LendingTree operates an online marketplace that connects consumers shopping for financial products with lenders, insurers, and other financial service providers. Consumers fill out a single form and receive competing offers from multiple providers — applying the comparison-shopping model to financial products across three categories: insurance (auto, home, life, health, Medicare), consumer lending (personal loans, credit cards, auto loans, small business loans, deposit accounts), and home lending (purchase mortgages, refinance, and home equity). LendingTree does not charge consumers; instead, it charges roughly 770 network partners a fee each time a qualified consumer inquiry is delivered to them. A single consumer request can be sent to up to five lenders simultaneously, generating multiple match fees per inquiry. In insurance, LendingTree also earns fees for clicks and calls. Insurance is now the largest segment at roughly 64% of revenue, with Progressive alone accounting for 27% of total revenue. Consumer lending is roughly 23% of revenue, and home lending is roughly 14%. The business is cyclical: insurance revenue swings with carrier profitability, and home lending revenue is tightly linked to mortgage rates. LendingTree's small business lending unit uses a higher-touch concierge model, where LendingTree sales staff guide business owners through applications, earning bonus fees on funded loans. Growth priorities include expanding the concierge model to auto lending, adding new product categories, and rebuilding brand awareness beyond LendingTree's historical association with mortgages.
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