Priced like the old business, running like a new one: management is redirecting the call away from the metric investors
The model's full reasoning — Q4 2022 call → NOWe need to determine if management repeatedly redirects attention away from the conventional yardstick and toward a different part of the business that is already earning, and indicates that the record has not caught up. The transcript is from Highwoods Properties, a REIT. The conventional yardstick for a REIT is likely FFO (funds from operations) per share, same-property NOI growth, occupancy, etc. Management discusses these, but do they set them aside and point to something else? Let's read carefully. Ted Klinck starts: "We had a strong end to a strong year... solid leasing... acquired... placed in-service... delivered strong FFO of $0.96 per share." Then he talks about diversification. He says "We continue to believe that to be resilient, our portfolio must be diversified and not be overly reliant on any single customer, market, submarket, industry or lease size." That's a general strategy. Then he says: "This diversification is a core component to our long-stated simple and straightforward goal to generate attractive and sustainable returns over the long term." He then gives stats: largest market Raleigh less than 22% revenues, largest customer BofA less than 4%, top 20 customers less than 30%, largest industry less than 30%, average lease size under 15,000 sq ft. He says "We believe this purposeful diversification, our high-quality portfolio and continued strong population and job growth across our markets has driven our strong leasing since the onset of the pandemic, including throughout last year." So he's emphasizing diversification as a driver. But is he setting aside the conventional yardstick? He later discusses FFO results, same-property NOI, etc. He gives 2023 outlook. He mentions headwinds from interest rates and OpEx. He says "While a 2023 FFO outlook is below 2022 actual results, as a reminder we have grown normalized FFO per share each year for 12 consecutive years at a 4% compound average rate." So he's still using FFO. Brian Leary talks about leasing, spec suites, Highwoods Commons, etc. He says "our team finished the year with solid financial and operating results for the fourth quarter, signing 924,000 square feet, including 28 expansions, the most net expansions we have signed since the beginning of 2018." He talks about net effective rents being record high.
| Ticker | Company | Call | Date | Call grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOAH | Noah Holdings Limited | Q1 2024 | 2024-05-30 | D |
| DUOT | Duos Technologies Group, Inc. | Q4 2023 | 2024-04-01 | F |
| OPAD | Offerpad Solutions Inc. | Q3 2023 | 2023-11-01 | C |
| SPT | Sprout Social, Inc. | Q2 2023 | 2023-08-04 | B+ |
| PRPH | ProPhase Labs, Inc. | Q1 2023 | 2023-05-11 | F |
| CALX | Calix, Inc. | Q1 2023 | 2023-04-20 | C+ |
| WD | Walker & Dunlop, Inc. | Q2 2022 | 2022-08-09 | C+ |
| LC | LendingClub Corporation | Q4 2021 | 2022-01-26 | A |
| CYBR | CyberArk Software Ltd. | Q3 2021 | 2021-11-04 | B+ |
| LPTH | LightPath Technologies, Inc. | Q4 2021 | 2021-09-09 | D |
| LOB | Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. | Q3 2018 | 2018-10-25 | C+ |
SPT · Q2 2023 → YESThe question is whether management repeatedly redirects attention away from the conventional measure toward a different part of the business that's already earning today, and indicates that this diffe...YES The transcript shows management repeatedly reframing away from the conventional total ARR/revenue growth metric (which is being distorted by unpredictable low-end non-core ARR) toward the higher-quality up-market/enterprise segment that is already delivering record new business ACVs, 50%+ YoY growth, and 43% of 2023 ARR. They explicitly set the low-end aside by removing it from forecasts and modeling to give “greatest visibility,” note that Q2 ARR growth will be the lowest pace of the year because of this change, and indicate the reported figures still reflect the old mix while the new up-market story is already earning today (with Tagger adding further upside not yet reflected). This creates the coherent posture of redirecting attention from the headline growth number outsiders watch to the part of the business that is already producing real results.
WD · Q2 2022 → YESThe question is about whether management repeatedly redirects attention away from the conventional measure to a different part of the business that's already earning today, and indicates that this isn...YES The transcript shows management repeatedly reframing the discussion away from the conventional multifamily agency lender yardstick (origination volumes, GSE lending, MSR-driven EPS) toward the diversified services and asset-management businesses that are already generating substantial cash revenue and EBITDA today. They explicitly set the old metric aside by introducing adjusted EPS to “strip out non-cash mortgage servicing rights,” highlight the shift from “lending-centric” to “broader technology-enabled financial services,” and note that segment results now provide “more transparency into our operating structure.” They point to debt brokerage, property sales, SAM (Alliant, Zelman), small-balance lending, and appraisals as the new earning engines, describing their concrete contributions (e.g.
CALX · Q1 2023 → YESThe question is about whether management repeatedly redirects attention away from the conventional measure to a different part of the business that's already earning today, and indicates that this isn...YES The transcript shows management repeatedly framing the company as operating in a "new market" centered on platforms, clouds, and managed services—distinct from the legacy hardware/cyclical model—while highlighting real earnings from these areas (e.g., 988 BSPs deploying platforms, 865 cloud customers, 334 with 41 new managed services in Q1, record Intelligent Access EDGE revenue). They indicate this is already producing revenue and customer adoption but remains early-stage ("this is the beginning," "early stage of where we are in this new market"), with reported results still reflecting the prior hardware-focused picture.