By crushing analyst estimates for its latest completed quarter, Pagaya Technologies (PGY -2.60%) crushed it on the market Thursday. Investors sent its shares to a 20% gain on the day, which was more than good enough to beat the 0.5% gain of the S&P 500 index.
Artificial intelligence powers real fundamental growth
Pagaya, which has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) credit-evaluation platform, unveiled its first-quarter results that morning. These showed that the company's total revenue came in at just over $237 million, well up from the $175 million in the same quarter last year.
The bottom-line change was more dramatic, with Pagaya flipping into the black to the tune of $13.3 million ($0.20 per share) in non-GAAP (adjusted) net income against Q1 2023's more than $11 million loss.
Those headline results far outpaced the average-analyst estimates. These called for a top line of just over $224 million and a per-share net-income figure of $0.06.
In its earnings release, Pagaya attributed its growth to its "disciplined execution" and quoted its CEO Gal Krubiner as saying that the improved numbers "reflect the strength of our business and our unwavering commitment to deliver more financial opportunity for U.S. consumers."
Guidance in line with analyst-consensus estimates
Pagaya management also proffered revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) guidance for both its current (second) quarter and full-year 2024. For the former period, revenue and other income are expected to come in at $235 million to $245 million, with adjusted EBITDA landing at $40 million and $45 million.
As for the entirety of this year, those ranges are $925 million to $1.05 billion and $150 million to $190 million, respectively.
The current analyst-consensus projections for revenue fall within the provided ranges. On average, prognosticators are modeling slightly under $240 million for the quarter and $950 million for the year.
Pagaya did not provide any net-income forecasts.
