internal benefits costs related to medical claims created an additional headwind. We anticipated the professional services margin pressure in the second half and have begun aligning delivery costs with our current contracts.

Adjusted operating expenses were $24.1 million, or 43% of revenue, compared to $28.1 million, or 37% of revenue in the prior year period. Project Nexus savings are tracking to plan, but investments in our team and higher than anticipated internal benefits costs offset part of the year-over-year reduction. The internal benefits costs related to medical claims were approximately $1.6 million greater than expectation across the business this quarter, with about half in cost of revenue and half in operating expenses.

Adjusted EBITDA was $779,000, above our guided range of breakeven to $500,000. Adjusted net loss per share was negative $0.03 on a weighted average share count of 75.4 million. We ended the quarter with approximately $79 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments, and no debt. We expect cash to decline modestly in the fourth quarter, mainly from the timing of vendor payments, including a large prepayment for hosting infrastructure, partly offset by client billings that typically benefit the fourth and first quarters.

Turning to guidance, we're reaffirming our full year 2026 revenue and adjusted EBITDA outlook. We expect total revenue of $246 million to $249 million and adjusted EBITDA of $18 million to $18.5 million. That implies an adjusted EBITDA loss in the fourth quarter of negative $1.8 million to negative $1.3 million, consistent with the full-year range we provided last quarter. The fourth quarter is our first full quarter without Vitalware, and it reflects the churn dynamics we discussed this year, as well as seasonally higher medical claims expense. The full removal of Vitalware in Q4 versus 1 month in Q3 drives the majority of the adjusted EBITDA decrease quarter over quarter.

For the full year, we continue to expect overall adjusted gross margin below 50%, with adjusted technology gross margin in the low 60s and adjusted professional services gross margin in the low-to-mid teens. As we said last quarter, we continue to see migration-related churn pressure that is generally in line with the framework we previously disclosed. We are listening closely to clients and focusing on the outcomes they need rather than the infrastructure decisions they face. We are engaging well ahead of renewal to identify and address potential risks.

We believe continued innovation in our technology, designed around how clients operate, is the most durable way to strengthen those relationships. We continue to see new bookings and expansion within our existing client base, and we now expect to exceed the high end of our $22 million to $26 million bookings target for the year. The churn pressure offsets that positive bookings result in our reported figures. Consistent with our focus on durable, profitable revenue, we're being deliberate about the revenue we pursue. For example, an interoperability relationship with a large health information exchange client that was not profitable terminates at the end of 2026. Decisions aren't taken lightly, but they're necessary in focusing on durable, profitable relationships. We're managing the business with urgency and cash discipline, with close scrutiny of every dollar we spend.

We know confidence is earned through execution, and we're focused on delivering. With that, operator, open the call for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

At this time, I'm showing no questions in queue. I will now turn the meeting back to Simeon Kohl for additional or closing remarks.

Simeon Kohl

Thank you, operator. No questions. Before we close here, I just want to thank our team members for their Herculean effort and certainly our clients and shareholders for their continued support. There's no doubt a lot of work ahead of us, but I believe we're taking the right steps to build a much stronger Health Catalyst for the future. So thanks all for joining us today, and we look forward to sharing our progress on the next Q4 call.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's Health Catalyst Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Please disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day.

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