Frontdoor Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Frontdoor (NASDAQ:FTDR) reported third-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s third-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

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View the webcast at https://www.webcaster5.com/Webcast/Page/3067/54607

Summary

Frontdoor reported a 6% revenue increase to $655 million in Q3 2026, with adjusted EBITDA growing 5% to $205 million and net income rising 10% to $116 million.

The company saw 1% growth in Home Warranty member count, improved retention rates and a significant increase in non-warranty revenues, particularly from HVAC upgrades.

Frontdoor announced a new three-year $1 billion share repurchase authorization, building on the completion of previous buyback programs.

Despite challenges in the real estate market, the company expects 1% total member growth for 2026, supported by strong renewals and direct-to-consumer (DTC) performance.

Management expressed confidence in long-term margin targets, emphasizing operational improvements, cost management and a capital allocation strategy that includes continued investment in AI and digital capabilities.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Frontdoor’s third quarter 2026 earnings call. Today’s call is being recorded and broadcast on the Internet. Beginning today’s call is Matt Davis, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer, and he will introduce the other speakers on the call. At this time we’ll begin today’s call. Please go ahead, Mr. Davis.

Matt Davis (Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer)

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Frontdoor’s third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Joining me today are Bill Cobb, Chairman and CEO, and Jason Bailey, Senior Vice President and CFO. The press release and slide presentation that will be used during today’s call can be found on the Investor Relations section of Frontdoor’s website, which is located at www.investors.frontdoorhome.com. As stated on slide 3 of the presentation, I’d like to remind you that this call and webcast may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed here today. These risk factors are explained in detail in the Company’s filings with the SEC. Please refer to the Risk Factors section in our filings for a more detailed discussion of our forward-looking statements and the risks and uncertainties related to such statements.

All forward-looking statements are made as of today, November 5th, and except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. We will also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures. Throughout today’s call we have included these definitions and reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures in our press release and the appendix to the presentation. In order to better assist you in understanding our financial performance, I will now turn the call over to Bill Cobb for opening comments. Bill.

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Thanks, Mr. Davis, and good morning, everyone. In case you didn’t notice, this summer was the hottest on record for us. That meant more breakdowns, more calls, and more members counting on us. Those conditions tested every part of our business, and I am incredibly proud of how our team responded. Their efforts translated to progress across all four of our strategic priorities. First, and most importantly, we saw Home Warranty member count grow 1% again in the third quarter, plus retention continued to improve during our busiest time of the year.

Second, we scaled non-warranty revenue as elevated HVAC claims created more opportunities to expand share of wallet with our members by cross-selling new systems. Third, we delivered strong margins, absorbing a meaningful weather impact while still growing earnings. And finally, we remain committed to our capital allocation strategy, as we stepped up the pace of share repurchases in the third quarter. Let me show you what that looks like on Slide 5.

For the third quarter, revenue grew 6% to $655 million. Adjusted EBITDA grew 5% to $205 million. Net income grew 10% to $116 million. Adjusted EPS grew 15% to $1.81 per share, and we returned $259 million to shareholders through share repurchases year to date through September. These results came during one of the most demanding summers we have seen, beginning with claims in August. We told you that we expected the second quarter weather benefit to reverse in the third quarter.

It did, and then some. We absorbed those higher claims costs and still delivered adjusted EBITDA above the midpoint of our guided range. This is another example of how our operational discipline and process improvements have strengthened the business. But the heat affected both sides of our model. While it increased claims activity, it also created more opportunities to cross-sell new HVAC systems to our members, helping to drive revenue above the top end of our outlook.

And we’ve accelerated our share repurchase program. Through September, we have repurchased approximately 5% of our shares outstanding, and we now expect to complete our existing authorization in November, nearly a year early. As a result, I’m excited to announce that our Board of Directors has approved a new three-year $1 billion share repurchase authorization that Jason will discuss in more detail. Now let’s dive into the details of our number one priority on Slide 6: Member Growth.

Total ending member count grew by 1% in the third quarter, with all three channels contributing to this success. Renewals were up, and in our first-year channels, Direct to Consumer grew 4% and Real Estate grew 5%. Let’s take a deeper look at each channel, starting with Renewals on Slide 7. Renewals remain the foundation of our business, accounting for three-quarters of our member base. In the third quarter, the channel edged back into growth, ending at approximately 1.6 million members. Our customer retention rate reached 79.7%, up 30 basis points year over year and up sequentially three quarters in a row. That improvement comes from a better member experience and operational improvements to drive a more effective renewal process.

Let’s start with the member experience, where the feedback has never been better. Our members again gave us record-high five-star ratings and record-low one-star ratings. Two things are helping to drive this: first, more members are using our app, which makes getting help faster and easier. This includes connecting with a virtual technician who can, at times, solve the problem without a home visit. Second, when a contractor is needed, about 84% of jobs continue to go to our preferred network.

Within that network, we’re refining how we allocate jobs to improve both quality and cost efficiency. We also continue to make operational improvements to remove friction across the renewal process. Our renewal pricing helps us to balance retention and margin. Autopay enrollment continues to increase, even more so as we bring AHS members onto our digital platform, and our Save program helps us reconnect with members at the right time with the right message and offer. As I said last quarter, these improvements may seem small individually, but together they compound over time.

Let’s turn now to the Direct to Consumer channel on Slide 8. Direct to Consumer ending member count grew 4% to approximately 330,000 members, marking our eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth. It starts with demand. We invest a majority of our dollars behind American Home Shield, the most recognized brand in our category by a large margin. That investment keeps us top of mind while helping more homeowners understand the value of protecting their home systems and appliances.

Our multi-brand strategy extends that reach by allowing us to engage different homeowners with brands, products, and value propositions that fit their needs. We’re continuing to shift more of our marketing spend toward performance channels, where we can target prospects with greater precision. And as consumer search behavior evolves, we’re improving how our brands show up across both traditional and AI-assisted search. The next step is conversion—turning that demand into members. We’re using promotional pricing strategically, giving homeowners an attractive entry point to experience the value of our membership. We continue to refine our content and digital experience, making it easier for homeowners to understand our offerings. And our sales team is using AI-enabled tools to support more effective conversations with prospects. Everything we are doing across demand and conversion shows up in stronger unit economics.

Members who join through promotional offers continue to renew at rates above non-discounted cohorts, and customer acquisition costs are trending lower, reflecting our shift toward performance marketing. That combination of strong member value and improving acquisition efficiency gives us confidence that the DTC channel will continue to be a sustainable growth engine for Frontdoor. Let’s now turn to Real Estate on Slide 9. In the third quarter, Real Estate ending member count grew 5% to approximately 220,000 members. That performance reflects the progress we’ve made through our localized engagement strategy over the past 12 months, and as a result, our capture rate continued to exceed 5% of U.S. existing home sales in the third quarter. But make no mistake, the housing market is effectively frozen, and conditions deteriorated as we moved through the quarter.

Inventory has slightly increased, and under normal circumstances that would be constructive for home warranties. But this is not a normal buyer’s market. First, fewer buyers can afford a home—prices have increased for 39 straight months to an average of about $420,000, and mortgage rates are back above 7%. Second, fewer buyers are willing to commit. With economic uncertainty hampering consumer confidence, the Pending Home Sales Index fell to its lowest level on record.

And third, fewer deals are closing. As a result, about 15% of signed contracts fell through in September, according to Redfin, and existing home sales fell to just under a seasonally adjusted 4 million, a historic low. So how does this impact us? We expect near-term headwinds, and we’ve lowered our expectation for Real Estate channel ending member count to be flat by the end of 2026. But even with that moderation, we remain on track to deliver approximately 1% total member growth for 2026 as improving renewals and consistent DTC growth offset the pressure in Real Estate. While the first-year Real Estate channel is only about 7% of our total revenue, we still view this channel as long-term option value.

The market will turn, and when it does, we’ll be well-positioned to capture that upside. Let’s turn now to non-warranty revenue on Slide 10. Non-warranty and other revenue grew 32% in the third quarter, led by our HVAC upgrade program. What makes the model so attractive is that we are building from an existing, trusted member relationship. We combine that relationship with our purchasing scale and a qualified contractor to deliver a complete solution, creating more value for the member and incremental share of wallet and revenue for Frontdoor with little to no customer acquisition costs.

And the results demonstrate how effectively the model can scale. We now expect approximately $175 million of HVAC upgrade revenue this year, up from just $13 million four years ago. Since 2022, only about 3% of our members have purchased a new HVAC system through our upgrade program, so the runway within our existing base remains significant. Now, before I turn it over to Jason, let’s turn to Slide 11 and spend a few minutes on a topic getting a lot of attention across industries: AI. The launch of Muse in September brought the AI future to the forefront, and many of you have asked what it means for Frontdoor. We view this as a long-term opportunity and a natural evolution of the digital capabilities we’ve been building for years. There are two reasons we feel this way. First, we’re not starting from scratch.

We’ve already built more technology into the member experience—from requesting service and managing our plans through our app to diagnosing and resolving problems with the virtual technician—and those digital capabilities work alongside our experienced Save team, where any cancellation request still follows our existing process and gives us the opportunity to find a better solution to keep those members. Second, agents open a new path to the homeowner.

As digital commerce evolves, AI agents will become another way to discover and access our brands, products, and services. We’re building on our position as category leader by making sure AI agents know us, too. Helping homeowners manage their homes is our mission, and AI gives us another way to deepen that relationship and deliver more value over time. With that, I’ll turn it over to Jason to walk through our third quarter financial results.

Jason Bailey (Chief Financial Officer)

Thanks, Bill. The third quarter highlighted the strength of our financial model. Even with significant weather-related pressure, we delivered strong earnings, generated substantial cash, and returned significant capital to shareholders. Let me walk you through how. Starting on slide 13, revenue grew 6% to $655 million with growth split evenly between price and volume. Adjusted EBITDA increased 5% to $205 million as disciplined cost management helped us absorb higher claims from the extreme heat. Net income grew 10% to $116 million. Adjusted earnings per share grew 15% to $1.81. Share repurchases totaling $259 million year to date amplified our earnings per share growth.

Let’s now take a deeper look at revenue on slide 14. Renewals and new HVAC sales continued to drive revenue growth. Renewal revenue grew 4% on higher price and stable volume. Our new HVAC upgrade program helped to drive a 32% increase in non-warranty and other revenue. Direct-to-consumer revenue was down slightly at 1% as lower price from our promotional pricing strategy was partially offset by higher volume as we added more members. Real estate revenue increased 3%, primarily due to higher volume.

Moving to slide 15, gross profit grew 3% to $362 million. This increase was driven by pricing actions and operational improvements, partially offset by weather, mix shift, and normal cost inflation. This resulted in gross margin of 55%, a 200 basis point decline from the prior-year period, primarily driven by $9 million of unfavorable weather. More than reversing the favorability we saw in the second quarter, this is an example of the seasonality and timing characteristics of our business, which is why we continue to focus on full-year gross margin targets, which remain unchanged.

Turning to slide 16, adjusted EBITDA grew 5% to $205 million. Higher revenue conversion of $17 million from pricing and volume growth, along with SG&A leverage, more than offset the gross margin pressure I mentioned on the prior slide, with us delivering adjusted EBITDA margin of 31%, relatively flat to prior year. Let’s now turn to our cash flow on slide 17. Our recurring revenue model generates significant operating cash flow and has CapEx needs of less than 2% of revenue. As a result, we delivered $298 million of free cash flow through the first nine months, and we continue to expect to convert more than 60% of adjusted EBITDA into free cash flow this year. That strong free cash flow, combined with our liquidity position of $680 million, allows us to invest in the business while still returning substantial excess cash to shareholders.

Through the first nine months of the year, we allocated 87% of our free cash flow to share repurchases. As a result, we bought back 3.7 million shares, or approximately 5% of our shares outstanding. Let’s turn to slide 18 for the details of the new $1 billion share repurchase authorization that Bill mentioned earlier. This new authorization builds on a capital return strategy that has continued to grow alongside the business. We completed our initial $400 million authorization in 2024. We now expect to complete our current $650 million authorization in November, about a year ahead of schedule. As a result, our Board of Directors approved a new three-year $1 billion authorization, reflecting both our confidence in the model and our commitment to creating long-term shareholder value.

Let’s now pivot to a discussion on our updated financial outlook on slide 19. We are pleased to announce that we are again raising our full-year financial guidance at the midpoint. We now expect revenue of $2.205 to $2.215 billion, a $10 million increase at the midpoint, reflecting improved expectations for both realized price and volume, now approximately 4% and 2%, respectively. Moving down the P&L, our gross margin of approximately 55% remains unchanged, as does SG&A of $685 to $695 million.

As a result, our adjusted EBITDA outlook is now $590 to $600 million. That outlook also considers about $45 million of stock compensation and integration costs and about $20 million of interest income. Finally, CapEx of $30 million is unchanged and our effective tax rate is now approximately 24%. Our updated full-year outlook implies fourth quarter revenue of $453 to $463 million and adjusted EBITDA of $62 to $72 million. Stepping back, this quarter shows our model at work. We grew the business, delivered strong earnings through a tough summer, and compounded value per share. With that, I will now turn the call back over to you, Bill.

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Thanks, Jason. Before we open the line for Q&A, I want to come back to what this quarter tells us about our business. First, we have a durable member base even with a frozen real estate market. We are on track for approximately 1% total member growth this year, driven by improving renewals and strong DTC growth. Second, we have multiple growth engines. Our growth isn’t limited to home warranty. Our member relationships give us a platform to cross-sell, led by HVAC upgrades today and expanding into other trades in the future.

Third, our earnings power is structurally higher. We are getting more from every dollar of revenue through pricing, better operations, and the benefits of scale. That’s why we raised our long-term adjusted EBITDA margin target earlier this year to the mid-20% range. And fourth, our cash generation gives us flexibility. Strong free cash flow allows us to invest in the business while returning significant capital to shareholders. In closing, this was a challenging quarter and we delivered. That says a lot about the strength of our business model, but even more about our people. Their discipline and focus are what makes this business work and I want to thank each and every one of them. Operator, please open the line for questions.

OPERATOR

Certainly everyone at this time will be conducting a question and answer session. If you have any questions or comments, please press star one on your phone at this time. We do ask that while posing your question, please pick up your handset if you’re listening on speakerphone to provide optimum sound quality. And once again, if you have any questions or comments, please press star one on your phone. Your first question is coming from Ian Zaffino from Oppenheimer.

Your line is live.

Ian Zaffino (Analyst at Oppenheimer)

Thank you very much. How are you guys?

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

We’re great.

Ian Zaffino (Analyst at Oppenheimer)

Good, good, good. I mean, great. Great job offsetting the weather this past quarter, which I guess would maybe lead me to my question on a lot of these AC upgrades. I mean, the business has basically doubled over the past couple years and, you know, it’s becoming a bigger piece of the business. So, you know, how do you think about, you know, the opportunity for pricing or how do you actually price the product and how do we view it from, like, a margin perspective?

And it’s serving as a great hedge, but I guess there is some margin headwind there. You know, how do you kind of manage that? Do you think the margin headwind will become lesser as you maybe optimize pricing? And then maybe also just how big can this business be? Like I said, you know, it’s doubled over the last couple years. And, you know, so how do you think about what this business might look like as you scale it? Thanks.

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah. Let me go back to when we started the business. You know, we didn’t know a lot about the business, but we felt that if we gave a really good member experience and a really good member value that we could do something, especially with the great contractor base we have. So, in essence, how we price this is we start with what we want to have as a discount for our members relative to retail. And we used to price nationally; we now price essentially state by state because there is such a wide variety of costs in new HVAC systems.

So we price by state. We have had an opportunity to start to raise prices depending on the location. As Jason outlined a couple of quarters ago, we are targeting a gross margin of about 20%. What that translates to is a discount to our members of somewhere in the neighborhood of 25% to 30%. And that can differ by market, generally higher, but we want to have that margin. We have cut a deal with our contractors to get what they view as a very valuable margin.

We have scale in terms of our supply chain, so it works really well. It’s a win for the contractors, it’s a win for the members, and it’s a win for us because it’s incremental revenue. In terms of how big this will get, we’re not—I think we keep going back to the number of systems that have gone into our members is about 3% of our total members. So, as we said earlier, there’s a lot of runway there. Jason, I don’t know if there’s anything you want to add.

Jason Bailey (Chief Financial Officer)

The only thing I’d add, Bill, is since we’re focused on the member and, you know, there’s not a lot of SG&A load on this part of the business. So while that gross margin is lower than the home warranty business, it still drops through at a pretty high rate. And I think long term—we’re not ready to quite call it yet—but I think long term, just as new equipment cycles through the system, there’ll be a benefit on the warranty side as we think about incidents and breakdowns, you know, providing some uplift there, but, you know, that’s a little further out.

But I think that’s just a natural evolution as part of the business.

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah. And the other point is, you know, we have people who own systems that are a couple years old, you know, 8 years old, 12 years old. That’s why it will adjust over time and that’s why we’re so excited about the 3% number.

Ian Zaffino (Analyst at Oppenheimer)

Okay, thank you. And then just looking into the fourth quarter, any kind of comments on weather and reversing and, you know, can this AC upgrade also become, you know, something on the heating side as well?

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Thanks. Yeah. I mean, essentially it is all one. We do get, you know, claims. And actually one of the things that our contractors want is they like off-season business. So they like to do this business in the fall and the spring, generally. And we’ve been successful at upgrading in the summer also, as you can see by our Q3 numbers. But they like to do business in the spring and the fall. So I think that heating is part of that. So that’s why we think there’s a lot of opportunity out there.

Ian Zaffino (Analyst at Oppenheimer)

Okay, thank you very much. Appreciate you taking my questions.

OPERATOR

Thank you. Your next question is coming from Sergio Segura from KBank. Your line is live.

Sergio Segura (Analyst at KBank)

Hey, guys, good morning. Hey, Bill, good morning. Hoping maybe just to start with margins and getting your updated views on the long-term margin target, just given the pretty strong performance this quarter in view of just one of the hottest summers on record, as you mentioned, Bill. Does that increase your confidence in that mid-50s gross margin target that you guys have outlined, even in, you know, call it less favorable weather years?

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

I would say yes. And I’ll let Jason weigh in also. You know, I think, as I said, we had to be pretty nimble this quarter—the heat, you know, hottest summer on record. But what I’m also pleased about, and I’ll let Jason speak more specifically to the margin, we delivered for our members. There was no cutback in us servicing our members. There was no cutback in claims. That’s why I was so proud of the team and the job they did. But, I mean, I think we feel pretty good about the targets we’ve put out there.

But I don’t know, Jason, if you want to add anything.

Jason Bailey (Chief Financial Officer)

Yeah, Sergio. Just as it speaks to the long-term margins, I think Bill and I have a lot of confidence in that mid-20s target that we’ve shared with you all. I think what gives us a lot of confidence in that, coming through this summer, big renewal base. And it’s really an accumulation of all the process improvements we made over the last two or three years as we drive and continue to focus on that preferred contractor network delivering. If you think about the tools we’ve used, things like HVAC upgrades, being really nimble with our supply chain, I think we feel pretty good.

And this summer is a good vote of confidence in how durable we feel that margin is.

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah. And some of the things you don’t see, per se, with our contractor network: we’ve improved job routing, we’ve improved planning, cost controls. We keep talking about our discipline and our operational improvements, and that’s part of what they are.

Sergio Segura (Analyst at KBank)

Understood. And then maybe switching topics to agentic AI. You guys outlined that in the presentation as a long-term opportunity. Curious how you think about the other side of that, where we’re seeing some concern in the market that AI agents could reduce friction around things like shopping, switching, and canceling subscriptions. So just how you’re thinking about preparing for that potential retention risk down the road?

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah, I think in terms of our preparation, I feel we are very well prepared. You know, we have people who try to cancel, you know, all the time, if you will. We track cancels very closely. It only turns out to be about 1% of the time. So we have a really good save team. We have a really good process for that. Whether the cancel request comes in through an agent or an individual, you know, we know how to operate against this. So I think that in the end that’s why I say we think this is more of an opportunity than a threat.

Sure, there’ll be people who will try to, but we deal with that all the time. But I think the opportunity we have, and as people adopt agents more and more and as different companies come out with their own agents, I think our ability to adjust our content and the like to deal with agents, and we feel very confident that that’s why we’re… We’re actually excited about the launch of Muse and some of these others that are coming.

Sergio Segura (Analyst at KBank)

Understood. Thanks for taking the questions, guys.

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Okay, thanks.

OPERATOR

Thank you. Your next question is coming from Mark Hughes from Truist. Your line is live.

Mark Hughes (Analyst at Truist)

Yeah, morning, Bill. On the agentic AI, just to continue that. Have you started to see anything? Is there actually—are you getting pinged on that still? All in the future at this point?

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

I think it’s mainly in the future. We have seen very little. You know, obviously we’re quite attuned to this at this point, but I think adoption of personal agents has probably been a little slow. I mean, spending a lot of money on marketing, you know, it’ll take off, but I think we’re, you know, we’ve got, you know, as you would imagine, the right task force together. We’re certainly working with our inbound team, but we haven’t seen much of anything to date.

Mark Hughes (Analyst at Truist)

Okay. And then the G&A savings, I think you called out 6 million in the quarter in the release. Anything one-timer in that or just good cost efficiency?

Jason Bailey (Chief Financial Officer)

No one-timers, Mark. I think we just remain very, very focused and disciplined on cost management, you know, top to bottom, mainly personnel costs. I think I mentioned to you before, you know, we go through a regular review. Bill and I review headcount with the ELT monthly. So we’re very, very focused on managing cost top to bottom.

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah. And I think on the personnel piece, we’ve gotten more efficient over time. And so we make selected reductions where it’s appropriate. But I think it’s mainly in the personnel area, as Jason said.

Mark Hughes (Analyst at Truist)

And then did you have a specific number for the folks on autopay?

Jason Bailey (Chief Financial Officer)

I don’t think we gave it, Mark, but it’s in that mid-80s, up slightly from what we’ve disclosed.

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Around 85. Yeah,

Jason Bailey (Chief Financial Officer)

about 85%.

Mark Hughes (Analyst at Truist)

Thank you very much.

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Thanks, Marcus.

OPERATOR

Thank you. Your next question is coming from Susan McClary from Goldman Sachs. Your line is live.

Susan McClary (Analyst at Goldman Sachs)

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. It’s nice to be on today.

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Glad to have you. Welcome to Frontdoor.

Susan McClary (Analyst at Goldman Sachs)

Thank you. My first question is on just the sort of general state of the consumer in the last couple of months. Obviously we’ve seen rates rise, we’ve seen consumer confidence come down. Can you just talk generally about how you’re thinking of the sort of appetite, I guess, of your potential members? Are you having to change the promotional pricing, the sort of offerings that you’re using? And it seems like the fourth guide, the updated guide implies that real estate and DTC could moderate a bit in the fourth quarter, even relative to the comps in there.

Is that just some conservatism, given what’s going on out there?

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah, I don’t think DTC, we’re looking for that to moderate. We think that will be pretty consistent. Real estate, obviously we said, and I mean, you cover a number of companies—we don’t have to go into chapter and verse on that. But that’s why we said we look by the end of the year, it’s probably going to be flat to a year ago in terms of ending member count. But I think in terms of your question about strategies, et cetera, the promotional pricing piece we think has worked extremely well with DTC.

The work we’ve done, all the process improvements I went through for the renewals, that’s what’s really been able to keep up our total ending member count. Real estate’s real estate, you know, we’ll just have to continue to adapt. Our focus is on keeping that capture rate above 5%. And we know it’s a tough market, but, you know, we’re grinding every day. We don’t see a change in strategy per se in terms of real estate. But in terms of our core business, DTC and renewals—with real estate tough, fewer people are moving, which is why they need that budget protection and peace of mind we talk about so often.

So I think that’s what we try to say is the strength of our model. We have a number of different ways that we can drive the top line and manage efficiently through the whole P&L.

Susan McClary (Analyst at Goldman Sachs)

Okay, so there’s really been no change in terms of the promotional pricing that you’re offering, the sort of deals or the programs that are out there for people?

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

No, not on the DTC side. On real estate, frankly, we’re experimenting all the time, but no significant change to speak of at this point.

Susan McClary (Analyst at Goldman Sachs)

Okay, all right, that’s encouraging. And then maybe turning to capital allocation, it’s nice to hear that you’re obviously ahead of plan on the buybacks. You’ve got that new authorization that came in as well. Can you just talk a bit about your thoughts on capital allocation here? And with that, any changes in terms of the M&A pipeline that you’re seeing?

Jason Bailey (Chief Financial Officer)

Yes, Susan, I’d say no changes from capital allocation. Our priorities remain growth. So Kathy and I constantly talk about investments for organic growth, balancing LTV and CAC. We are always evaluating the M&A pipeline. Nothing imminent on that front, but we’re willing to talk to or discuss the right target for us. Strong, strong balance sheet. And so we’re at that level in capital allocation, where we remain committed to returning capital to shareholders right now.

And I think that’s reflected in the new authorization.

Susan McClary (Analyst at Goldman Sachs)

Yeah. Okay. Thank you for the commentary.

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Hey, Susan, one last thing. I forgot. I should have mentioned this about promotional pricing. The other reason why we haven’t changed our strategy is—I know you’re new to the story—but we’ve been very pleased with the promotional cohort actually renewing at a higher rate than people who don’t come in to us with a discount. It’s been a bit of a surprise to us, but it’s a pleasant surprise, and that’s why we feel very good at our overall pricing strategy—that by bringing them in at a discount.

I think a lot of, to your point about consumer confidence, people are looking for deals these days, but our ability to renew them and get them back to the pricing that, if you will, we would have had within 18 to 24 months has been a real strength for us.

Susan McClary (Analyst at Goldman Sachs)

Okay, that’s great color. Thank you for that.

OPERATOR

Thank you. Your next question is coming from Brian Smilek from JP Morgan. Your line is live.

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Hey, Brian.

Andrew (Analyst at JP Morgan)

Hey. Hey, it’s Andrew on for Brian. Congrats on the quarter and thanks for taking the question. Nice to see the renewal book member count grow in the quarter. I wanted to ask more on your medium to longer-term growth algorithm and the building blocks there. What does that look like across channels, especially amid the current housing environment? Thank you.

Jason Bailey (Chief Financial Officer)

Yeah, I think—good to hear from you, Andrea. I think long term, you know we look to balance member count growth, pricing, and then non-warranty growth. If I’m thinking that mid- to high single digit, you could think of that almost—the targets would be almost a third, a third, and a third. From a channel perspective, if I’m thinking about member count growth, obviously there’s pressure in real estate that Bill and I both discussed on the call. So we’re pretty excited that the direct-to-consumer first year, direct-to-consumer growing in that mid single digit range, and now that the renewal book has turned positive, you know that’s really what’s supporting kind of the short- to medium-term member count growth target.

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

And as you can—as we just talked about with Susan—you know we are aggressive on promotional pricing. Our number one issue is bringing in additional members, which also gives us a larger base for our non-warranty business. So it, you know, it’s a virtuous cycle that we’re pleased with.

Andrew (Analyst at JP Morgan)

Great, thank you.

OPERATOR

Thank you. And once again everyone, if you have any questions or comments, please press Star then 1 on your phone. Your next question is coming from Tyler Moliere from William Blair, your line is live.

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Hi, Tyler.

Tyler Moliere (Analyst at William Blair)

Hi. We just had—on for Jeff Schmidt. We just had one more question. The HVAC program tends to really good growth ahead of outlook, and just wanted to—curious on the update on moving that program beyond HVACs into other appliances or products.

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah, appliances are next trade that we’re looking to move into. We’re at about half the country or so, maybe a little more than that in terms of our rollout. We plan to have it rolled out into next year. And one of the reasons we had talked about potentially having it roll out in Q4, it’s been a little slower by design. And that is the goal here is to train the contractors. We have to train the contractors. These are different contractors than HVAC contractors.

It’s a different sell because an HVAC contractor is focused on systems that are $6, $7, $8,000; with appliances you’re looking at $800 refrigerators, $400 dishwashers, in that range. We’re looking for the same model to give our members an excellent discount. But the key here is to make sure that our contractors are equipped properly and trained. And that’s why we’re, like I said, we’re pleased with where the rollout is. And right now we’re very focused on training.

It’s a different process. It’s essentially the same approach that we can get people to upgrade their equipment. And, you know, it’s a sell that happens with—sometimes it’s a washer and a dryer, sometimes it’s a whole kitchen. So we’re working through all those, but we’re off to a nice… The model is working well and more to come in 2027.

OPERATOR

Thank you. Thank you. Our next question is coming from Mike Rendous from StoneX. Your line is live.

Mike Rendous (Analyst at StoneX)

Hey, guys, can you talk a little bit more about the renewals, what you’re doing to elevate the member experience? How many times do you touch the consumer per quarter, per year? You know, what’s the feedback that you’re receiving as it relates to folks who are looking to terminate, but then you turn around? Whatever color you could add would be great.

Bill Cobb (Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah. So we call it the renewal journey, which you’re referencing. We’re very active in the beginning with our members, welcoming them into the service, et cetera. And then throughout that, we’ll have touchpoints to the journey. And then as they head toward the renewal part in the month nine through 11 or so, that’s when we really start to engage on getting them to renew. The feedback we get depends on the engagement. I think what I’ve been pleased with is that we don’t have a one-size-fits-all.

We work through a number of different ways depending on what the members’ needs are. We have a variety of members who have large houses, medium-sized houses, smaller houses, so we work through those elements so that we get to know the member specifically. But I think what the members have really responded to is app adoption continues to go up. Our virtual technicians are a big win for people that really can’t get anywhere else. And also we’re so focused on trying to get as many of our preferred contractors into their homes that all in concert works together to really help our renewal book. And that’s why we’re really pleased. Retention was up for the third straight quarter, and so it’s just something that we’re relentless with.

And the retention team has done a really great job. Yeah, I was chuckling at your word use of the term turmoil, because that’s very apt. But like I said, you’re right about the Compass piece. That doesn’t mean we aren’t doing business with Compass because it’s not an exclusive arrangement. We had it for years. We’re very involved with Compass’s franchisees, which is about 80% of their business. So we continue to be pleased with our business with Compass franchisees, which is up year over year.

Yes, we’re very engaged with a number of the brokerage houses. As a matter of fact, just the other day, our top real estate people were all in four different brokerages at the time talking about that. But the bulk of our team is working on training, local sponsorships, and working with agents and franchisees at the local level. That’s really where we put our effort. Doesn’t mean we’re not talking to the top of the house either. But, you know, we have over 100 field sales folks and they are spread out across the country.

And, you know, everybody knows, you know, we’re all in this together, if you will, from the brokerage side to the franchisees, to warranty people, title people, et cetera. It’s a tough market right now, but we believe that the best foot forward for us is to stay really engaged with them at the local level.

OPERATOR

Thank you, thank you. Thank you. That completes our Q and A session, everyone. This concludes today’s event. You may disconnect at this time and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.

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