아틀란티커스(ATLC) 2026년 3분기 실적 발표 콘퍼런스콜: 매출 60% 증가, 조정 EPS 3.00달러

핵심 요약

• 아틀란티커스는 일회성 거래 관련 항목에서 발생한 주당 1.87달러를 포함해 2026년 3분기 희석 EPS 4.87달러를 기록했다고 발표했다. 조정 희석 EPS는 3.00달러였다.
• 총영업수익 및 기타수익은 전년 동기 대비 60% 증가한 7억 7,600만 달러를 기록했으며, 여기에는 머큐리의 기여분 2억 500만 달러가 포함됐다.
• 보통주 귀속 순이익은 9,300만 달러로 전년 동기 대비 300% 증가했다. 조정 평균자기자본이익률(ROAE)은 30%를 기록해 경영진의 목표치인 20%를 상회했다.
• 관리 대출채권은 전년 동기 대비 8%, 전 분기 대비 3.4% 증가한 71억 달러에 달했으며, 자체 브랜드(PLCC) 및 범용 신용 전반에서 성장을 나타냈다.
• 신용 건전성 지표는 전 분기 대비 안정세를 유지했다. 통합 원금 순대손상각률은 2026년 2분기 17.7%에서 17.3%로 하락했다.
• 아틀란티커스는 CAR 오토 파이낸스 사업 부문을 약 7,120만 달러에, 머큐리 워드마크 및 관련 지식재산권을 현금 2,750만 달러에 매각함으로써 수익성이 더 높은 소비자 금융 사업에 자원을 집중할 수 있게 됐다.

주요 재무 데이터

대출 공정가치 변동은 -4억 1,800만 달러로, 전년 동기의 -2억 7,700만 달러 대비 손실 폭이 확대됐다. 다만 유리한 가정 변경, 고객 상환 실적 개선, 머큐리 포트폴리오의 지속적인 호조, 그리고 조건부 대가 공정가치 감소에 따른 800만 달러의 이익으로 그 영향이 일부 상쇄됐다.

사업 및 영업 실적

아틀란티커스는 제휴 은행을 대행한 신규 계좌 개설에서 3개 분기 연속 사상 최대치를 기록했다. 경영진은 이번 성장이 단위당 수익성 기준을 엄격히 준수한 결과이며, 위험 허용 범위를 확대한 데 따른 것이 아니라고 밝혔다.

머큐리를 제외할 경우 경영진은 매출 성장률을 10%대 후반에서 20%대 초반 수준으로 추산했다. 소매 신용 성장은 전략적 파트너사의 취급액 증가를 반영했으며, 범용 신용카드 성장은 디지털 마케팅 채널, 채널별 퍼널 및 언더라이팅 모델에 대한 지속적인 투자가 견인했다.

머큐리는 기존 포트폴리오와 신규 취급액 모두에서 회사의 인수 모델 추정치를 지속해서 웃도는 성과를 냈다. 다만 전년 동기에는 아틀란티커스가 9월 중 약 보름 동안만 머큐리를 보유했기 때문에 전년 대비 비교에는 인수 시점에 따른 영향이 남아 있다.

운영 플랫폼 확대와 함께 고객 관리 및 마케팅 활동이 늘어나면서 비용이 증가했다. 그러나 매출이 영업비용보다 더 가파르게 증가함에 따라 영업비용률은 소폭 개선됐다. 아울러 머큐리 통합과 플랫폼 규모의 경제로 효율성이 제고되면서 고객 서비스 획득 비용도 전 분기 대비 감소했다.

CAR 오토 파이낸스 매각으로 약 2,000만 달러의 처분이익이 발생했다. CAR이 자동차 금융 부문 전체에 해당했기 때문에 아틀란티커스는 향후 해당 사업을 중단영업으로 분류해 보고할 예정이다. 머큐리 지식재산권 거래에는 머큐리 브랜드 프로그램과 연계된 신용카드 대출채권은 포함되지 않았다. 아틀란티커스는 리브랜딩을 지원하기 위해 해당 브랜드에 대한 12개월간의 마케팅 권한과 추가 5년간의 서비스 관리 권한을 유지했다.

경영진 전망

경영진은 제휴 은행 상품이 더 광범위한 소비자층으로 확대됨에 따라 연체율이 소폭 상승할 것으로 예상했다. 회사는 이러한 대출채권이 일반적으로 수익률(yield)이 더 높으며, 시간이 지남에 따라 더 매력적인 수익을 창출할 것으로 기대된다고 밝혔다.

고객 획득 비용이 낮은 사업 부문보다 비용이 더 많이 드는 범용 신용카드 사업이 더 빠르게 성장함에 따라 포트폴리오 전반의 고객 획득 비용 또한 상승할 가능성이 높다. 아틀란티커스는 기대 수익률이 자체 기준치를 충족하거나 웃도는 영역에서만 성장을 지속할 방침이다.

CAR 오토 파이낸스 및 머큐리 지식재산권 매각 대금은 수익성과 성장성이 더 높은 사업 부문에 재투자될 것으로 예상된다.

리스크 및 주목할 점

경영진은 목표치를 웃도는 인플레이션, 휘발유 가격, 광범위한 거시경제적 불확실성을 지적했다. 그럼에도 안정적인 고용 시장에 힘입어 아틀란티커스 고객들이 견조한 소비 및 상환 행태를 지속해서 보이고 있다고 덧붙였다.

우편 마케팅(DM) 경쟁은 18개월 전과 비교해 여전히 심화된 수준이지만 경영진은 이를 합리적인 범위 내로 평가했다. 회사는 고객 획득 비용과 평균 연체율이 더 높을 수 있는 디지털 채널에 대한 의존도를 높이고 있다.

높은 이자 수익률(yield)이 기대 수익을 뒷받침하더라도 소비자 구성이 확대되면 연체율이 상승할 수 있다. 아틀란티커스는 고객 유치, 포트폴리오, 고객 서비스 및 서드파티 데이터를 지속적으로 모니터링하고 실증적 근거가 확보되면 언더라이팅 기준을 조정할 방침이라고 밝혔다.

애널리스트 질의응답(Q&A) 주요 내용

• 자체 성장: 경영진은 머큐리를 제외한 매출 성장률을 약 10%대 후반에서 20%대 초반 수준으로 추산했다. 전략적 유통 파트너사와 디지털 범용 신용카드 채널이 주된 견인차 역할을 했다.
• 고객 획득 비용: 경영진은 현재의 포트폴리오 전반 고객 획득 비용이 명확한 정점에 도달했다고 보지 않았다. 범용 신용카드 및 고비용 마케팅 채널로의 비중 이동으로 인해 비용이 더 증가할 수 있다.
• 소비자 구성: 아틀란티커스는 디지털 채널을 통해 경영진이 매력적이라고 판단하는 수익률 수준에서 더 폭넓은 소비자층을 확보하고 있다. 이러한 계좌는 연체율이 더 높은 경향이 있지만, 이자 수익률(yield)과 기대 수익률 역시 더 높다.
• 경쟁 환경: 우편 마케팅(DM) 물량이 늘어났으나, 아틀란티커스는 언더라이팅 리스크를 확대하기보다는 디지털 모델 개발과 채널별 마케팅에 우선순위를 두고 있다.

실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 전문

전체 실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 녹취록

경영진 발표

Operator

Good afternoon and welcome everyone to the Atlanticus third quarter 2026 earnings call. Today's conference is being recorded. The lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press the star key followed by the number 1 on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star 1 again. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Dan Mock, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Unknown Speaker

Thank you, Operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Atlanticus released results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2026, this afternoon, after market close. If you did not receive a copy of our earnings press release, you may obtain it from the investor relations section of our website at investors.atlanticus.com. We have also posted an updated investor presentation. With me on today's call are Jeff Howard, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Bill McCamey, Chief Financial Officer. This call is being webcast and will be archived on the investor relations section of our website. Today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements that reflect the company's current views with respect to, among other things, earnings growth, returns on equity, portfolio performance, the sufficiency of available capital, underwriting, delinquency and charge-off rates, the use of proceeds from the sales of the company, and the use of the company's current views. car auto finance operations and the Mercury Intellectual Property, the rebranding of the Mercury Program, and future financial and operating results.

These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements. Please review our earnings release and the risk factors discussed in our SEC filings. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and except to the extent required by federal securities laws. The company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements. In addition, during the call, we may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to our earnings release for important disclosures regarding such measures, including reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measures. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Jeff.

Jeffrey Howard

Thanks, Dan. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. We are pleased to report another very strong quarter reflecting the strength of our core business and continued progress in executing our strategy. Diluted EPS was $4.87, including $1.87 from one-time items associated with two transactions completed during the quarter, which we will address later in our comments. Excluding these one-time items, adjusted diluted EPS was $3, and adjusted return on average equity was 30%, well exceeding our 20% return goals and reaffirming the earnings power of our platform. During the quarter, we achieved record performance across almost every operating metric. We achieved records for managed receivables, account originations on behalf of our bank partners, customers served, purchase activity, revenue, and most importantly, profitability. This success was derived from sustained organic growth, the ongoing and successful integration of the Mercury acquisition, and the continued resiliency of the customers we serve.

Our sustained organic growth is being driven by our third consecutive quarter of record new account originations on behalf of our bank partners. While I talk about growth, it's important to reiterate that a tight focus on unit-level profitability remains our guide for account origination levels. We lean into growth as we see attractive returns. We have over 40 models in production at any given time and are continuously updating and refining those models for better outcomes within the sub-segments across our business. Growth is a byproduct of that process. Accordingly, the increases in originations are not the result of risk expansion. Our growth stems from ongoing investment in newer marketing channels and model development within those channels, along with continued growth with strategic clients in our retail credit business.

The Mercury acquisition continues to deliver better than model performance on both the back book and new origination volumes. The Mercury acquisition was a significant contributor to both revenue and earnings growth, compounded by the fact that we only owned the business for approximately half of September in the prior year period. As for the consumer, we are still mindful of inflation levels being above target. of gas prices and ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty. The headlines regarding the state of the consumer are not new, but our data continues to show that the consumers we serve remain resilient and rational, making appropriate changes to spending while exhibiting consistent payment behaviors. Much of the negative headwinds appear to be offset by a very stable employment market. That being said, we will continue to monitor metrics across numerous acquisition, portfolio, customer service, and third-party data attributes and lean heavily on our dynamic infrastructure to quickly enact empirically derived changes in underwriting when necessary. Now let me briefly cover the one-time items this quarter.

First, we completed the sale of our car auto finance operations to an unaffiliated buyer for approximately $71.2 million in total consideration, which resulted in a gain of approximately $20 million. While car had been a contributor to our business for over 20 years, this is the first time we've had a sale of our car auto finance operations to an unaffiliated buyer for approximately 71.2 million. sale represented an opportunity to concentrate our capital and management resources on the consumer credit products where we see the strongest opportunities for long-term value creation. Second, we completed the sale of the Mercury wordmark and related intellectual property for $27.5 million in cash. The transaction did not include any credit card receivables associated with a Mercury branded program. Under the agreement, we have the right to use the brand for marketing purposes for 12 months and for servicing for an additional five years, giving us ample time for the necessary rebranding. We view these transactions as a continued refinement of our strategic focus, and the proceeds will be invested in our higher return, higher growth lines of business. We are pleased with another record-breaking quarter for Atlanticus and a period of important strategic progress.

We are making deliberate decisions to direct capital towards opportunities with the greatest growth and return potential. This reflects our long-term focus on building the capabilities and reach to become the preferred financial partner for everyday Americans. We're proud of the progress our team has made and are committed to carrying that work forward. Now I'll turn it over to Bill to walk through our financial results in more detail.

William McCamey

Fantastic. Thanks, Jeff. It really was a great quarter. Let me start by addressing a few reporting notes. First, on CAR Auto Finance, CAR comprised our entire auto finance segment, so that will be reported as discontinued operations going forward. Second, because we acquired Mercury near the end of Q3 last year, the year-over-year comparisons vary by metric. Period end measures such as managed receivables reflect the full Mercury portfolio at both quarter ends. Quarter-long measures, such as revenue and charge-offs, reflect Mercury's results only for the portion of the prior-year quarter that we owned it. Now let me turn to the income statement.

Total operating revenue and other income was $776 million, up 60% from a year ago. The increase reflected growth in both general purpose and private label receivables, along with a $205 million contribution from Mercury. Net margin reached $238 million, up 80% versus the prior year period, as revenue offset increased funding costs and fair value. Changes in fair value of loans were negative $418 million compared with negative $277 million a year ago. Changes in fair value of loans were partially offset by favorable assumption changes, improvements in customer served, continued favorable performance of the Mercury portfolio, as well as an $8 million gain related to a reduction in the fair value of contingent consideration. Net income attributable to common shareholders was $93 million, or $4.87 per share, up 300 percent from last year's third quarter. Adjusted diluted EPS, excluding the transactions-related gains Jeff described earlier, was $3.

At quarter end, managed receivables totaled $7.1 billion, up 8% year-over-year, and 3.4% sequentially. Growth was broad-based across both private label and general purpose receivables. We'll continue to grow where we meet or exceed our return thresholds relying on our 30 years of data aggregation to drive decisions. Credit remains stable quarter-on-quarter. The combined principal net charge-off ratio declined to 17.3% from 17.7% last quarter. We expect delinquency ratios to increase marginally as our bank partners' offerings mix shift to a broader range of consumers. These receivables carry higher yields, which we expect to result in a more profitable asset over time. overall. Interest expense was $118 million compared with $75 million in the prior year quarter.

The increase reflected the larger receivable base and the financing used to support it. Total operating expenses were $162 million compared with $103 million. Higher servicing and marketing activity along with the larger operating platform contributed to the increase. We continue to see customer service CPAs lower sequentially as we integrate the Mercury portfolio and realize benefits of scale on the combined platform. As well, revenue growth outpaced expense growth during the quarter, and our operating expense ratio improved modestly as the platform continues to scale. Turning to the balance sheet, total assets were $7.8 billion and total equity was $808 million. Cash and restricted cash totaled $736 million.

Along with cash generated by the portfolio, availability under our financing facilities, and access to the capital markets, these resources support our operating and financing needs for future growth. We appreciate the continued engagement from our investors and the increased interest in Atlanticus. Our focus remains on executing our strategy and managing the business with our long-term perspective on unit profitability and earnings growth. With that, I'll turn the call back over to the operator.

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star 1 again. We'll go first to Randy Benner at Texas Capitol.

Unknown Speaker

Hey, yes, thanks for that. That was a good quarter for sure. So I'll ask a few on the top line and kind of revenue and production if I can. I guess the first is, And I apologize if I missed if you broke this out, but did you break out kind of organic growth X mercury, or is that getting harder to do? How would you kind of parse out growth of kind of, Atlanticus before Mercury and then with Mercury?.

Unknown Speaker

Yes, we did not break that out, but I'm happy to share it. And I'm giving you an estimation. It's probably in the high teens, low 20% growth rate, top line without Mercury.

Unknown Speaker

So near 20x mercury. Yes, okay. Well, that's high. So I guess is it growth or part of the growth? I mean, I feel like in previous calls, there's been, you know, competition is a concern. There's always, you know, this kind of perpetual worry about the consumer, which seemingly is delayed here. But what, you know, what... What is it? Are you having less competition? Are you just winning because your analytics are better? Are there particular partners that are delivering more, just kind of love to understand how that velocity of your organic growth is so strong.

Jeffrey Howard

Yes, no, great question and thank you for asking. I would say it really boils down to two things. One, in a retail credit business we just continue to grow with some of our strategic partners on a year-over-year basis. Again, that's top line and AR growth. And it's just due to us continuing to deliver for those partners, to find ways to add more value to those partners. And they lean on us for more of their volume over time. So, you know, we're winning share there in that market.

On the general purpose side, it's a continuation of what we talked about in previous quarters. We are seeing, you know, I would say heightened competition on the direct mail channel, although it's rational. There's just more volume in that channel than we experienced 18 months ago. But we continue to invest in our digital marketing channels, and we've talked about us continuing to get smarter on those channels, to add more funnels across those channels, to build models that are specific to those channels, get better results, therefore, and then continue to invest more in marketing dollars in those channels. So that's what's really driving the growth on our GPCC side.

Unknown Speaker

All right, that's helpful. I'll drop back in the queue. Thank you.

Operator

And as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 1. We'll go next to David Sharf at JMP Securities.

질의응답

David Scharf

All right. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. Congrats on the results. Jeff, maybe one follow-up a little bit on the last question. You know, you had been noting... as you said, heightened competition in direct mail for quite a while. I think last quarter you may have said... overall CAC was up about five percent. As you think about just the trends in direct mail as well as just the marketing channel mix. Do you feel like kind of CAC has reached a high watermark as we think about kind of modeling overall OPEX as well as just marketing efficiencies near term?.

Jeffrey Howard

Yes, look, some of it comes down to mix shift across our lines of business as well. We are spending more on marketing because we do see good stable credit performance and some of the channels that we're leaning into do have higher acquisition costs. And again, with GPCC, that's our general purpose credit card portfolio, outgrowing the other parts of our business, which have lower acquisition costs, I would say, you know, it's more likely than not that our CPAs at the portfolio-wide level will continue to go up.

David Scharf

Got it. That's helpful. And I guess as a follow-up, it may be a related question. you know, the mix has not changed at all. You did reference a comment about kind of expect a little bit higher delinquencies in lieu of kind of a, I think in your words, a broader range of consumers. Can you just expand on that a little bit?.

Jeffrey Howard

Yes, look, we're currently looking at our models and looking for opportunities where we at or above target level returns. Our digital channel is a great example of that. We're seeing a broader swath of the consumer.

David Scharf

Yes, look, I, you know, we're constantly tweaking our models and looking for opportunities where we see, you know, at above our returns. You know, our digital channel is a great example of that, right? We're seeing a broader consumer in.

Jeffrey Howard

those channels. We're able to, at very attractive returns, bring in, you know, what I consider a broader range of consumers at prices and returns that we find attractive. They tend to have, on average, higher delinquencies and and higher yields and therefore higher returns. That's just where we're seeing the investment opportunity right now. Got it. Understood. Thank you.

Operator

And that concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the conference back over to Jeff Howard for closing remarks.

Jeffrey Howard

Yeah, thank you all for your participation. In closing, we continue to see really strong performance across our core general purpose and retail credit lines of business, and we obviously remain very pleased with the performance of our Mercury acquisition. Our team continues to deliver, and this quarter delivered record-breaking results, which we're also very, very proud of. You know, this reflects our continued progress and our commitment to expand access to financial services for everyday Americans, and we're proud to now serve and help almost 7 million of those Americans meet their day-to-day financial needs. It's our belief that we at Atlanticus are better positioned now than at any point in our 30-year history, and we look forward to building on that progress in the quarters ahead. So we appreciate your support and look forward to our next call.

Operator

And this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

This live transcript is auto-generated without human intervention or review.

[Call has ended.]

This live transcript is auto-generated without human intervention or review.