WW International, Inc. (NASDAQ:WW) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Stephanie Davis: Hi, guys, thank you for taking my question. Sima, I applaud the B2B shift. I do think it makes a lot of sense. But I do want to acknowledge that when digital health companies make a pivot from B2C to B2B, there’s a lot of investment costs around back end rebuild and salesforce structure that’s necessary to accept insurance, and sell to employers and payers. And that also means a lot of headcount costs. So with that in mind, can you just walk us through how we should think about the forward investment spend to make some of these shifts you’ve talked about? And given the scrutiny being put on vendor health by some of these payers, and employers as they look to go and significant-up new folks, I know you guys have a great brand, but how are you talking through your leverage as you have these conversations?

Sima Sistani: Thanks for the question, Stephanie. Good news. I’m here to report, we’ve been in this business for like two decades. And so the infrastructure is there. And yes, the sales motion is a bit different now. As we move from perks to a covered benefit, but a lot of that infrastructure is already here and had been simmering. And it’s really exciting that we get to put that business to work now. And in terms of the build out, as I mentioned, you would be surprised most of it, I would say, is already in our G&A. So this is really just about engaging in the strategic conversations. And what we’re finding is a lot of excitement for a trusted brand to drive the right level of enrollment and engagement that makes the ROI worth it. And the payers, they’re looking for cost mitigation. They’re looking for lasting outcomes. They want ROI for metabolic conditions. And we have a unified solution.

Heather Stark: I just want to add on to that, Stephanie, that – to Sima’s comment on G&A, we have guided to expecting G&A of $210 million to $220 million, which is down from $223 million in 2023. And that includes the net new clinical business, obviously, but also the investment in B2B. So when Sima says it’s included in there, it’s included in there, but it’s done withholding our G&A, below flat year-over-year, with the investment that we’re making.

Stephanie Davis: Understood. A quick follow-up on that. I get that you’ve sold to employers before. I’ve seen the B2B booth, but accepting insurance requires a lot of back end programming in an app. So is that all factored in in G&A? Is that like a build out that you’ve already done and you’ve hired that kind of headcount? How should we think about that? And then you touched on this, my actual follow-up, about accessibility headwinds. But it was brought up by some of the drug distributors as something that could be a headwind for the year. So how are you managing access to the treatment? And are you have any willingness this year to compound alternatives as there’s demand?

Sima Sistani: Okay, let me I’ll follow-up.

Stephanie Davis: Long question, I know. Very long question.

Sima Sistani: Okay, no, I’ll let Heather handle leverage. But on the follow-up, I think – what you’re talking about more is the claim billing. And yes, that is obviously there is an operational…

Stephanie Davis: It’s an annoying process to go through.

Sima Sistani: Exactly. And so, yes, we are doing that work to contract with insurance carriers to allow for billing for services. Currently, we’re pursuing both in-house strategies as well as partnerships. And we expect to be rolling this out in phases, the first of which was on the R&Ds that we mentioned. But we’ll be getting into labs as well as clinicians and doing all the requisite contracting and provisioning that is required. So absolutely, that’s a lift and shift and its happening.

Heather Stark: And then the other part of your question was around system and people investments. And yes, those are included in our G&A. Some of it is in our gross margin, depending the type of system that it is. But these are factored in.

Stephanie Davis: Awesome. Thank you, guys.

Heather Stark: Welcome.

Operator: The next question comes from Karru Martinson with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Karru Martinson: Good afternoon. I think the last caller referenced this, but in terms of the medication supply, what are you seeing there? And is that a headwind for you guys in terms of growing clinical this year?

Sima Sistani: I mean, yes, we’re in a cautious posture, as I mentioned. We are seeing that with the entry of [ZepFound] that there has been some more opportunity there. And we can only report out what we’re seeing between, what the Novo and Lilly are sharing out. But what we are doing is within the clinic business, we have a programmatic way of reporting out, which pharmacies have the supply. And so, when a member is unable to get their supply from a certain location, we can then basically point them to the nearest location with supply. And this has been a really great feature that has helped our retention. Its proprietary data, and we have been using that to help our members in the meantime. But yes, we have that, the same public information that you all do. But alongside this proprietary information that we’re getting through the pharmacies, we feel good about our ability to sort of work through the supply-constrained environment.

Karru Martinson: Okay. And then when we look at liquidity, first quarter, if you can remind me again, about $20 million of cash went out for the restructuring that you had accrued last year. And then, kind of what are the remaining cash payments for the restructuring that you need to make?

Heather Stark: Yes. So the $20 million that we referenced associated with cash going out for restructuring is the full year 2024 estimate. Q1 was approximately $13 in cash of that $20. And in terms of cash use, our first quarter is obviously a high cash use first quarter with marketing, certain compensation items like bonus. And then entering the second quarter, we also had the Sequence acquisition. And then, obviously our interest coverage as well.