Goosehead Insurance (NASDAQ:GSHD) reported first-quarter 2026 results that management characterized as a “strong and consistent” start to the year, while highlighting progress in its Digital Agent platform rollout, early benefits from artificial intelligence initiatives in service operations, and continued geographic expansion of its corporate sales footprint.
Leadership changes and first-quarter financial performance
CEO Mark Miller opened the call by announcing that John Martin has been appointed chief financial officer, succeeding Mark Jones Jr., who has been promoted to president and COO. Miller said Martin brings “a strong combination of financial expertise, operational discipline, and a background rooted in technology and e-commerce,” aligning with Goosehead’s focus on execution and technology-enabled distribution.
- Revenue grew 23% to $93 million (reported as $93.1 million in prepared remarks).
- Core revenue increased 15% to $79 million (reported as $79.5 million).
- Adjusted EBITDA totaled $24.4 million, up 57%, for an adjusted EBITDA margin of 26%.
- Total written premiums were $1.1 billion, up 13% year-over-year.
- Policies in force increased 14% to 2 million.
Jones said ancillary revenues—largely contingent commissions—were $11.9 million, up 141% year-over-year, and reiterated the company’s outlook for contingent commissions of 60 to 85 basis points of total written premiums. He noted the first quarter typically includes “true-ups” from the fourth quarter and said the outsized contingent commission result did not warrant a guidance update given ongoing catastrophe uncertainty.
Digital Agent expansion and carrier demand
Executives continued to emphasize the strategic importance of Goosehead’s Digital Agent initiative, describing it as enabling a “choice model” where consumers can shop, quote, and bind insurance through “fully digital, partially digital, or entirely human-driven” experiences.
Miller said the company previously launched the ability to digitally bind with multiple auto carriers in Texas, including Progressive, Liberty Mutual, Mercury, and Root. He added that Goosehead can now digitally bind multiple homeowners products in Texas with carriers including SageSure and Mercury.
In response to a question about economics, Jones said the company’s partner-integrated go-to-market strategy has led to “increased demand to have outsized compensation” in the partner and digital agent channel, adding that carriers have indicated they may be willing to pay more for policies distributed that way because of perceived quality.
Management also addressed the pace of monetization. Jones said the digital agent “is not today generating significant revenue,” and added that the company expects contributions to begin “really in the H2 of the year” as the capability becomes more deeply integrated into Goosehead’s partnership base.
AI initiatives: automation and service efficiency
Miller said Goosehead is seeing “tangible benefits” from AI use cases across its service organization. He highlighted “Lilly,” an AI-powered virtual phone assistant, which he said is “fully resolving approximately 19% of all inbound calls” without transferring to a live agent.
He also cited “intelligent case routing” and other behind-the-scenes tools that have allowed the company to “reinvest roughly 40 full-time service team members towards more complex and value-added interactions,” describing the tools as driving real-time efficiency gains and adding scalability to service operations.
Agent growth, geographic expansion, and partnership channel scale
Goosehead’s leadership said improving market conditions and stabilizing pricing are supporting better operating trends, including rising bind and packet rates and improving retention. Miller said client retention continues to climb and that the company expects to achieve 86% client retention during the year.
On expansion, Miller said Goosehead opened three additional corporate offices during the quarter—in Seattle, the Washington, D.C. area, and Minneapolis—with a fourth opening in April in Indianapolis. As of quarter-end, he said more than half of corporate agents were located outside Texas.
Jones provided additional detail on diversification, noting that 37% of premium was in Texas in the first quarter, down from 39% at the end of the fourth quarter.
On the franchise side, Jones said the company launched 20 new franchise locations across 10 states, while 10 agencies exited the system and 63 agencies consolidated into another larger franchise. Miller said Goosehead launched 12 new franchises out of corporate offices since the beginning of the year, and said those launches were “nearly 2.5x the average franchise” in new business production in their second month.
The company also highlighted staffing and productivity trends in franchises. Jones said sourcing from its agency staffing program grew 53% year-over-year, average producers per franchise increased to 2.3 from 1.9 a year ago, and total franchise producers were 2,150 at quarter-end, up 3% year-over-year. In response to an analyst question, he attributed a decline in more-tenured franchise producers to consolidation that Goosehead views as “super healthy” and intended to create larger, more successful agencies.
Enterprise and partnership channels were another focus. Jones said the enterprise sales team generated new business growth of over 70% and contributed approximately 20% of new business commissions and agency fees production in the quarter. He said the partnership base includes 2.3 million potential clients across mortgage origination and servicing and 4 million potential clients from other home and financial services organizations.
Capital allocation, balance sheet, and outlook
Goosehead reported cash flow from operations of $22.9 million in the quarter. Jones said the company used excess cash and drew $26 million on its revolving credit facility to repurchase and retire 985,000 Class A shares for $49.8 million. He said management believes there is a “significant market dislocation” in the company’s stock price and noted that Goosehead now has fewer shares outstanding than at the time of its IPO. The company has $148 million remaining under its repurchase authorization.
Goosehead ended the quarter with $26 million of cash and cash equivalents and $324 million of total debt outstanding. Jones said the company remains committed to “conservative balance sheet management” and does not expect to add leverage beyond its historical precedent of 3.0x to 4.0x trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA.
Management reiterated full-year 2026 guidance, calling for total revenues to grow organically between 10% and 19% and total written premiums to grow organically between 12% and 20%.
About Goosehead Insurance (NASDAQ:GSHD)
Goosehead Insurance (NASDAQ: GSHD) is a technology-driven insurance agency that connects consumers with a broad range of personal and commercial insurance products through an extensive network of independent insurance advisors. The company specializes in homeowners, auto, flood, dwelling fire, umbrella, life, and commercial lines coverage, working with multiple national and regional carriers to offer tailored policies. By combining advanced quoting tools with local market expertise, Goosehead streamlines the insurance shopping process and helps clients find competitive coverage options.
Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Westlake, Texas, Goosehead has grown its footprint across more than 40 states in the U.S.
