Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Joseph Hogan: Ann, on the DTC customers, we’ve always argued that, that wasn’t our marketplace in the sense of the price point and all. But I mean, obviously, these patients will pursue treatment. Now probably more so for doctors than DTC. And we’re just doing what we can in order to support those customers going forward. But again, as I was clear in my script, we’re a doctor-focused client company, and we’ll keep it that way. But we do see this as being a certain opportunity. It’s just hard for us to quantify right now. On the DSO relationships, I’d say this has gotten stronger all around the globe. Two to call out would be Heartland and [indiscernible] being more new ortho side and Heartland being more on the GP side. But we have really good relationships and we leverage our portfolio well with them to help them grow and we grow with them. So I feel good about our position with DSOs, and we have good strong relationships out there with them.

Operator: Our next question comes from Brandon Couillard with Jefferies.

Brandon Couillard: Joe, given the positive macro shift we’ve seen in the last few months with consumer confidence coming back, any chance you can comment on what you’ve seen in case starts in January an inflection? And then with respect to the ’24 growth outlook. Any chance you could break that out between Americas and International.

Joseph Hogan: Yes. I can’t — I really wouldn’t break it out between Americas and International because we felt good about the geographies in general as you went across the world for especially latter half of the fourth quarter of last year. As we go into this year, as I talk about, we’re looking at, I think, a stable economic platform. Some of the data that you cited would support that overall. And we feel good about our new products. We think we can play offense. And that’s what we’re focused on right now.

Brandon Couillard: Okay. And then one housekeeping one for you, John. The fourth quarter operating cash flow was pretty weak. Can you just unpack any of the moving parts that might have been onetime in the quarter. It looks like there was a spike in prepaid expenses on the balance sheet. But anything you would call out?

John Morici: Things that related to like tax payments and things. It’s just some timing as things go through the year. But we feel great. I mean, it’s a great model. It generates a lot of cash. It gives us a lot of flexibility, and we were able to use that cash, that $350 million buyback that we did last quarter.

Operator: And we have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Shirley Stacy for closing remarks.

Shirley Stacy: Thank you, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you at upcoming financial conferences and at industry meetings such as Chicago Midwinter. If you have any questions or follow-up, please contact our Investor Relations. Thanks, and have a great day.

Operator: Thank you. This concludes today’s conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

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