SRAX, Inc. / Earnings Calls / March 29, 2021
Hello. My name is Chris Miglino and I am the Founder and CEO at SRAX. I’m very excited to be with you today to talk to you about the fourth quarter and the full year financial results, and give you some updates on the business. We’re talking to you today from our new studio that will be used for all of our virtual events. You’ll hear more about this in the coming months. First, I’d like to say that the end of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021 has been incredible and we’ve had some amazing things to share with you today. This is the first time we’re talking to you where we have moved BIGtoken into its own public company. This will allow us to break out the financial results of Sequire so you can see how well that business is actually doing.
Mike MaloneThank you, Chris. As mentioned earlier, we finished the fourth quarter with revenues of $4.5 million and $8.6 million for the full year, which were up 316% and 141%, respectively. Our Sequire business represented the entirety of the increase. For the fourth quarter and full year, revenues from Sequire were $3.5 million and $6.3 million, respectively. As our business transitions to Sequire, the majority of our revenues are driven by our SaaS platform where we’ve seen substantial growth. As a result, we’ve also experienced substantial increase in our gross margins. For the fourth quarter, gross margins increased to 73% from 44% and for the full year to 70% from 53%. Operating expenses were $5.3 million, compared to $4.8 million in the prior year for the fourth quarter and $17.6 million for the full year, as compared to $19.8 million in the prior year. The decrease in operating expenses for the year is driven by a decrease in staffing through a cost rationalization process and activities we began in the second quarter of 2020. The increase in our fourth quarter operating expenses is driven by our expanded operations in Sequire to support the increased growth. Operating loss was $2 million and $11.5 million for the fourth quarter and full year, respectively, as compared to operating losses of $17.8 million and $4.3 million for the full year and fourth quarter of the prior year, respectively.
Chris MiglinoThanks, Mike. Now we’d like to open to Q&A.
A - Chris MiglinoHey, guys. The first question is going to come from Mike Crawford at B. Riley. Hi, Mike. You there Mike?
Mike CrawfordThis year we beat our guidance.
Chris MiglinoHello. All right. Let’s try this one more time.
Mike CrawfordNow can you hear me?
Chris MiglinoYeah. I can hear you Mike. How are you?
Mike CrawfordOkay. I’m good. So, we’re dancing around with some microphone issues there. So, Chris, at year end, how many companies were on the Sequire platform versus the number that you gave today and between managing warrants and options and broadcasts and ad events, what are the value propositions that are most resonating with these new companies that are joining?
Chris MiglinoSo the -- I think the number at the end of the year was around 153. That’s when we spoke at your conference. I think that that was on the 5th of January. And then so we’ve added an additional 30 since then.
Mike CrawfordAnd then what is resonating the most?
Chris MiglinoWell, I think, companies want to really understand who is buying and selling their stock and then also the ability to manage all of that data. That’s really the thing that’s resonating the most. Into this next year, adding the ability for them to launch their own conferences like this. The ability for them to do their own road shows, variety of other things that are, it’s really driving adoption. I mean, they can email their shareholders. They can SMS shareholders, variety of different communication mechanisms to engage with the shareholders.
Mike CrawfordOkay. Great. And then between the $23.8 million of public securities you own today, I didn’t quite catch exactly what that number was at year end. I do see on the balance sheet that there’s this $8.5 million listed as prepaid expenses.
Chris MiglinoThe -- yeah. So the -- we’ve signed up a lot more in the interim as well. So that was the number at the end of December that we actually had on hand. And then we’ve -- since then a lot of people have delivered it, because the way it works is, if we actually haven’t gotten the stock from the transfer agent, even though we have the contracts, we can’t recognize it. So a lot of that came in after the end of the year and then a lot of the new stock have -- the new deals have come in since then as well.
Mike CrawfordOkay. And…
Chris MiglinoI don’t know if that’s answering your question.
Mike CrawfordYeah. No. That helps. So, basically -- I mean, it’s prepaid expenses are essentially converted into a public securities. That’s the way to…
Chris MiglinoCorrect. Yes. It’s -- yeah. We hold them on the balance sheet as a prepaid expense, correct.
Mike CrawfordOkay. And then one clarification, you gave some guidance on quarterly revenue in the press release of $7 million, is that for the first quarter or second quarter of 21?
Chris MiglinoThat’s for the second quarter. So Q1 is going to continue to be $5 million like we had announced previously and $7 million will be for Q2 and then…
Mike CrawfordOkay.
Chris Miglino… $23 million to $25 million for the year.
Mike CrawfordOkay. Excellent. And then final question for me is, can you give us an update on the number of people that invest in stocks that you now have in your database?
Chris MiglinoThat is going to be in a separate release coming up here in a week or so.
Mike CrawfordOkay. A little bit more than $3 million.
Chris MiglinoYeah.
Mike CrawfordOkay. Thank you.
Chris MiglinoA little bit more than $3 million.
Mike CrawfordThank you.
Chris MiglinoThank you, Mike. Appreciate it. The next question is from McIlree. Hi, Jim. Are Jim there? Let’s see, Jim like you are maybe having a little bit of an audio issue there. If there’s anybody else that would like to ask a question please raise your hand. Mike, did you want to ask another question. Say we got there.
Mike CrawfordCan you hear me Chris?
Chris MiglinoMike you wouldn’t ask another question.
Mike CrawfordCan you hear me?
Chris MiglinoYes.
Mike CrawfordOkay. Yeah. You’re -- the mute and unmute function is not intuitive. So you -- Chris, you mentioned that 64% real time and BIGtoken. Do you have a sense of what BIGtoken revenue might be for the current year? I understand also right now you’re still consolidating it but if and when it raises more capital that will no longer be consolidated with SRAX’s results and then maybe walk through the mechanics of what happens to the GAAP financials at that point in time?
Chris MiglinoYeah. So right now it’s consolidated. We don’t have any guidance for where it’d be for the year. We’ve estimated a very conservative number in our guidance that we’ve given of approximately $4 million, so if they -- I think they anticipate doing much more than that, but we use that number in providing our guidance. If we get below the 50% mark then we can unconsolidate and we can no longer need to flow their entire P&L through ours and that certainly is the goal here in the next coming months. Now on a fully consolidated basis -- I mean on a fully diluted basis, we actually fall below 50% and so that is -- if some of the warrants get exercised and some additional shares got issued that are au or below 50%.
Mike CrawfordOn the digital marketing services that Sequire companies are subscribing for, are you seeing most companies take that up or is it only a few that are taking the lion’s share advantage of those services?
Chris MiglinoThat’s around 30% of our customers, so around 30% of them opt in to use those services.
Mike CrawfordAnd would you say that’s a similar number that are using the platform attract say once in options today or?
Chris MiglinoYou mean as far as the people that are using the option feature?
Mike CrawfordYeah.
Chris MiglinoNo. Like more than that are using the option and warrant feature inside the platform. It’s -- I don’t know the exact number. We can get that for you. But I’d say it’s probably higher than that.
Mike CrawfordThat’s -- I’ll just do one last question for me, Chris, is, of the companies that are signing on, how many would you say came through, what I call the LD Micro channel versus otherwise?
Chris MiglinoI think we’re just at the beginning of starting to tap into the LD Micro companies. We through the conference in December, which was our first big virtual conference that we did with 250 companies and we’ve started to reach out to those companies subsequent to that. So I think we’re just starting to get there now on bringing those companies on Board. Most of the -- I think most of the companies that have come on Board thus far then referrals come in from companies and from other partners.
Mike CrawfordExcellent. Thank you.
Chris MiglinoThank you. All right. Well, let’s see if we can go back here. Let’s see. Let’s go to Jon Hickman. So you got to unmute there, Jon. Hey, Jon. No.
Jon HickmanCan you hear me?
Chris MiglinoHow about that? I can hear you.
Jon HickmanYou can or can’t?
Chris MiglinoI can.
Jon HickmanHello.
Chris MiglinoYes. I can hear you.
Jon HickmanOkay. So, I’m sorry, I could not get on. The technology wasn’t working for me. So I missed your call. Did you go through some of the, like, the stock-based compensation numbers. Did you give us that while you were on your call?
Chris MiglinoWe did not. No.
Jon HickmanOkay. Can I get a follow-up call from you after this?
Chris MiglinoOf course.
Jon HickmanOkay. I will call you later than. But can you give us update, like you did 92 new Sequire customers since your last update, right?
Chris MiglinoYes.
Jon HickmanSo is there, like, are you -- is that like 25 a month or something like that now?
Chris MiglinoWell, the -- that was at the end of Q3.
Jon HickmanOkay.
Chris MiglinoSo that -- and then at the beginning of the year, we had around 153.
Jon HickmanYeah.
Chris MiglinoAnd then now we have 180. Yeah, so we did 30 in the quarter in the first quarter.
Jon HickmanOkay. So that’s…
Chris MiglinoSo that would be around 10 a month.
Jon Hickman10 a month. Okay. So is the trend changing it all on you or is that a good…
Chris MiglinoAccelerating now.
Jon HickmanYeah. Is it?
Chris MiglinoSo we are -- yeah. So we had our biggest quarter ever. We signed $10 million worth of new business in the first quarter. So that’s why we were able to up the guidance from $23 million to $25 million.
Jon HickmanAnd it was $18 million -- $17 million to $18 million before, right?
Chris MiglinoCorrect. Okay. Okay. Well, let me -- let someone else ask questions and I’ll talk to you later.
Chris MiglinoAll right, Jon. All right. Let’s go to Dave at Trickle Research. Hi, Dave.
Dave LavigneOh! Now can you hear me?
Chris MiglinoWe can hear you.
Dave LavigneAwesome. Okay. So, can you talk a little bit about the process of sort of how you monetize these stock positions? I mean, I keep -- I know I kind of keep harping on this, but I sort of feel like you’re going to end up looking like a micro cap ETF before too long if you don’t -- if there isn’t some plan to liquidate these shares over time and can you just give us a call on how you approach that a little bit?
Chris MiglinoYeah. So we have so many shares now from so many different companies. The idea is to just no pun intended to trickle them out into the…
Dave LavigneRight.
Chris Miglino… market and -- so slowly sell them. And that’s a way that we can monetize money -- the stock that we have.
Dave LavigneOkay. So there is kind of a process…
Chris MiglinoAs long as we have -- go ahead, sorry.
Dave LavigneSo there is a process that you’re going to. You fully intend to liquidate them as you sort of move forward?
Chris MiglinoOh! Yes. Very much so. And we are now.
Dave LavigneOkay. Good. Okay.
Chris MiglinoYeah.
Dave LavigneSo the other thing I’m wondering is when you get to the point of not having to consolidate BIGtoken. How is that asset -- this is probably a question for Mike. But I’m a little confused, how that assets going to show up on yours -- on your balance sheet. I mean, for instance, right now, there’s obviously kind of an odd disconnect in the marketplace, when BIGtoken has considerably bigger market cap in SRAX. So I’m kind of wondering, I mean, is there going to be, how is that going to be valued once you get under 50%? How’s it going to be reflected on your balance sheet?
Chris MiglinoSo I’ll let -- I can let Mike answer that question.
Mike MaloneYeah. Chris, can you hear me?
Chris MiglinoYeah.
Mike MaloneHi, Dave. Yes. So once we get below 50%, we have to look at the -- our interest in BIGtoken under the equity method from roughly 20% to 50%. And what we will do is we will flow the earnings of FTBD through our P&L below the line as a just one item and won’t be -- won’t show the revenues and OpEx and so forth. But the basis that we will have on our books for BIGtoken will be that -- will be the same. It won’t be adjusted…
Dave LavigneOkay.
Mike Malone… to reflect to the market cap. Now, if we further fall below significant influence within the company, that’s more of a facts and circumstances than just some bright line number, we will get more to look like just as we hold the securities for these other companies that we obtain securities through in Sequire.
Dave LavigneOkay. So at some point, you may -- you might start to treat that a little bit more like some of the other, I guess, holdings in the sense that there may be some, so is -- there is some sort of mark-to-market process that you go through on that basket of securities, is that right?
Mike MaloneSo the Sequire -- the securities that we obtained through the Sequire business, yes. So every quarter, we mark them to market. I mean all of the companies that that we do business with Sequire, a publicly traded 40 companies and so we value them using the quoted market price and we just adjust that every quarter and then that adjustment will go through the P&L as a -- as part of income -- income of ours.
Dave LavigneSo then does that conversation with your auditors include any sort of adjustments for maybe stocks that are a little less liquid or additional haircuts that might -- that come about as a result of that?
Mike MaloneSure. Yeah. I mean, we do have a process. But that is -- I don’t even believe we have any that fall below. It falls really into that category…
Dave LavigneOh! Okay.
Mike Malone… right now. I am not -- I don’t know if that’s maybe a question for Chris, if we’re going to start to get involved in that. But I think you’ve done very well with a portfolio a lot of and as we mentioned that, only $23 million as of today and a lot of that is depreciation. Well, maybe not a lot of it, but a significant amount.
Dave LavigneYeah. No. No. I don’t need more detail…
Chris MiglinoAnd I think it’s important to add…
Dave LavigneI think that’s -- yeah. I’m sorry. Go ahead, Chris.
Chris MiglinoI think it’s important to point out that, any fluctuations in the stock prices do not hit the revenue, so if…
Dave LavigneRight.
Chris MiglinoIf the stocks go much higher, we’re not taking more revenue from that, that’s hitting below the line.
Dave LavigneRight. I got it. That’s helpful. Thank you.
Chris MiglinoOf course. Thanks, Dave. If there’s anybody else who’d like to ask a question, just raise your hand. I will give you one more chance. Well, thank you --oh, hold on. Here’s one. Here’s a couple more questions. Hold on one moment. Hi. It’s Rich Feldman . Hi, Rich. How are you? Rich, can you hear us? All right, well, we’re having a hard time hearing you. So why don’t we circle back around. And it’s look like we have another question from Jon.
Jon HickmanOkay.
Chris MiglinoJon.
Jon HickmanHey. Can you tell us how we can -- this has been recorded, is there a chance to listen to this again?
Chris MiglinoOf course. Yeah. We’re going to have this online and you’ll be able to listen to the whole call again.
Jon HickmanWhen will that happen?
Chris MiglinoWithin around 15 minutes.
Jon HickmanOkay. Thanks so much.
Chris MiglinoNo problem. Looks like Dave has another question. Hey, Dave.
Dave LavigneCan you hear me, Chris?
Chris MiglinoYes. We can.
Dave LavigneOkay. Good. So I’m sort of wondering going forward, given that, I think, that the goal, obviously, is to get people who are on the platform sort of presenting at the conferences, and I guess, vice versa. So as we’ve sort of moved forward, how should we look at the conferencing piece of the business? Is that something that you still envision that you will on an ongoing basis report or even really treat like a profit center in and of itself or is that presentation thing be more and more become sort of part of the package that you sell as the Sequire platform?
Chris MiglinoYeah. It’s a combination of those two things. So for the customers that are already on the platform, it becomes part of the package. For the people that are not part of the platform yet, it becomes a sales marketing tool to get them in. And then the additional conferences that we can launch, your conference or others, where we’re enabling those conference providers to easily launch their own conferences on our platform. And we’re partnering with you so that the companies inside the Sequire platform can have access to your audiences.
Dave LavigneOkay. So, but going forward, would you expect conferencing in and of itself to be a separate sort of profit center still even though they’re being packaged, that conference is really being packaged as part of kind of the revenue package, like, itself, if that makes any sense?
Chris MiglinoYeah. So the big conferences, like the LD Micro conferences.
Dave LavigneRight.
Chris MiglinoWill continue to be a mainstay and continue to be a significant revenue stream for the company.
Dave LavigneGreat. Thank you.
Chris MiglinoThank you. Again, if there’s anybody with a question, go ahead and raise your hand. Well, this will be available right after this call. And we’ll send an email out to everybody so you can watch it again.