Teladoc Health turns out a steep $3.1B loss in Q2—how much finger-pointing goes to Livongo?

The news: Teladoc Health announced a steep loss of $3.1 billion in Q2.

• Teladoc posted a net loss of $3.1 billion or $19.22 per share for Q2 2022 compared with $133.8 million or $0.86 per share in Q2 2021.
• Teladoc reported a $3 billion non-cash goodwill impairment charge for Q2 2022 and close to $10 billion in impairment charges for the first half of 2022.

Putting the numbers in context: Teladoc’s impairment charge is likely a result of its acquisition of digital therapeutics company Livongo in 2020.

• Teladoc bought Livongo to consolidate an app that offers primary care, chronic care, and telehealth, per Fierce Healthcare. However, Teladoc may have overpaid in its $13.9 billion Livongo acquisition.
• As the US GDP shrank for the second consecutive quarter, sparking recession fears, Teladoc CEO Jason Gorevic acknowledged “increased uncertainty in the macroeconomic backdrop” affecting the company’s earnings.

For context, Teladoc also posted a loss in Q1 2022.

The silver lining: Teladoc showed progress for its Primary360 business, which the company says recently added new clients and capabilities.

• In addition, Teladoc’s overall revenues increased 18% to $592.4 million from $503.1 million in the second quarter of 2021.
• And Teladoc expects positive results from its Chronic Care Complete business, which launched in February.

Teladoc has also received industry praise for its robust telehealth capabilities. And although telehealth has experienced a drop-off after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we expect the number of telehealth users to grow to 116.6 million in 2025 versus 99.2 million in 2022, according to our Telehealth Users forecast.

What’s next? Teladoc expects results for the rest of 2022 to be on the lower end of its outlook. The company projects a fiscal year 2022 outlook range of $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion.