Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 13, 2024 8:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Kevin Mooney - Investor Relations

Mike Gianoni - Chief Executive Officer, President and Vice Chairman

Tony Boor - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Rob Oliver - Baird

Brian Peterson - Raymond James

Parker Lane - Stifel

Matt VanVliet - BTIG

Peter Burkly - Evercore ISI

Operator

Good day and welcome to Blackbaud’s Q4 Full Year 2023 Earnings Call. Today’s conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Kevin Mooney. Please go ahead, sir.

Kevin Mooney

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on Blackbaud’s fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings call. Joining me on the call today are Mike Gianoni, Blackbaud’s CEO, President and Vice Chairman and Tony Boor, Blackbaud’s Executive Vice President and CFO. Mike and Tony will make prepared comments and then we will open up the line for your questions.

Please note that our comments today contain certain forward-looking statements subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Please refer to our most recent Form 10-K and other SEC filings for more information on those risks. The discussion today will focus on non-GAAP results. Please refer to our press release and the investor materials posted to our website for the full details on our financial performance, including GAAP results as well as full year guidance. We believe that a combination of both GAAP and non-GAAP measures are more representative of how we internally measure our business. Unless otherwise specified, we will refer only to non-GAAP financial measures on this call. Please note that non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for GAAP measures.

With that, I will turn the call over to you, Mike.

Mike Gianoni

Thank you, Kevin. Thank you everyone for joining our call today. I’d like to start today’s comments by offering a few perspectives on 2023, then I’ll comment on our product evolution, share a few customer wins, and then conclude with an update on our capital allocation and stock repurchase plans before turning the call over to Tony. The fourth quarter concluded a year of substantial transformation for Blackbaud. Approximately 1.5 years ago, we implemented our five-point operating plan, which began producing results in the second quarter of last year, continued through year end and has put our company on a clear trajectory of improving financial performance. In the second quarter, our cost management initiatives drove significant adjusted EBITDA margin expansion as expenses declined year-over-year. Then in the third quarter, our revenue growth rate accelerated as our modernized pricing program gained traction and we achieved the Rule of 40 ahead of plan.