Shares in Expensify Inc. jumped more than 15% in late trading today after the payments provider announced a stock repurchase program and reported highly improved earnings in its fiscal 2024 fourth quarter.

For the quarter that ended on Dec. 31, Expensify reported an adjusted loss of one cent per share, down from a loss of seven cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2023, on revenue of $37 million, up 5% year-over-year. The loss was a miss, as analysts had expected the company to report adjusted earnings of seven cents per share, while revenue came in slightly ahead of an expected $36.15 million.

Though share buybacks are all well and good, the figure investors likely were staring at in the results was Expensify’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, which jumped almost threefold year-over-year, to $39.4 million.

According to StockTitan, the figure came about due to a strategic pivot from Expensify that is yielding results, including complete debt elimination, successful migration to a new card program, stabilization of its member count, and revenue growth of 5% in the quarter, “potentially signaling a turning point.”

Other notable figures in the quarter included Expensify Card spending growing 44% year-over-year and Interchange growing 54%, which were the direct results of the company’s new card program.

“These results weren’t easy and are the early results of our integration of ‘deep AI’ – not surface level, gimmicky features, but AI applied to complex systems that have previously required large teams of human agents,” Expensify Chief Executive Officer David Barrett wrote in the company’s earnings release.

Barrett has an interesting way with words, saying in relation to the company’s artificial intelligence efforts that “it’s tough to talk about AI because it is so cliche and noisy, with everyone clamoring to outdo each other with ever more grandiose claims. It’s hard to say anything without earning eye rolls in return. But make no mistake: Expensify is gunning for AI supremacy in fintech. And I think we are better positioned than any competitor to achieve it.”

For the full year 2024, Expensify reported an adjusted loss of 12 cents per sahre, down from a loss of 50 cents per share in 2023, on revenue of $139.2 million, down 8% year-over-year.

For the year ahead, Expensify did not provide a full outlook but did say that it expects free cash flow of $16 million to $20 million.

Photo: Expensify