PetIQ, Inc. (NASDAQ:PETQ) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

PetIQ, Inc. (NASDAQ:PETQ) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript May 11, 2024

PetIQ, Inc. isn’t one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).

Operator: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the PetIQ First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] After today’s presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask your questions. [Operator Instructions] Please note that today’s event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Katie Turner, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Katie Turner: Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us on PetIQ’s first quarter 2024 earnings conference call and webcast. Cord Christensen, Chief Executive Officer; and Zvi Glasman, Chief Financial Officer, will review today’s prepared remarks. Before we begin, please remember that during the course of this call, Management may make forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal Securities Laws. These statements are based on Management’s current expectations and beliefs and involve risks and uncertainties that could differ materially from actual events or those described in these forward-looking statements. Please refer to the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K and other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Company’s press release issued today for a detailed discussion of the risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made today.

Please note, on today’s call, Management will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. While the Company believes these non-GAAP financial measures will provide useful information for investors, the presentation of this information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. Please refer to today’s press release for definitions and a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, PetIQ has posted a supplemental presentation on its website for reference. And with that, I’d like to turn the call over to Cord Christensen.

Cord Christensen: Thank you, Katie, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today to discuss our Q1 financial results. I’ll begin with an overview of key highlights, then Zvi will review our quarterly financials and 2024 outlook. Finally, Zvi, Michael, John and I will be available to answer your questions. We are pleased with our start to 2024. We had a record Q1 with consolidated net sales of $308.4 million, at the high end of our guidance. The consistent growth of our product segment fueled our financial results. The strength of PetIQ’s brands in Q1 led to favorable leverage of our costs, with gross margin expanding 280 basis points to 24.2%. This helped offset higher SG&A expense when compared to Q1 last year resulting in record profitability.

Our net income of $14.9 million or EPS of $0.48 increased 47.8% from Q1 last year. And Q1 2024 adjusted EBITDA increased 15% year-over-year to $35.3 million, exceeding our guidance of $31 million to $33 million. This resulted in the highest adjusted EBITDA margin in the Company’s history of 11.4%, an increase of 80 basis points from Q1 of last year. Based on these strong year-to-date results, we are pleased to raise our guidance for 2024 net sales, adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow. Focusing our Product segment in more detail. For Q1 of 2024, the Product segment contributed net sales of $276.9 million, an increase of approximately 7% compared to the prior year period. The growth in Q1 of this year was broad-based across all product categories.

As we’ve discussed with you the last few quarters, when you look at all the sales channels combined for 2023, it was one of the strongest seasons in the last 10 years for the OTC, flea and tick category. We are lapping that record season in 2024 and yet we continue to generate impressive growth from PetIQ’s brands, which were up 14.3% compared to the first quarter last year. This growth rate exceeded our expectations for the quarter. Our in-house sales and marketing teams are building significant brands in the pet categories that are growing both online and at brick-and-mortar retail while capturing a disproportionate amount of market share. In Q1, we spent an incremental $4.7 million on enhanced advertising and promotional efforts, in line with our planned step-up in marketing for 2024.

This step up is included in our Q1 2024 adjusted EBITDA. For Q2, we expect to spend $6 million more in brand building and marketing initiatives than we did in Q2 last year. We are continuing to lean into investments and initiatives that we expect to support the long-term success of our brands. I’d now like to focus on a few of our key category consumption highlights for the first quarter. In the first quarter of 2024, the OTC flea and tick category grew 6.2% and PetIQ’s brands increased 10.6%. PetIQ’s flea and tick brands gained share across all channels and at each of our Top 10 customers while continuing to capture a disproportionate amount of the growth online, and dramatically outperforming the broader category as evidenced by our market share results.

For the 12 weeks ended March 23, 2024, PetIQ’s OTC flea and tick brands captured 15.8% of the category dollars, which is an increase of 63 basis points versus the prior year period. The Pet Supplement category in total maintained its growth trajectory in the quarter, gaining 14.8% over the prior year period. This fast-growing category has nearly tripled in market size over the last five years and is now the largest category within the OTC animal health market. Our Pet Supplement brands continue to see accelerated consumption and growth in the first quarter of 2024, where offerings in this space grew 51.2% compared to the prior year period. This growth was driven by our VetIQ brand along with the successful launch of Rocco & Roxie into the premium segment of the category.

Strong household penetration trends along with expanded need states in the Pet Supplement category give us confidence that these double-digit growth rates should continue for many years to come and PetIQ is positioned very well to continue to gain share in this market. In addition, our pet dental and treat offerings also outperformed the category in Q1. The Minties & Pur Luv brands, both grew at 3 times the total category leading to significant share gains. The Minties brand grew 48% and gave 89 basis points of share in the dental treat category. The Pur Luv treat brand also continues to gain momentum as it posted outstanding growth of 65% in Q1 versus a year ago. The newest brand in our product portfolio, Rocco & Roxie, grew 23.4% from the first quarter of 2024.

This growth was driven by our launch into the Supplement category and the core Stain & Odor offerings also saw healthy growth and grew share within the market. Shifting to the Services segment. We had a slight net sales increase of 0.2% to $31.6 million compared to Q1 last year. We ran more mobile community clinics across the country than a year ago and increased our pet counts to grow our Services segment net sales and essentially offset the lost sales from the 149 wellness centers we closed in the second half of 2023. Our Services team continues to do an excellent job managing our contract vet labor to offer pet parents convenient and affordable pet health and wellness options. We are also pleased with the significant operational improvements we achieved in Q1 of this year which led to gross margin expansion of 810 basis points for the Services segment.

That completes my Q1 highlights. Before I turn it over to Zvi, I would like to thank our team across the country for their commitment to our mission of providing smarter pet healthcare and their continued support of PetIQ’s core values. I’d like to now turn the call over to Zvi.

Zvi Glasman: Thank you, Cord. Today, I will discuss our Q1 financial results in more detail and our outlook for 2024. We’re pleased with our start to the year. Our seasoned team generated strong growth across PetIQ’s brands to increase both sales and profitability year-over-year. And the Services segment optimization we completed in the second half of 2024 is already generating significant operational improvements for our business. For Q1 of 2024, the Company reported net sales of $308.4 million, an increase of 6.2% compared to Q1 of last year, driven by growth in the Product segment. This was at the high-end of our guidance for the quarter driven by broad-based growth across sales channels and product categories as Cord mentioned.

First quarter 2024 gross profit was $74.5 million, an increase of 19.7% compared to $62.3 million in the prior year period. Gross margin increased 280 basis points to 24.2% from 21.4% for Q1 of last year. The growth and success of our higher-margin manufactured brands was the primary driver of our margin expansion as well as operational efficiencies in our facilities. We also benefited from our Services segment optimization with a closer of 149 wellness centers in the second-half of 2023. From an SG&A perspective, as we know that on our Q4 call, we are spending more on marketing in 2024 to support our manufactured brands. As a result, first quarter adjusted SG&A increased $7.8 million to $47.1 million. And as a percentage of net sales, adjusted SG&A was 15.3%, an increase of 180 basis points compared to the prior year period.

The increase in SG&A was primarily due to an increase in marketing expense of $4.7 million and the remainder was mostly normal increases in annual compensation expenses. Adjusted net income was $18.5 million and adjusted EPS was $0.53, an increase of 32.5% year-over-year. EBITDA increased 20.2% to $32.2 million and adjusted EBITDA increased 15% to $35.3 million, above our Q1 adjusted EBITDA guidance. Our adjusted EBITDA margin increased 80 basis points year-over-year to 11.4%, the highest in the Company’s history, even with the step-up in marketing expense. Turning to our balance sheet and liquidity. The Company ended Q1 with total cash and cash equivalents of $25.4 million. For 2024, we are raising our guidance for annual free cash flow from an excess of $45 million to an excess of $50 million.

From an inventory perspective, our inventory at the end of Q1 was a bit higher than normal for this time of the year. This is due to our planned seasonal build and the timing of available inventory from our distribution partners. As we progress through the flea and tick season in Q2 and into Q3, we expect our inventory to be more in line with our historical levels. The Company’s total debt which is comprised of its term loan, ABL and convertible debt was $443.9 million as of March 31, 2024. In addition to our cash on hand, the Company’s $125 million ABL is undrawn. Total liquidity, which we define as cash on hand plus debt availability, was $150.4 million as of March 31, 2024. While we continue to have no intention of making additional borrowings, we would note that our liquidity is ample and our credit facilities are flexible.

Our net leverage as calculated under terms of our credit facilities at the end of Q1 was 3.6 times, an improvement from 4.5 times in 2023. Keep in mind, Q1 is always our highest leverage quarter of the year based on seasonal changes in working capital due to the annual increase in inventory to position us well for the flea and tick season. On April 30, 2024, subsequent to the end of the first quarter, we completed the sale of the Company’s foreign subsidiary within the Product segment. Mark & Chappell has approximately $4 million in net cash proceeds and the Company will receive future royalties for certain licensed trademarks and related intellectual property. As a result of the transaction, we expect to recognize an approximate $1.7 million loss subject to normal working capital adjustments in the second quarter of 2024.

Now, turning to our guidance. As stated in today’s earnings release, we are raising our full-year 2024 net sales and adjusted EBITDA guidance that we previously provided on February 28, 2024. Our 2024 full-year outlook remains inclusive of the Services segment optimization, the sale of the Company’s foreign subsidiary, Mark & Chappell, and a return to a more normal flea and tick season as compared to the record seasonal patterns experienced in 2023. These three items total approximately $52 million in net sales and $8 million in adjusted EBITDA on an annual basis. If you take these into account, our growth in 2024 would be significantly higher or represent a net sales increase of approximately 11% and an adjusted EBITDA increase of approximately 19% as compared to 2023.

We’ve broken these variables out for reference in the outlook section of today’s earnings presentation posted on the Investors section of our website. Inclusive of the variables I just mentioned, for the full-year 2024, we expect net sales of $1,135 million to $1,185 million, an increase of approximately 5% based on the midpoint. And adjusted EBITDA of $112 million to $117 million, an increase of approximately 10% based on the midpoint, including our step up in marketing compared to last year. For the second quarter of 2024, we expect net sales of $325 million to $335 million, an increase of approximately 5% based on the midpoint. Adjusted EBITDA of $34 million to $36 million, an increase of approximately 6% based on the midpoint, including the approximate $6 million in incremental marketing spend compared to Q2 of last year.

Additionally, I want to reiterate that for modeling purposes, going forward, our share count will vary during the course of the year due to the accounting rules regarding the Company’s convertible notes. This will depend on a number of factors, including quarterly earnings. For certain quarters in 2024, the share count will increase by approximately 4.8 million shares and our diluted EPS will be calculated on the same basis. Importantly, we currently have no intention of satisfying our convertible debt obligation with shares but are required to report the Company’s share count based on the theoretical increase. That concludes my financial review. Cord, Michael, John and I are now available for your questions. Operator?

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Q&A Session

Operator: Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] And today’s first question comes from Rupesh Parikh with Oppenheimer. Please proceed.

Rupesh Parikh: Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question and also congrats on a really nice quarter. So maybe just starting out with the gross margin line. So really strong performance across both the product side and the service side. So I know the product side typically mix can impact the delivery there. But at least on the service side, just hoping to get some more color in terms of how you guys think about the sustainability of the level of gross margin delivery we saw in Q1?

Cord Christensen: John, do you want to take that one?

John Pearson: Yes.

Cord Christensen: Go ahead, John.

John Pearson: Yes. There’s three key factors that are driving it as you call that, Rupesh. So we just talked about the Services element. So that’s a key component of it. And then when you look at the mix of what’s growing in our business, it’s the manufactured portfolio versus distributed is really benefiting in a big way. We expect that trend to continue. And then I’ll let Zvi talk specifically to some of the key things we expect to continue as we trend into Q2 and Q3 and Q4.

Zvi Glasman: Well, I think if you’re thinking about Services specifically, we’re going to see a lot of increases in Services for the balance of the year. There’s always some seasonality, but we are going to be an adversary in closing 129 wellness centers. In terms of some of the improvements in products, yes, you’re right. Some of that came from mix. But also we’d like to highlight that we had a fair bit of operational improvements and some of those are in our base in the back half of last year. So in total, we feel really good about margins moving up and to the right this year. We had previously guided 50 basis points plus a margin improvement. We think it’s more like 75 basis points plus now. We will tell you that every quarter won’t be linear.

Mix will impact it. And we’re not really prepared to give margin guidance by quarter. But we feel really good about the trajectory of our margins over time. As we continue to contribute or add additional information, I know we highlighted in our release and our comments and I’m sure you will have more comments about it as this call goes on.

Rupesh Parikh: Great. And then maybe just two related questions just on the environment. So you guys have tremendous momentum throughout your portfolio, but the pet category is clearly a challenge out there and some concerns about the U.S. consumer as well. So we’d just love to hear just what you guys are seeing in the pet category and then just any shifts you’re seeing from a consumer behavior perspective?

Cord Christensen: Rupesh, this is Cord, and thanks for the questions. We’re watching the Product categories more than we were. There’s definitely pressure on some of them that is different than what we’re seeing. Our categories are still in good organic growth and obviously we’re growing significantly faster than the category. So we have not seen the consumer deprioritizing their pet healthcare where they are able to trade down and some of the other categories or go without.

Rupesh Parikh: Okay, great. And then just my final question. So just on the flea tick season or I guess in terms of how you guys plan the year, any changes versus what your initial thoughts were in planning for an average year? Is that essentially how it’s playing out so far?

Cord Christensen: Michael, why don’t you take that one?

Michael Smith: Yes, Rupesh. When we modeled the year, we call it a 5% on a scale of 1% to 5%, kind of an average year. If you’re looking at the first three to four months of the season, we would say that the year-to-date score is more like a 6%. And what we are projecting for the rest of the year would be consistent with that early read that we’re seeing on the season. So slightly favorable compared to our original modeling which had the category growing 3%. Category is actually growing closer to 4% to 5% and, as Cord mentioned, we’re well north of that performance for our portfolio and we would expect pretty consistent trend throughout the rest of the year looking at the weather patterns, variety of different metrics that we get to read the tea leaves, if you will, on the quality of the season tell us we should expect something like a 5% or 6% on that scale of 1% to 10%.

Rupesh Parikh: Okay. Great. Thank you. I’ll pass it along.

Operator: The next question comes from Jon Andersen with William Blair. Please proceed.

Jon Andersen: Good afternoon, everybody. Congrats on the quarter. I wanted to ask about the marketing spending. Are you still planning on at this point spending — I think it’s an incremental $12 million for the year. What is the cadence of that? And if you can talk a little bit about how you’re applying those dollars? Obviously, you don’t want to talk too much from competitive reasons, but kind of maybe big picture where those dollars are being applied in the Products and/or Services businesses. Thanks.

Cord Christensen: Hey, thanks, John. Thanks for the question. Yes, we are adding the $12 million. It’s on a base of $44 million. So we have significant investments already being made across the entire year. The incremental $12 million is heavily front-year loaded. So you’ll spend close to $10 million in the front half of the year. And then a balance will be spent in the back half. But we have ample spread across that. We don’t love talking about where and how we’re spending for competitive reasons. But I can tell you that, as we’ve said before, we are measuring it. We’re seeing the return while we’re exceeding our projections and the categories. And we feel good that we’re still going into the right amount of spend for how we can affect our Company’s brand and our sales and profits. So you definitely can see it in the numbers.