LendingClub's Q1 Signals Another Step Toward Re-Establishing Its Growth Story

LendingClub Corp LC's earnings report marks "another step in the right direction" for the company, at least according to BTIG's Mark Palmer who maintains a Buy rating on LendingClub's stock with an unchanged $9 price target.

Palmer commented in a research report on Friday LendingClub's loan originations were "slightly" lower sequentially yet at the same time the company reported an adjusted EBITDA of $161,000. This metric came in "well ahead" of management's guidance which called for a loss of $5 million to $10 million and the analyst's own estimate of a $2.8 million loss.

On the other hand, the high end of LendingClub's second-quarter adjusted EBITDA guidance of a loss of $2.5 million to positive $2.5 million was below the consensus estimate of $5.3 million and the analyst's estimate of $6.28 million. But it is also important to keep in mind that the company simultaneously raised the lower end of its full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance from $40 million to $45 million.

LendingClub Isn't The Same Company It Was A Year Ago

Palmer pointed out that it is almost a full-year since LendingClub frightened investors with a disclosure of misallocating loans. However, the company's earnings report shows management is working to re-establish its growth story and "distance itself from 2016's era of "turmoil and uncertainty."

Bottom line, the analyst believes that LendingClub's management team is looking to "find another gear" in the bottom half of 2017. Related Links:

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