Compass Inc at UBS Global TMT Conference (Virtual) Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : All right. Well, I'll start off just kind of at a high level. You guys have been public about 8 months now. Can you give us a bit of info on what surprised you the most and how it's different kind of running a public company versus a private company? Maybe start with you, Robert. And feel free to jump in Kristen.

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Yes. And when you think about Compass longer term, what are a couple of parts of the story you think are most critical that investors don't understand well or appreciate today about the business? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 07, 2021 / 10:00PM, COMP.N - Compass Inc at UBS Global TMT Conference (Virtual)

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : I think you largely answered my next question, but I'll ask it anyway in case there's more to add. But what other big differentiating factors would you flag for Compass versus other real estate brokerages or prop-tech companies that you're sometimes compared to?

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : So when we think about the core business, you've been launching markets really, really rapidly, faster than we had expected at the time of the IPO. When we think about the pace of launches, what is driving that velocity?

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Okay. And then speaking of that kind of great reshuffling. Do you think that there is still a lot of that on the come, people make these decisions over longer timeframes as we get more clarity into how big businesses is allowing remote work? Do you think there's still kind of an elevated kind of demand coming for broader moving activity?

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Yes. It's hard to imagine and to be really going back to anything like it was after 2 years of working like this. And like you said, so many delays. It feels like we're settling in different routines.

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Yes, yes. So back to your kind of new market launches. When you look at some of these newer markets and compare them to older markets in terms of velocity of launch, cost to acquire agents, growth in market share. Like how do the performance of newer markets look relative to older ones?

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Yes. It's impressive. You've done that while beating on EBITDA as well. It's remarkable, I guess. And I guess related to that, as you've entered smaller markets with lower ASPs for transaction values, how does the model translate at all differently with kind of some of these smaller markets relative to your original bigger markets?

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Really interesting. So I guess drilling in a little bit deeper, the current pace of agent productivity has been extraordinary. Wondering how sustainable is this over the longer term. And when we think about what things you can do to continue to drive that?

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Shifting gears a little bit. At the time of the IPO, you guys talked about potential for expanding internationally. Is there any real movement around that as a way to potentially grow your TAM?

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Great segue. Let's talk adjacent services. So Title & Escrow is your oldest adjacency. Step back a bit, walk us through the history of T&E and where you are now, what you have left to do in terms of market expansion, product, et cetera.

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Congrats.

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Well, that's exciting. Congrats. So my next question was, you had talked about originating your first one this quarter. How do you marry kind of the mortgage with the core transaction business? Walk us through how we might see that as a consumer using a Compass agent.

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Another question on mortgage. I think when you all operate at the high end, I'm guessing a lot of the transactions are financed by buyers who have worked with the private wealth area of a bank and get like big discounts for having assets at a bank. How do you guys compete on price and mortgage? Is that -- are you able to maybe leverage lower customer acquisition costs to give better rates, like you able to get competitive? Or is that -- am I wrong that at that price point...

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Yes, yes. Okay. And then I guess outside of mortgage and JV, you've got T&E progressing nicely. Are there other -- what are the most exciting other adjacent services that you guys are bringing in or plan to bring into the bundle?

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Yes. One of the things we've noticed in some geographies is just seeing more Compass brands on rentals. Is that a meaningful business for you? Is that a growth area? What are we kind of noticing there? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 07, 2021 / 10:00PM, COMP.N - Compass Inc at UBS Global TMT Conference (Virtual)

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Yes, yes. You guys have used kind of a lot of organic, a lot of M&A in the past. Like what -- are there interesting opportunities right now? Are valuations attractive? How do you think about organic versus inorganic growth?

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Yes. I mean, look, given how much value you're bringing to agents driving their business at much faster growth rates in the industry, is there an opportunity to be premium priced and to increase that over the next several years? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 07, 2021 / 10:00PM, COMP.N - Compass Inc at UBS Global TMT Conference (Virtual)

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Okay. Okay. And then just some bigger picture things. There has been the DOJ investigating the NAR and trying to bring more clarity to buyer commissions. Do you all think that the agent, kind of buy-side and sell-side commissions eventually get unbundled? And if that happens, what happens to, I guess, the industry? And then what -- does it impact the higher end, maybe less than the lower end? How do you guys see all of that playing out?

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Okay. And then curious -- can't, not get your view on this one, but obviously, Zillow has had quite a change in tack and this iBuying business was -- has been a bit of a focus and now it's kind of -- at least 1 big player is unwinding it. What is your take on that? Is this the beginning of the end for iBuying? Do you all think that there's some interesting aspects of it? Definitely less exposed to where you guys operate, but curious to get your views on that.

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Robert, Kristen, any parting kind of words you would have for the investment community, anyone looking at Compass that we haven't discussed that are important things you want to get across?

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : All right. Well, look, Robert, Kristen, great to have you all. It's been great watching you guys perform. And at some point, the stock will follow. But it's great to have you guys, hopefully get you back in person in the future.

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 07, 2021 / 10:00PM, COMP.N - Compass Inc at UBS Global TMT Conference (Virtual)

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : All right. Well, it's great to have you, and we'll have you in person -- we'll have you. It will happen.

Question: Lloyd Wharton Walmsley - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : All right. Thanks.