Doma’s net losses declined as order counts, revenue grew in 1Q

Doma Holdings was able to reduce its year-over-year first quarter losses due to higher revenues generated through increased title insurance orders.

The company expects to continue to grow its market share, particularly since it recently added Wells Fargo as a client in its Strategic & Enterprise business channel, which deals with large accounts.

"This significant new relationship comes on the heels of seven other large Strategic & Enterprise accounts we have added so far in 2021, including another top-10 mortgage originator which we expect to expand with over the course of our relationship," Doma CEO Max Simkoff said on the company's first quarter earnings call. "The combined annual origination volume of these new Strategic & Enterprise accounts made up greater than 7% of the overall mortgage lending market in 2020."

But Doma, formerly States Title, is a much smaller player than its competitors. In the first quarter, its open orders for title insurance totaled 41,000 and the closed orders tally came to 33,000, compared with 33,000 and 18,000 respectively one year prior. In comparison, Stewart Information Services, the smallest of the four large nationwide title insurance underwriters, had 157,918 open orders and 115,701 closed orders during the first quarter.

Doma previously said it expected full year 2021 closed orders of 136,880, up from 92,389 in 2020.

The company is planning to go public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, Capitol Investment Corp. V. If the deal is completed, it would be the seventh publicly traded title insurer, but only the third among the non-family companies; the other two are Investors Title and a subsidiary of mortgage insurer Radian Group.

Doma’s underwriting business, North American Title, ended 2020 as the eighth largest title company in terms of market share, according to the American Land Title Association.

In the first quarter, Doma posted a net loss of $11.8 million, compared with a year-ago net loss of $16.6 million. For all of 2020, Doma lost $35.1 million, according to an investor presentation made when the company signed the agreement with Capitol Investment V.

Revenue grew to $127.8 million in the first quarter, up from $70.8 million on a year-over-year basis.