Medifast Inc (MED) 2021 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Medifast Fiscal Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Medifast 2021 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Reed Anderson with ICR. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議轉交給 ICR 的里德安德森 (Reed Anderson)。請繼續。

Good afternoon, and welcome to Medifast's Fourth Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. On the call with me today are Dan Chard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Jim Maloney, Chief Financial Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the earnings release for the period ended December 31, 2021, that went out this afternoon at approximately 4:05 p.m. Eastern Time. If you have not received the release, it is available on the Investor Relations portion of Medifast's website at www.medifastinc.com. This call is being webcast, and a replay will be available on the company's website.

下午好，歡迎參加快驗保 2021 年第四季財報電話會議。今天與我通話的是董事長兼執行長 Dan Chard；吉姆·馬洛尼，財務長。到目前為止，每個人都應該可以查看截至 2021 年 12 月 31 日的財報，該財報於今天下午 4 點左右發布。東部時間。如果您尚未收到該新聞稿，可以在快驗保網站 www.medifastinc.com 的投資者關係部分取得。該電話會議正在網路直播，並將在公司網站上提供重播。

Before we begin, we would like to remind everyone that the prepared remarks contain forward-looking statements, and management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions. The words believe, expect, anticipate and other similar expressions generally identify forward-looking statements. These statements do not guarantee future performance, and therefore, undue reliance should not be placed upon them. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements. All the forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this call. Medifast assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking projections that may be made in today's release or call.

在開始之前，我們想提醒大家，準備好的言論包含前瞻性陳述，管理階層可能會針對您的問題做出額外的前瞻性陳述。相信、期望、預期和其他類似表達方式通常可識別前瞻性陳述。這些陳述並不保證未來的表現，因此，不應過度依賴它們。實際結果可能與任何前瞻性陳述中的預測有重大差異。本文所包含的所有前瞻性陳述僅代表本次電話會議當天的情況。快驗保沒有義務更新今天的新聞稿或電話會議中可能做出的任何前瞻性預測。

And with that, I would like to turn the call over to Medifast's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Dan Chard.

說到這裡，我想將電話轉給快驗保 (Medifast) 的董事長兼執行長；丹·查德.

Thank you, Reed, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for taking time to be with us. On the call with me today is Jim Maloney, our Chief Financial Officer. I'll start with an overview of the fourth quarter, then Jim will run through our financial results in more detail. Following our prepared remarks, we will open up the call to your questions.

謝謝里德，大家下午好。感謝您抽出時間與我們同在。今天與我通話的是我們的財務長吉姆馬洛尼 (Jim Maloney)。我將從第四季度的概述開始，然後吉姆將更詳細地介紹我們的財務表現。在我們準備好的發言之後，我們將開始電話詢問您的問題。

2021 was another record year for Medifast as we continue to demonstrate the power of our coach-centric model to positively impact millions of OPTAVIA clients' lives and drive strong financial performance. In the fourth quarter, revenue increased 42.6% over the prior year period to $377.8 million, reflecting strong execution in all areas of the business. Earnings per diluted share were $2.91, a 23.3% increase over the prior year period. The number of active earning OPTAVIA Coaches grew 35.3% to 59,800 on a year-over-year basis, and productivity per active earning OPTAVIA Coach rose 6.6% to $6,321.

2021 年對 Medifast 來說又是創紀錄的一年，我們繼續展示以教練為中心的模式的力量，以積極影響數百萬 OPTAVIA 客戶的生活並推動強勁的財務業績。第四季營收較上年同期成長 42.6% 至 3.778 億美元，反映出公司各業務領域的強勁執行力。稀釋後每股收益為 2.91 美元，比去年同期成長 23.3%。活躍獲利 OPTAVIA Coach 的數量年增 35.3%，達到 59,800 名，活躍獲利 OPTAVIA Coach 的平均生產力成長 6.6%，達到 6,321 美元。

Jim will dive deeper into our performance in just a few minutes, but I want to take the opportunity to dig into why the Board, the leadership team and I are so aligned in our belief that Medifast has an unparalleled opportunity ahead of it right now as we move into the next phase of our remarkable growth journey. 5 years ago, there were undoubtedly those who are skeptical about the ability of Medifast to deliver on our long-term growth goals. They saw us as a manufacturer and omnichannel distributor of diet products and made some assumptions around what we could achieve. The reality is that time and time again, we have outperformed expectations. Our business is now more than doubled twice since we implemented the strategy to put the coach-centric vision at the heart of the business.

吉姆將在短短幾分鐘內深入探討我們的表現，但我想藉此機會深入探討為什麼董事會、領導團隊和我如此一致地相信快驗保現在面臨著無與倫比的機會，因為我們進入了非凡成長之旅的下一階段。五年前，毫無疑問有人對快驗保實現我們長期成長目標的能力持懷疑態度。他們將我們視為飲食產品的製造商和全通路經銷商，並對我們能夠實現的目標做出了一些假設。現實是，我們的表現一次又一次超乎預期。自從我們實施以教練為中心的願景作為業務核心的策略以來，我們的業務現在已經成長了一倍多。

That coach-focused approach is clinically proven to be effective, and is being propelled by an innovative approach that fuses the best aspects of direct selling and direct-to-consumer offerings. This has enabled us to create a truly differentiated and unique model that puts the OPTAVIA Coach at the center of helping clients on their health and wellness transformation journeys with personalized support. With this engine powering our momentum, we have moved from $275 million in revenue prior to the launch of OPTAVIA and the new business model to today announcing revenues in excess of $1.5 billion. This will seem like extraordinary growth to casual onlookers and certainly, it's a testament to our strategy and the team behind it. However, for those of us inside the business, it really is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we are capable of achieving.

這種以教練為中心的方法已被臨床證明是有效的，並且受到融合直銷和直接面向消費者產品最佳方面的創新方法的推動。這使我們能夠創建一個真正差異化和獨特的模式，將 OPTAVIA Coach 置於中心位置，透過個人化支援來幫助客戶完成健康轉型之旅。憑藉這一引擎推動我們的發展勢頭，我們的收入從推出 OPTAVIA 和新業務模式之前的 2.75 億美元發展到今天宣布的收入超過 15 億美元。對於旁觀者來說，這似乎是非凡的成長，當然，這證明了我們的策略及其背後的團隊。然而，對於我們這些業內人士來說，就我們所能實現的目標而言，這實際上只是冰山一角。

The success of our transformation to a coach-centric model reached an important milestone this past year as we became the market leader by dollar share in the weight management category in the United States, supplanting some long-standing competitors in this space who just a few years ago were more than 4x our size in terms of total revenue. However, we're not content to rest on our laurels. When we began our business transformation 5 years ago, we set out on our mission to offer the world lifelong transformation, one healthy habit at a time, and we defined at that point our U.S. addressable market as the $7 billion weight loss through commercial meal plans and replacements.

去年，我們成功轉型為以教練為中心的模式，達到了一個重要的里程碑，以美元份額計算，我們成為美國體重管理類別的市場領導者，取代了該領域的一些長期競爭對手。就總收入而言，幾年前我們的規模是我們的四倍以上。然而，我們並不滿足於現狀。 5 年前，當我們開始業務轉型時，我們的使命是為世界帶來終生轉變，一次一種健康習慣，當時我們將美國的目標市場定義為透過商業膳食計劃實現 70 億美元的減肥效果和替代品。

Having achieved significant success, our differentiated model gives us unique permission to play in a much wider space than we do today. As such, it's clear that we can now expand our penetration into the broader $230 billion U.S. market for health and wellness far more deeply than we do today. Technology will be at the core of our expanded growth journey. We will leverage technology, digital apps and data to improve the efficiency of our Coach and Client community and will add to our strong platform of clinically proven products and the Habits of Health system. This will make our offer more attractive to increasing numbers of coaches and clients and unlock opportunities for new service and subscription offers. This will, in turn, increase Coach efficiency in attracting new clients, enhancing lifetime value of OPTAVIA clients and continue to offer improvements in field-led training of new OPTAVIA Coaches.

在取得巨大成功後，我們的差異化模式賦予我們獨特的許可，讓我們能夠在比今天更廣闊的空間中發揮作用。因此，很明顯，我們現在可以比今天更深入地擴大對價值 2300 億美元的美國健康和保健市場的滲透。科技將成為我們擴大成長之旅的核心。我們將利用技術、數位應用程式和數據來提高教練和客戶社群的效率，並將添加到我們經過臨床驗證的產品和健康習慣系統的強大平台中。這將使我們的服務對越來越多的教練和客戶更具吸引力，並釋放新服務和訂閱優惠的機會。反過來，這將提高教練吸引新客戶的效率，提高 OPTAVIA 客戶的終身價值，並繼續改進新 OPTAVIA 教練的現場主導培訓。

Enhancing our technological capabilities has been a key area of investment over the past several years and will accelerate as we move forward. We are seeing solid progress in our proprietary OPTAVIA apps, which have cumulatively been downloaded over 300,000 times by clients and coaches since launching late last year. The OPTAVIA apps drive deeper and more consistent engagement and are central to our long-term strategy of seamlessly connecting OPTAVIA Coaches and Clients within the OPTAVIA community. The OPTAVIA app, which is designed to support clients on their health transformation journey, added over 91,000 new users in the fourth quarter. Each user of the app is now connected in a new way to their coach and provides the capability to communicate even more closely with their coach as well as manage their subscription order for OPTAVIA products. It also gives clients access to over 125 healthy lean and green recipes that support the habit of healthy eating and makes OPTAVIA more central and front of mind in their pursuit of lifelong transformation.

增強我們的技術能力一直是過去幾年投資的關鍵領域，並將隨著我們的前進而加速。我們看到我們專有的 OPTAVIA 應用程式取得了紮實的進展，自去年年底推出以來，客戶和教練已累計下載超過 30 萬次。 OPTAVIA 應用程式推動更深入、更一致的參與，是我們在 OPTAVIA 社群內無縫連接 OPTAVIA 教練和客戶的長期策略的核心。 OPTAVIA 應用程式旨在為客戶的健康轉型之旅提供支持，第四季度新增用戶超過 91,000 名。該應用程式的每個用戶現在都以一種新的方式與他們的教練連接，並提供與他們的教練更密切地溝通以及管理他們的 OPTAVIA 產品訂閱訂單的功能。它還為客戶提供了超過 125 種健康的精益和綠色食譜，這些食譜支持健康飲食的習慣，並使 OPTAVIA 在他們追求終身轉型的過程中更加重要和重要。

Our core focus will continue to be on growing the number of clients seeking greater health and wellness, targeting those who have failed on diets and want a holistic approach to achieving greater health and wellness in their lives. However, our mission cannot and will not stop there, and I'm excited by some of the initiatives that we are considering to help further deepen and widen our engagement with consumers. Our client community is now comprised of over 1 million individuals annually who rely on OPTAVIA Coaches throughout their health and wellness journeys. Most of these clients are here in the United States. As we continue to expand into the broader health and wellness segment under this market, we have continued to prioritize a global approach based on the learnings we've had thus far in select international markets.

我們的核心重點將繼續是增加尋求更健康的客戶數量，針對那些節食失敗並希望採取整體方法在生活中實現更健康的客戶。然而，我們的使命不能也不會就此止步，我對我們正在考慮採取的一些舉措感到興奮，這些舉措有助於進一步加深和擴大我們與消費者的接觸。我們的客戶社群現在每年有超過 100 萬人在整個健康和保健之旅中依賴 OPTAVIA 教練。這些客戶大多數都在美國。隨著我們繼續擴展到該市場下更廣泛的健康和保健領域，我們將根據迄今為止在選定的國際市場上獲得的經驗，繼續優先考慮全球方法。

As we look at consumer trends and evolving behaviors in the health and wellness space, our surveys revealed several interesting insights to support the effectiveness of our OPTAVIA Coach model. We know, for example, that in late 2020, more than half of U.S. adults adopted new, positive health routines amid the pandemic, 96% of whom plan to continue embracing healthy habits throughout the year. Six months later, we found that 84% of Americans were actively working towards achieving their health goals. The #1 reason U.S. adults wanted to prioritize their health and wellness was to feel better, both physically and mentally. Typically, people have set resolutions and vow to make changes to their health as they enter a new year. However, our most recent survey suggests that New Year resolutions could be a thing of the past. The number of people setting New Year resolutions has decreased annually according to our surveys, and only 10% of U.S. adults stick with their resolutions. The primary reason respondents failed was loss of motivation, followed by not having a plan or the right support.

當我們研究健康和保健領域的消費者趨勢和不斷變化的行為時，我們的調查揭示了一些有趣的見解，以支持我們的 OPTAVIA Coach 模型的有效性。例如，我們知道，在 2020 年底，超過一半的美國成年人在疫情期間採取了新的、積極的健康習慣，其中 96% 的人計劃全年繼續保持健康習慣。六個月後，我們發現 84% 的美國人正在積極努力實現他們的健康目標。美國成年人希望優先考慮自己的健康和保健的第一大原因是身體和精神上都感覺更好。通常，人們會在進入新的一年時制定決心並發誓要改變自己的健康狀況。然而，我們最近的調查表明，新年決心可能已成為過去。根據我們的調查，制定新年計畫的人數逐年減少，只有 10% 的美國成年人能夠堅持自己的計畫。受訪者失敗的主要原因是失去動力，其次是沒有計畫或正確的支持。

Less than half of U.S. adults said they were planning on setting a 2022 New Year's resolution, with many wanting to take a different approach and incorporate small changes into their daily lives throughout the year. These findings suggest that consumers are prioritizing health and well-being in all areas of their lives, and searching for better ways to accomplish their goals year round. Our unique OPTAVIA model has proven effective in helping people achieve their individual health and wellness goals with the right support, and we believe that it can be the solution to those looking for lasting change.

不到一半的美國成年人表示，他們計劃制定 2022 年新年決心，其中許多人希望採取不同的方法，將一些小改變融入他們全年的日常生活中。這些發現表明，消費者在生活的各個方面都優先考慮健康和福祉，並尋找更好的方法來實現全年的目標。事實證明，我們獨特的 OPTAVIA 模式在正確的支持下可以有效幫助人們實現個人健康和保健目標，我們相信它可以成為尋求持久改變的人的解決方案。

While parts of our business model may have been initially founded on the direct selling approach, we have moved substantially away from the traditional model in recent years to develop a differentiated system that is more reflective of the way consumer behaviors and demands are shifting. A comparison of our results in recent years substantially underscores this point. Over the past 3 years, our annual sales growth rates were 42% in 2019, 31% in 2020 and 63% in 2021. On the other hand, major public direct sellers had average annual sales growth rates of negative 7%, positive 5% and positive 2% in the same periods, respectively. The largest annual sales growth rate recorded by any major public direct seller during the same time frame was less than 14%. Moreover, in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, our sales growth was very strong at 31%, but saw some deceleration from prior -- the prior year. Traditional direct sellers on the other hand, saw a material acceleration in 2020 as people look not for health transformation but for alternative income generating options tied to the pandemic uncertainties.

雖然我們的部分業務模式最初可能是建立在直銷方式的基礎上的，但近年來我們已經大大偏離了傳統模式，開發了一個更能反映消費者行為和需求變化方式的差異化系統。我們近年來的結果的比較充分強調了這一點。過去3年，我們的年銷售額成長率分別是2019年42%、2020年31%、2021年63%。另一方面，主要公共直銷員年均銷售額成長率為負7%、正5%同期分別成長2% 及2%。同期主要公共直銷商記錄的最大年銷售額成長率不到 14%。此外，在 2020 年，即疫情爆發的第一年，我們的銷售額成長非常強勁，達到 31%，但與前一年相比有所放緩。另一方面，傳統直銷商在 2020 年出現了實質加速，因為人們尋求的不是健康轉型，而是與疫情不確定性相關的替代創收選擇。

At OPTAVIA, we're building a deeply connected community, optimized by a powerful network effect rather than a fluctuating direct sales model. We believe that we have a compelling value proposition and that our platform is highly scalable, fortified by our significant investment in technology and infrastructure. As of the end of 2021, over 90% of our revenue is subscription-based and 100% of our orders are direct to consumer, which drive strong, consistent growth in revenue and profits.

在 OPTAVIA，我們正在建立一個深度互聯的社區，透過強大的網路效應而不是波動的直銷模式進行最佳化。我們相信，我們擁有令人信服的價值主張，並且我們的平台具有高度可擴展性，這得益於我們對技術和基礎設施的大量投資。截至 2021 年底，我們超過 90% 的收入來自訂閱，並且 100% 的訂單直接面向消費者，這推動了收入和利潤的強勁、持續成長。

Operationally, we're in a strong position. We believe that our accelerated investment in the fourth quarter, including our partnership with a 3PL company on a new distribution center in Fort Worth, Texas, will help us further increase our supply chain capacity to support over $2.5 billion in revenue by the end of 2022. This represents $500 million in manufacturing and fulfillment capacity beyond where we finished in 2021.

在營運方面，我們處於有利地位。我們相信，我們在第四季度的加速投資，包括與一家3PL 公司在德克薩斯州沃思堡建立新配送中心的合作，將幫助我們進一步提高供應鏈能力，到2022 年底支持超過25 億美元的收入這意味著我們的製造和履行能力超出了 2021 年的水平 5 億美元。

We continue to build out our technology and innovation lab in Utah and invest in other technology tools, including our proprietary apps to drive Coach productivity even higher. Since we first shifted to the coach-centric model in 2016, revenue per active earning Coach is up more than 50%, and we believe that we're just getting started.

我們繼續在猶他州建立我們的技術和創新實驗室，並投資其他技術工具，包括我們的專有應用程序，以提高 Coach 的生產力。自從我們在 2016 年首次轉向以教練為中心的模式以來，每個活躍賺錢教練的收入增長了 50% 以上，我們相信我們才剛剛開始。

We have talked at length about our commitment to maintain mid-teens revenue growth and 15% operating margin annually. Revenue will be fueled by the large addressable health and wellness market in the United States and our continued expansion into the Asia-Pacific markets and other large markets throughout the world. Our margins will be driven by strong underlying demand from consumers for our unique coach-based solution.

我們已經詳細討論了我們對維持每年 15% 左右的收入成長和 15% 營業利潤率的承諾。美國龐大的健康和保健市場以及我們向亞太市場和世界各地其他大型市場的持續擴張將推動收入的成長。我們的利潤將受到消費者對我們獨特的基於教練的解決方案的強烈潛在需求的推動。

Over the near term, we expect margins to benefit from increasing scale and operational efficiencies as we leverage our recent investments, though there will be short-term margin pressure this year from the continued investment in technology and supply chain infrastructure. While mid-teens revenue growth and 15% operating margins remain the focus of our sustainable long-term financial goals, we believe there is significant upside in growth potential above and beyond these objectives as we invest in the business, leverage our assets and develop new capabilities to drive growth and operational efficiencies.

短期內，我們預計，隨著我們利用最近的投資，利潤率將受益於規模的擴大和營運效率的提高，儘管今年將因技術和供應鏈基礎設施的持續投資而面臨短期利潤率壓力。雖然十幾歲左右的收入成長和15% 的營業利潤率仍然是我們可持續長期財務目標的重點，但我們相信，隨著我們投資業務、利用我們的資產並開發新的業務，超越這些目標的成長潛力還有巨大的上升空間。推動成長和營運效率的能力。

We have a highly experienced management team, a proven strategy and a differentiated market approach. We will continue to pull all the levers available to us to drive consistent growth in our metrics. And as we look to the future, we believe that there is significant upside as we focus on delivering our growth ambitions. As we grow, we remain committed to building on our corporate values that include giving back to our communities. Over the past 2 years, urgent social and environmental challenges required companies to reimagine their corporate giving and social responsibility strategies and rethink the impact they leave on future generations. Medifast's commitment to lifelong transformation starts with the work that our independent OPTAVIA Coaches do and includes actively supporting the communities where they live and work. OPTAVIA has impacted more than 2 million lives, but we believe we have the power to do more.

我們擁有經驗豐富的管理團隊、行之有效的策略和差異化的市場策略。我們將繼續利用一切可用的槓桿來推動我們指標的持續成長。展望未來，我們相信，只要我們專注於實現成長目標，就會有巨大的上升空間。隨著我們的成長，我們仍然致力於建立我們的企業價值觀，其中包括回饋我們的社區。過去兩年，緊迫的社會和環境挑戰要求企業重新構想其企業捐贈和社會責任策略，並重新思考它們對子孫後代的影響。快驗保對終身轉型的承諾始於我們獨立 OPTAVIA 教練所做的工作，包括積極支持他們生活和工作的社區。 OPTAVIA 已經影響了超過 200 萬人的生活，但我們相信我們有能力做得更多。

Our corporate social responsibility initiative, Healthy Habits For All, advances our mission by providing underserved communities with education and access to healthy habits. Through partnership with nonprofits, we can help break the generational chains of poor health to give children and families in at-risk communities the ability to transform their health and wellness destinies. This is reflected in the partnership between our corporate team and our coaches in supporting the deserving communities across the globe. Together, we hit an important milestone this year, delivering up to 10 million nutritious meals to kids in need to our partnership with the nonprofit, No Kid Hungry.

我們的企業社會責任倡議「全民健康習慣」透過為服務不足的社區提供教育和養成健康習慣來推進我們的使命。透過與非營利組織合作，我們可以幫助打破健康狀況不佳的代際鏈條，使高風險社區的兒童和家庭能夠改變他們的健康和福祉命運。這體現在我們的企業團隊和教練之間在支持全球有需要的社區方面的合作夥伴關係。今年，我們共同實現了一個重要的里程碑，透過與非營利組織 No Kid Hungry 的合作，為有需要的兒童提供了多達 1000 萬份營養餐。

I'll close my remarks with an update on what's to come for the program. In 2022, we will be focused on the education pillar of this initiative. Our Healthy Habits For All curriculum go live and is designed to teach students about healthy habits. We believe children will be better prepared to make healthy choices a reality, this knowledge and greater access with critical resources despite socioeconomic background. This will be an important and exciting year for Medifast as we look to build on our leadership position in the weight management market and broaden our approach to focus on new segments in the broader health and wellness market. We've made meaningful progress in advancing our work in operational infrastructure development and technological advancements over the past year. We'll look to leverage these investments through and during 2022 to drive further growth. We have a strong and experienced leadership team and a team of employees who continue to show passion and commitment to our important mission. Much to be optimistic about and look forward to delivering on our vision in the months ahead.

我將透過該計劃的最新進展來結束我的發言。 2022年，我們將重點放在這項措施的教育支柱上。我們的「全民健康習慣」課程上線，旨在向學生傳授健康習慣。我們相信，無論社會經濟背景如何，兒童都將做好更好的準備，讓健康的選擇成為現實，了解這些知識並更多地獲得關鍵資源。對於快驗保來說，這將是重要且令人興奮的一年，因為我們希望鞏固我們在體重管理市場的領導地位，並拓寬我們的方法，專注於更廣泛的健康和保健市場的新細分市場。過去一年，我們在推動營運基礎設施開發和技術進步方面取得了有意義的進展。我們將尋求在 2022 年及期間利用這些投資來推動進一步成長。我們擁有強大且經驗豐富的領導團隊和員工團隊，他們不斷對我們的重要使命展現熱情和承諾。有很多事情值得樂觀，並期待在未來幾個月實現我們的願景。

Let me now turn the call over to Jim Maloney, who will walk you through the financial results. Jim?

現在讓我將電話轉給吉姆·馬洛尼，他將向您介紹財務表現。吉姆？

Thank you, Dan. Good afternoon, everyone. Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2021 increased 42.6% to $377.8 million from $264.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. We ended the quarter with over 59,800 active earning OPTAVIA Coaches, an increase of 35.3% from the fourth quarter of 2020. Average revenue per active earning OPTAVIA Coach from the fourth quarter was $6,321, up 6.6% from the prior year period.

謝謝你，丹。大家下午好。 2021 年第四季的營收從2020 年第四季的2.649 億美元成長了42.6%，達到3.778 億美元。截至本季末，我們有超過59,800 名活躍的OPTAVIA 教練，比2020 年第四季成長了35.3%. OPTAVIA Coach 第四季的主動盈餘為 6,321 美元，比去年同期成長 6.6%。

We were pleased with the Coach growth and productivity gains on a year-over-year basis compared to the record highs we achieved in the third quarter, we believe the sequential declines in the fourth quarter reflects seasonal factors as well as the impact of our supply chain transition earlier in the year that we discussed with you during our Q3 call.

與第三季創下的歷史新高相比，我們對 Coach 的同比增長和生產率提高感到滿意，我們認為第四季度的連續下降反映了季節性因素以及我們供應的影響今年早些時候，我們在第三在季度的電話會議中與您討論了連鎖轉型。

Gross profit for the fourth quarter of 2021 increased 39.7% to $278.3 million compared to $199.2 million in the prior year period reflecting strong revenue growth, partially offset by increased cost of sales. Gross profit margin was 73.7% in the fourth quarter of 2021 versus 75.2% in the comparable prior year period. A 150 basis point decline in gross margin was attributable to higher product and shipping costs.

2021 年第四季的毛利成長 39.7%，達到 2.783 億美元，而去年同期為 1.992 億美元，反映出營收強勁成長，但部分被銷售成本增加所抵銷。 2021 年第四季的毛利率為 73.7%，而去年同期為 75.2%。毛利率下降 150 個基點是由於產品和運輸成本上升。

We instituted a 3.5% pricing increase in December 2021 to offset the recent inflation pressures we've experienced in raw materials and transportation. We continue to expect pricing strategies, productivity programs and scale-related efficiency in distribution and manufacturing to drive improvement in gross margin over the long term. SG&A expenses for the fourth quarter of 2021 increased 43.5% to $231.4 million compared to $161.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. SG&A as a percentage of revenue increased 40 basis points year-over-year to 61.3% versus 60.9% in the fourth quarter of 2020. The increase was primarily due to higher OPTAVIA Coach compensation expense, increased salaries and benefits-related expenses for employees, incremental costs related to continued investment in information technology and distribution and increased credit card fees resulting from higher sales.

我們於 2021 年 12 月將價格上漲 3.5%，以抵銷近期原材料和運輸所經歷的通膨壓力。我們仍然預計定價策略、生產力計劃以及分銷和製造方面與規模相關的效率將推動長期毛利率的改善。 2021 年第四季的 SG&A 支出成長 43.5%，達到 2.314 億美元，而 2020 年第四季為 1.613 億美元。SG&A 佔營收的百分比年增 40 個基點，達到 61.3%，而第四季為 60.9% 2020 年的成長主要是由於OPTAVIA Coach 薪資費用增加、員工薪資和福利相關費用增加、與資訊科技和分銷持續投資相關的增量成本以及銷售額增加導致的信用卡費用增加。

Income from operations increased 23.4% or $8.8 million to $46.8 million as a result of higher gross profit partially offset by increased SG&A expenses. Income from operations as a percentage of revenue was 12.4% for the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to 14.3% in the same period in 2020. The effective tax rate was 27.2% for the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to 26% in the prior year's fourth quarter. The increase in the effective tax rate was primarily driven by an increase in state income tax rate and the limitations on executive compensation, partially offset by tax benefit of stock compensation. Net income in the fourth quarter of 2021 was $34 million or $2.91 per share compared to net income of $28 million or $2.36 per share in the prior year's fourth quarter.

營運收入成長 23.4%，即 880 萬美元，達到 4,680 萬美元，原因是毛利的增加被銷售、一般管理費用的增加部分抵銷。 Income from operations as a percentage of revenue was 12.4% for the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to 14.3% in the same period in 2020. The effective tax rate was 27.2% for the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to 26% in the prior year's fourth四分之一.有效稅率的上升主要是由於國家所得稅率的上升和高管薪酬的限制所推動的，但部分被股票薪酬的稅收優惠所抵消。 2021 年第四季的淨利潤為 3,400 萬美元，即每股 2.91 美元，而去年第四季的淨利潤為 2,800 萬美元，即每股 2.36 美元。

Turning to our balance sheet. We believe our financial position remains strong with no interest-bearing debt and approximately $110 million of cash, cash equivalents and investment securities at the end of the fourth quarter. The reduction in cash compared to a year earlier was primarily due to the growth in net inventory to mitigate supply disruption as we had abnormally low levels of inventory at the start of 2021. In addition, we had higher capital expenditures this past year to support our long-term growth initiatives related to technology and capacity expansion. Finally, we provided a return to shareholders in the form of stock repurchases and dividends that we believe is best-in-class for such a high-growth business.

轉向我們的資產負債表。我們相信，我們的財務狀況依然強勁，截至第四季末沒有帶息債務，現金、現金等價物和投資證券約為 1.1 億美元。與去年同期相比現金減少主要是由於淨庫存成長，以緩解供應中斷，因為我們在 2021 年初的庫存水準異常低。此外，去年我們的資本支出更高，以支持我們的業務與技術和產能擴張相關的長期成長措施。最後，我們以股票回購和股息的形式為股東提供了回報，我們認為這對於如此高成長的業務來說是同類最佳的。

During the fourth quarter of 2021, the company repurchased another $10 million worth of stock, bringing our total repurchases to $56 million in 2021. There are approximately 2.1 million shares remaining under the company's stock repurchase program as of December 31, 2021. Given our expected trajectory for revenue and earnings growth over the next several years, we continue to believe share repurchase remains a compelling way to enhance stockholder value. Finally, in December 2021, the company's Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $16.8 million or $1.42 per share that was paid on February 8, 2022, to stockholders of record as of December 21, 2021.

2021 年第四季，公司又回購了價值1,000 萬美元的股票，使2021 年回購總額達到5,600 萬美元。截至2021 年12 月31 日，公司股票回購計劃中剩餘約210 萬股。鑑於我們的預期考慮到未來幾年收入和獲利成長的軌跡，我們仍然相信股票回購仍然是提高股東價值的一種令人信服的方式。最後，公司董事會於 2021 年 12 月宣布，向截至 2021 年 12 月 21 日登記在冊的股東派發季度現金股息 1,680 萬美元，即每股 1.42 美元，並於 2022 年 2 月 8 日支付。

Turning to our guidance. For the full year 2022, we expect revenue in the range of $1.72 billion to $1.79 billion and diluted EPS to be in the range of $14.50 to $16. As Dan discussed, we believe we will be able to achieve mid-teens revenue growth and be able to achieve 15% operating margin in the long term. We expect, in the short-term, margin pressure this year from continued investment in technology and supply chain infrastructure. Our guidance assumes a 24.25% to 25.25% effective tax rate. The increase from the prior year's effective tax rate reflects the growth and expansion of our business as well as limitations of certain deductions.

轉向我們的指導。對於 2022 年全年，我們預計收入將在 17.2 億美元至 17.9 億美元之間，攤薄後每股收益將在 14.50 美元至 16 美元之間。正如丹所討論的，我們相信我們將能夠實現中雙位數的收入成長，並能夠在長期內實現 15% 的營業利潤率。我們預計，短期內，今年的利潤壓力將來自對技術和供應鏈基礎設施的持續投資。我們的指導假設有效稅率為 24.25% 至 25.25%。上一年有效稅率的增加反映了我們業務的成長和擴張以及某些扣除額的限制。

In closing, fourth quarter and full year 2021 results were strong in the face of continued challenges in the external environment, and we remain confident in our business model as we head into 2022. We continue to target mid-teens top line growth and 15% operating income margin in the long term, and we will remain confident in our ability to deliver strong, sustainable growth that we believe will enhance value for stockholders.

最後，面對外部環境的持續挑戰，2021 年第四季和全年業績表現強勁，進入 2022 年，我們對我們的業務模式仍然充滿信心。我們繼續目標是實現 15% 左右的營收成長從長遠來看，我們將繼續對我們實現強勁、可持續成長的能力充滿信心，我們相信這將提高股東的價值。

With that, let me turn the call over for questions. Operator?

接下來，讓我轉接電話詢問問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from Steph Wissink with Jefferies.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將由 Jefferies 的 Steph Wissink 提出。

The first one we wanted to explore was just the Coach count ending the year. And if you can give us any sense of how your Coach recruitment cycle is going year-to-date? Just want to get comfortable with that step down in Coach count that you're seeing some acceleration in that figure to hit your 15% growth guidance?

我們想要探索的第一個就是年底的教練數量。您能否讓我們了解今年迄今為止您的教練招募週期進展如何？只是想接受教練數量的下降，您看到該數字有所加速，以達到 15% 的增長指導嗎？

Sure. Thanks, Steph. Good to hear from you. Yes, as we talked about in the last quarter, we've seen some downward pressure on client-to-coach conversion really related to the earlier transitions we had in the first half of the year tied to the transformation of our supply chain or the increase of our capacity and supply chain. So it was expected. And what we've seen coming out of it, we ran our essential star promotion in the fourth quarter, which resulted in the expected number of new client cohort moving into the new year. So we feel confident with where our Coach count is going as we move into Q1.

當然。謝謝，史蒂芬。很高興聽到你的消息。是的，正如我們在上個季度談到的那樣，我們已經看到客戶向教練的轉換面臨一些下行壓力，這確實與我們在今年上半年進行的與供應鍊或運營商轉型相關的早期轉型有關.增加我們的產能和供應鏈。所以這是預料之中的。我們所看到的結果是，我們在第四季度進行了重要的明星促銷活動，這導致進入新的一年的新客戶群達到了預期的數量。因此，當我們進入第一季時，我們對教練數量的變化充滿信心。

Okay. Very helpful. And then on a related note, the productivity per Coach just continues to surprise us to the positive. So I wanted to just give you a little bit more airtime to talk about the initiatives that you think are contributing to that advancement in that figure. It's representing a larger percentage of the growth overall for the company. I just want to make sure we're thinking about 2022, the balance between Coach count growth and productivity embedded in your 15% growth guidance?

好的。很有幫助。與此相關的是，每位教練的生產力繼續讓我們感到驚喜。所以我想給你們多一點時間來談談你們認為有助於這數字進步的舉措。它在公司整體成長中所佔的比例更大。我只是想確保我們正在考慮 2022 年，教練人數增長與 15% 增長指導中的生產力之間的平衡？

You bet. When we started out and made the coach-centric model in the forefront of our overall business growth strategy, we at the same time focused on creating ways to make our Coaches more efficient. And there are a lot of ways to do that. Part of it relates to technology. Part of it relates to other people's technologies that are helping our Coaches be more efficient. Right now, what we are focused on is leveraging our investment in digital apps for one thing, to help our Coaches manage more clients. We also, over the period of the last couple of years, have found ways to move people to the more, I'd say, a higher value product line of OPTAVIA. That's been another piece.

你打賭。當我們開始並將以教練為中心的模式置於我們整體業務成長策略的最前沿時，我們同時專注於創造方法來提高我們的教練的效率。有很多方法可以做到這一點。其中一部分與技術有關。其中一部分與其他人的技術有關，這些技術正在幫助我們的教練提高效率。目前，我們的重點是利用我們對數位應用程式的投資，幫助我們的教練管理更多客戶。在過去的幾年裡，我們也找到了讓人們轉向更高價值的 OPTAVIA 產品線的方法。那是另一件作品了。

Going forward, though, it has to do with leveraging technology, leveraging data, and we continue to feel like there's a lot of upside to that Coach productivity number. Did we make clients more happy or we improved their experience with Coaches and we make coaches more effective by allowing them to manage more clients with less time, allowing them to perform the more value-added activities that we know drive the business growth and drive productivity.

不過，展望未來，這與利用科技、利用數據有關，我們仍然認為 Coach 的生產力數字有很大的上升空間。我們是否讓客戶更滿意，或者我們改善了他們與教練的體驗？我們讓教練用更少的時間管理更多的客戶，讓他們執行更多增值活動，我們知道這些活動可以推動業務成長並提高生產力，從而提高教練的效率。

Okay. That's helpful. My last one is on inventory. And I know, Jim, you talked a little bit about last year's comparable year-end inventory was just far too low. So part of this is just the optics of that comparison, but it was up quite a bit year-over-year. Help us think through the portion of that that's inflation-related, timing-related? Is there anything that would be in transit that we would need to consider in that year-end inventory balance? And then what do you think about the optimal inventory balance as we go forward? What do you want to carry in terms of just-in-time versus just-in-case?

好的。這很有幫助。我的最後一件是庫存的。我知道，吉姆，你談到了去年可比年末庫存太低了。因此，部分原因只是比較的表面現象，但比去年同期成長了不少。幫助我們思考一下與通貨膨脹相關、與時間相關的部分？在年終庫存餘額中，我們需要考慮哪些在途物品？那麼您對我們未來的最佳庫存平衡有何看法？就「及時」和「以防萬一」而言，您想攜帶什麼？

Sure. So as I mentioned in the remarks, so inventory, when we came into 2021, we're exceptionally low as a percent of our business. And if you remember, Steph, we were having stock outs at that time. So we intentionally invested and got levels of inventory to a more proper state. So the way I see 2022, revenue levels will increase with the growth of the business. So obviously, this past year, revenues surpassed and outpaced our revenue growth. But I would expect that we'll get back to a more normal flow based on the growth of our business. As we came into the beginning of this year, we wanted to make sure that we didn't have any disruption. And as of right now, we're not seeing any disruption due to inventory. And we're not expecting any for the foreseeable future.

當然。正如我在評論中提到的，當我們進入 2021 年時，庫存占我們業務的百分比非常低。如果你還記得的話，史蒂芬，我們當時缺貨。因此，我們有意識地進行投資，使庫存水準達到更合適的狀態。因此，我認為 2022 年收入水準將隨著業務的成長而增加。顯然，去年的收入超過並超過了我們的收入成長。但我預計我們將根據業務的成長恢復到更正常的流程。今年年初，我們希望確保不會受到任何干擾。截至目前，我們沒有看到因庫存而造成的任何中斷。在可預見的未來，我們預計不會有任何情況。

To your question about inflation, we are seeing inflation. And I mentioned that we took a price increase of 3.5%. That -- and we did that in December of last year. So we didn't really see a lift in revenues due to that price increase because it was really the last several weeks of the fiscal year, but our expectations for that price increase was to cover our costs. So the 3.5% increase is basically mirroring the increase in our raw ingredients and transportation. So hopefully, that helps.

對於你關於通貨膨脹的問題，我們正在看到通貨膨脹。我提到我們將價格上漲了 3.5%。我們在去年 12 月就做到了這一點。因此，我們並沒有真正看到由於價格上漲而帶來的收入成長，因為這實際上是本財年的最後幾週，但我們對價格上漲的預期是為了彌補我們的成本。所以3.5%的成長基本上反映了我們原料和運輸的成長。希望這會有所幫助。

Our next question will come from Linda Bolton-Weiser with D.A. Davidson.

我們的下一個問題將由 Linda Bolton-Weiser 和 D.A. 提出。戴維森。

So I was still curious about if you could give some general directionality on the gross margin and SG&A ratio for the next year. I mean with the price increase kind of kicking in to be a positive factor, do you think you can kind of maintain gross margin roughly going forward where it is? Meaning, it would be kind of flattish for 2022? Or any color you could give kind on that would be helpful.

所以我仍然很好奇您是否可以對明年的毛利率和銷售管理費用比率給出一些總體方向。我的意思是，隨著價格上漲成為一個積極因素，您認為您可以將毛利率大致維持在目前的水平嗎？這意味著 2022 年會有些平淡嗎？或者您可以提供的任何顏色都會有幫助。

Yes. So as I mentioned, Linda, we're expecting that the price increase is going to offset much of the inflation in 2022. So the good news about our business is we can basically see the inflation costs because we lock in a lot of our costs for about a 6- to 7-month period. So we have a good view of how inflation is going to affect 2022. So I would expect that gross margins on an overall basis to basically hold like you're suggesting.

是的。正如我所提到的，琳達，我們預計價格上漲將抵消 2022 年的大部分通膨。因此，關於我們業務的好消息是，我們基本上可以看到通膨成本，因為我們鎖定了許多成本持續約6至7個月的時間。因此，我們對通貨膨脹將如何影響 2022 年有一個很好的了解。因此，我預計整體毛利率基本上會像您所建議的那樣保持不變。

The other comment about investing. So we're going to continue to invest and that's going to be in technology and supply chain in the coming months and quarters. So you would expect that the SG&A line item, where most of that investment will be will occur -- will impact the operating income margin by 60 to 80 basis points.

另一則關於投資的評論。因此，我們將在未來幾個月和幾季繼續投資技術和供應鏈。因此，您預計 SG&A 行專案（大部分投資將發生在其中）將影響營業利潤率 60 至 80 個基點。

Okay. That's helpful. And Dan, when you talk about kind of the evolution and growth of the company and the fact that you're now thinking of your addressable market as this much bigger number, the overall health and wellness market. I kind of wonder how that goes along with the coaches and how they kind of view what they're providing to customers?

好的。這很有幫助。丹，當你談到公司的演變和成長時，以及你現在認為你的目標市場是一個更大的數字，即整體健康和保健市場這一事實。我有點想知道教練們對此有何看法，以及他們如何看待自己為客戶提供的服務？

Because you've always talked about how they really have a message. They have the Habits of Health, the Teachings of Dr. A, and this is what they're essentially "selling" is a lifestyle more than anything. So how do you transition that to them having a message that somehow addresses a much broader market?

因為你總是談論他們如何真正傳達訊息。他們有健康的習慣，A 博士的教誨，這就是他們本質上「推銷」的生活方式，而不是任何東西。那麼，您如何將其轉變為以某種方式向更廣闊的市場傳達訊息呢？

I mean if they're going to be selling maybe something that's offered through an app, I mean that gets into something a little bit different. So can you explain your thoughts behind that a little bit more?

我的意思是，如果他們要銷售透過應用程式提供的東西，我的意思是，這會涉及到一些不同的東西。那你能再解釋一下你的想法嗎？

I think what we've seen in this -- in the first part of our transformation, as you were saying, which started in 2017, was putting the Coaches at the center of everything we do, which meant they receive a greater degree of support from the company and no channel conflict. So that was the first phase.

我認為我們在這方面所看到的——正如您所說，從2017 年開始，我們的轉型的第一部分是將教練置於我們所做的一切的中心，這意味著他們得到了更大程度的支援與公司無通路衝突。這就是第一階段。

The second phase has been about building an operational infrastructure capable of supporting the growth. And the last phase, which is the question you're asking, as we move out of this building out our operations is about creating higher levels of productivity. And that productivity, I would say, includes new products. So these are products that are consistent with and part of the Habits of Health story that they already talked about.

第二階段是建立能夠支援成長的營運基礎設施。最後一個階段，也就是你所問的問題，當我們擺脫這個建造我們的營運時，就是創造更高水準的生產力。我想說，生產力包括新產品。因此，這些產品與他們已經討論過的健康習慣故事一致，也是一部分。

New services. So think of a service as anything we do that make our Coaches more productive. A good example there is we fairly recently did a test to understand how we can make our Coaches more effective and efficient in attracting new clients. And what we found is that there was a significant opportunity, we believe, and it played out in bringing lapsed clients back to connect with our coaches. So these are clients who previously had a positive experience on using our structured plan to get healthy and who may have lost the connection with their coach.

新服務。因此，將服務視為我們所做的任何使我們的教練更有效率的事情。一個很好的例子是，我們最近做了一個測試，以了解如何使我們的教練在吸引新客戶方面更加有效和有效率。我們發現，這是一個重要的機會，我們相信，它可以讓流失的客戶重新與我們的教練聯繫。因此，這些客戶以前在使用我們的結構化計劃來獲得健康方面有過積極的經歷，但他們可能已經失​​去了與教練的聯繫。

So by using technology and data and our mobile apps, we create the ability to bring them back in. So in other words, increasing the lifetime value of clients. And then the other side of this is just tied to making, again, on the service side, our Coaches more capable of supporting more clients. So there's a product component. There is a component to help bring higher lifetime value by bringing former clients back in. And there's a component around helping our coaches to be more efficient in supporting clients by giving them -- meaning clients more opportunities to use technology to go through our health transformation plan.

因此，透過使用技術、數據以及我們的行動應用程序，我們創造了將他們帶回的能力。換句話說，就是增加客戶的終身價值。另一方面，在服務方面，我們的教練更有能力支持更多的客戶。所以有一個產品組件。其中一個組成部分是透過讓以前的客戶回來幫助他們帶來更高的終身價值。還有一個組成部分是幫助我們的教練更有效地為客戶提供支援——這意味著客戶有更多機會使用技術來完成我們的健康轉型計劃。

Okay. And then just, again, just the question about kind of the seasonality of the Coach decline here a little bit in the fourth quarter. You have these promotions in September. And I kind of thought that would be like a special push that actually maybe you could have coach growth in the fourth quarter sequentially. Did the promotions work as expected? Or were they a little less effective than what you had planned?

好的。然後，再一次，關於教練在第四季度略有下降的季節性問題。您在九月有這些促銷活動。我認為這就像一個特殊的推動力，實際上也許你可以在第四季度連續獲得教練的成長。促銷活動是否達到預期效果？或者它們的效果比您計劃的要低一些？

No, the objective and the outcome we were looking for from the promotions was to bring in a new cohort of clients in the fourth quarter. And we had some specific objectives around how many clients will be brought in. That outcome was achieved in the way we expected.

不，我們希望促銷活動的目標和結果是在第四季度引入一批新客戶。我們針對將引入多少客戶制定了一些具體目標。該結果以我們預期的方式實現了。

As you know from the past that the way our cycles begin is new clients come in, they go on plan. A portion of those clients become coaches, and then they go on and get more new clients. And achieving the right ratio of tenure and client and coach mix is what drives our continued growth.

正如您從過去所知道的那樣，我們的週期開始的方式是新客戶的進來，他們按計劃進行。這些客戶中的一部分成為教練，然後他們繼續獲得更多新客戶。實現任期、客戶和教練組合的正確比例是推動我們持續成長的動力。

So what you saw in the fourth quarter, so a sequential decline, not significant, but relevant, was a reflection of, again, the transition that we made earlier in the year to add $1 billion of capacity. So during that transition, when our -- Q1 and Q2, in particular, when our carb to curve orders were significantly higher than normal. It had that weight on client experience create a downward pressure and that has a delayed impact in Q4.

所以你在第四季度看到的情況是，連續下降，雖然不顯著，但相關，這再次反映了我們今年早些時候為增加 10 億美元產能而進行的轉型。因此，在這個轉變期間，當我們的第一季和第二季度，特別是當我們的碳水化合物到曲線訂單顯著高於正常水平時。它對客戶體驗的影響造成了下行壓力，並在第四季度產生了延遲的影響。

So what we saw in the fourth quarter was a new client cohort coming in. And all of our client experience metrics returning to normal as we headed out -- as we finished the year and started the new year. So we're confident in where we were at the end of the year with new clients coming in and confident with where we are now with client experience being where it is and being the beginning of the high point of our seasonality, which is kind of January, February and March.

因此，我們在第四季度看到的是一群新客戶的加入。隨著我們結束這一年並開始新的一年，我們所有的客戶體驗指標都恢復正常。因此，我們對年底新客戶的到來充滿信心，對我們現在的客戶體驗充滿信心，並且是我們季節性高峰的開始，這有點像一月、二月和三月。

Okay. And then just finally, I didn't go back and look, but do you happen to recall what you guided to in terms of revenue growth in 2021 at the beginning of the year? Because you certainly probably didn't guide to 60% revenue growth. So I'm just curious if this guidance that you're giving, which is totally in line with your long-term growth objective, is it somehow represents like significant slowing? I mean if you go from 60% to 15% growth in 2022, that is a pretty significant slowing. So just maybe your thoughts on that.

好的。最後，我沒有回頭看，但你還記得年初你對2021年營收成長的指導嗎？因為你當然可能沒有引導 60% 的收入成長。因此，我只是好奇您所提供的指導是否完全符合您的長期成長目標，是否在某種程度上代表顯著放緩？我的意思是，如果 2022 年成長率從 60% 降至 15%，那就是相當顯著的放緩。所以也許你對此的想法。

Yes. So Linda, the -- in Q1, if you remember, we did not provide guidance. We didn't start providing guidance since we entered the pandemic. I think we started providing guidance in the July time frame of last year. So we don't have that reference going back to the beginning of 2021.

是的。琳達，如果你還記得的話，在第一季度，我們沒有提供指導。自從進入大流行以來，我們並沒有開始提供指導。我認為我們在去年 7 月的時間範圍內開始提供指導。所以我們沒有可以追溯到 2021 年初的參考資料。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question will come from Doug Lane with Lane Research.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題將來自 Lane Research 的 Doug Lane。

Dan, the stats that you quoted on the success of Medifast in the weight loss market here in the U.S. is pretty impressive. I'd like to just probe that a little bit more. How does OPTAVIA go-to-market different than some of your other competitors? Again, without naming names, but maybe just from a style or type what is it about OPTAVIA that differentiates it?

丹，您引用的有關 Medifast 在美國減肥市場取得成功的統計數據令人印象深刻。我想進一步探討一下。 OPTAVIA 的上市方式與其他一些競爭對手有何不同？再說一次，沒有點名，但也許只是從風格或類型來看，OPTAVIA 有何不同之處？

And maybe you can even start with why there's no real apparent seasonality in this business or at least there hasn't been since you rebranded OPTAVIA 4 or 5 years ago?

也許您甚至可以開始思考為什麼這項業務沒有真正明顯的季節性，或者至少自從您 4 或 5 年前重新命名 OPTAVIA 以來還沒有？

Sure. Thanks, Doug. Yes, that's a great question. We have consistently, as we moved to our new model, we moved away from anything that was in our past that looked like marketing a diet. So what that really means is that when a client becomes part of the OPTAVIA plan, they're getting a number of services that are unique to that plan. So it starts with coaching. And as you know, an OPTAVIA Coach, the majority of them have been clients previously. So they have a shared experience, and we know that makes a big difference.

當然。謝謝，道格。是的，這是一個很好的問題。當我們轉向新模式時，我們始終擺脫了過去任何看起來像是行銷飲食的東西。因此，這真正意味著，當客戶成為 OPTAVIA 計劃的一部分時，他們將獲得該計劃獨有的許多服務。所以這要從教練開始。如您所知，OPTAVIA 教練中的大多數人以前都是客戶。所以他們有共同的經歷，我們知道這會帶來很大的不同。

It also is a plan that Coaches execute that's very personalized to the individual. So it's the coaching plan. Next thing is that it helps them learn a set of healthy habits. The first habit is healthy eating, which is eating 6 small meals a day. And so it's -- even though their objective and the outcome of that healthy eating plan is weight loss, the objective is to establish a healthy habit that will last a lifetime. So that's another difference. So the products are really in the service of learning those healthy habits.

這也是教練執行的一項針對個人而言非常個人化的計畫。所以這就是教練計劃。接下來的事情是它可以幫助他們學習一套健康的習慣。第一個習慣是健康飲食，也就是每天吃6點小餐。所以，儘管他們的目標和健康飲食計劃的結果是減肥，但目標是建立一個持續一生的健康習慣。這是另一個區別。因此，這些產品確實是為學習這些健康習慣服務的。

The next area of difference is the Habits of Health system. So that's a proven system that teaches people the whys behind what they're doing. So again, still focuses on instilling the series of micro habits that then extend well beyond the time that they are using our OPTAVIA fuelings to help them learn the habits and goes beyond just a habit of healthy eating to include a habit of healthy hydration, healthy exercise, healthy sleep. So again, not just a caloric restriction education program.

下一個差異領域是健康習慣系統。因此，這是一個經過驗證的系統，可以教導人們他們所做事情背後的原因。因此，仍然專注於灌輸一系列微習慣，這些習慣遠遠超出了他們使用我們的 OPTAVIA 燃料的時間，幫助他們學習這些習慣，並且不僅僅是健康飲食的習慣，還包括健康補水、健康的習慣。鍛鍊身體，健康睡眠。再說一遍，這不僅僅是熱量限制教育計畫。

And the last one is the community. People we know from our research lack the ability often to do something that can be difficult, which has changed your way of thinking and changing the way you're acting, some things that you've learned for, in some cases, your whole life, to a new way of thinking, a new way of acting.

最後一個是社區。我們從研究中認識的人往往缺乏能力去做一些困難的事情，這改變了你的思維方式和行為方式，有些事情是你為之學到的，在某些情況下，是你一生所學的，以新的思考方式、新的行動方式。

And so it's -- that ties back to the OPTAVIA community. We have ways to connect the OPTAVIA community together. So they help each other answer questions, support each other. And so the tie into the OPTAVIA community goes even beyond just the coaching relationship to support it. So we specifically target people who have failed on diets and who are ready to try a new approach all tied to habits using coaches, community, Habits of Health and our products to help them establish those habits.

因此，這與 OPTAVIA 社區息息相關。我們有辦法將 OPTAVIA 社區連結在一起。所以他們互相幫忙回答問題，互相支持。因此，與 OPTAVIA 社區的聯繫甚至超越了為其提供支援的教練關係。因此，我們專門針對那些節食失敗的人，以及準備嘗試與習慣相關的新方法的人，使用教練、社區、健康習慣和我們的產品來幫助他們建立這些習慣。

That's interesting. Do you have any data on what percentage of your clients have actually been on other weight loss programs before they came to OPTAVIA?

那很有意思。您是否有關於您的客戶在來到 OPTAVIA 之前實際參加過其他減肥計劃的比例的數據？

Since the majority of Americans have at some point, been on some kind of diet, so when I say the majority, I would say, 80% to 90% of Americans have, at some point, tried to lose weight. We assume and we have some support for this that the majority, so say, 80% to 90% have tried some other means of doing before OPTAVIA.

由於大多數美國人在某個時候都在進行某種飲食，所以當我說大多數時，我想說的是，80% 到 90% 的美國人在某個時候嘗試過減肥。我們假設並且我們對此有一些支持，即大多數人（也就是說，80% 到 90%）在 OPTAVIA 之前已經嘗試過其他一些方法。

And we did clinical research a couple of years ago to kind of bear out the importance of having the coach and learning healthy habits and that clinical research supports our claims of our approach being more effective than just based on the diet so -- yes, go ahead.

幾年前，我們進行了臨床研究，以證明擁有教練和學習健康習慣的重要性，並且臨床研究支持我們的主張，即我們的方法比僅基於飲食更有效，所以 - 是的，去先。

Okay. I didn't mean to interrupt, sorry. I was just going to move on to see what kind of -- what is the typical OPTAVIA demographic vis-a-vis the broader weight loss market demographic?

好的。我不是有意打擾的，抱歉。我只是想繼續看看，與更廣泛的減重市場人群相比，典型的 OPTAVIA 族群是什麼樣的？

Yes. Our demographic is typically -- I mean, our target is really women -- middle-aged women around 40. And the demographic of weight management, I don't have those numbers. What I can say about our demographic is that it continues to expand on both ends.

是的。我們的人口統計通常是——我的意思是，我們的目標實際上是女性——40歲左右的中年女性。至於體重管理的人口統計，我沒有這些數字。關於我們的人口結構，我能說的是，它在兩端都在持續擴張。

We're getting younger people who are focused on getting healthy. And we're getting older people who are focused on getting healthy. All of them looking for a holistic approach to their health and well-being. The other side to this, that's part of the Habits of Health system is, goes even into how you start to think about health in a more productive way.

我們正在培養注重健康的年輕人。我們的老年人越來越注重健康。他們所有人都在尋求一種全面的方法來實現自己的健康和福祉。另一方面，這是健康習慣系統的一部分，甚至涉及您如何開始以更有效的方式思考健康。

So we focus on not only healthy body, but also healthy mind and healthy mindset. So yes, the demographic is expanding on both sides. I think particularly though, it's interesting to see the demographic going to the younger group who are anxious to learn how to break what they were -- break the habits that they were grew up with. Learn more about healthy nutrition, healthy exercise, healthy hydration, healthy sleep and apply it into their lives.

所以我們不僅注重健康的身體，更注重健康的心靈和健康的心態。所以，是的，雙方的人口都在擴大。但我認為特別有趣的是，看到人口轉向年輕群體，他們渴望學習如何打破他們的現狀——打破他們成長過程中的習慣。了解更多關於健康營養、健康運動、健康補水、健康睡眠的信息，並將其應用到他們的生活中。

That's helpful. And just one last thing. With your expanded target market, should we look for an entry into something beyond meal replacement? Is it in more traditional nutritional supplements?

這很有幫助。最後一件事。隨著您的目標市場不斷擴大，我們是否應該尋找代餐以外的領域？它存在於更傳統的營養補充品中嗎？

Yes. I mean, as I said before, we look at -- I mean, if you look at that broader health and wellness market, a portion of it is product-based. So food, supplements, those kinds of things. And we think we can continue to offer more to our clients in that area. But there are large areas of service focus as well and large areas of technology support as well, so we think we can also play in those other areas. So think of it as expanding into additional service offerings, all using our Coaches, leveraging technology.

是的。我的意思是，正如我之前所說，我們關注的是——我的意思是，如果你看看更廣泛的健康和保健市場，其中一部分是基於產品的。所以食物、補充劑等等。我們認為我們可以繼續為該領域的客戶提供更多服務。但還有大量的服務重點領域和大量的技術支援領域，因此我們認為我們也可以在其他領域發揮作用。因此，可以將其視為擴展到其他服務產品，所有這些都使用我們的教練，並利用技術。

As you heard from our script, we've launched -- the 2 apps that we've launched, we have had over 300,000 downloads with 90,000 of those in the fourth quarter for our clients. We also have accelerated the development of those apps. We've had year-to-date over 6 releases of each of those apps, both the Coach app and the Client app, which means roughly we have a release per week of each.

正如您從我們的腳本中聽到的，我們已經推出了 2 個應用程序，我們的下載量已超過 300,000 次，其中 90,000 次下載是在第四季度為我們的客戶提供的。我們也加快了這些應用程式的開發。今年迄今為止，我們已經為這些應用程式（包括 Coach 應用程式和用戶端應用程式）發布了超過 6 個版本，這意味著我們大約每週都會發布一個版本。

And so you can see us moving more quickly and more aggressively as well as thoughtfully into leveraging these apps to support our coaching structure. And we think that's going to be a meaningful changer for us and part of what helps us expand further into health and wellness market.

因此，您可以看到我們更快、更積極、更周到地利用這些應用程式來支援我們的教練結構。我們認為這對我們來說將是一個有意義的改變，也是幫助我們進一步拓展健康和保健市場的一部分。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Dan Chard, Medifast's Chairman and CEO, for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉交給快驗保董事長兼執行長 Dan Chard 致閉幕詞。

We want to thank everybody who has been able to join the Medifast call today. We particularly appreciate the work of our coaches in their effort to transform the lives of now last year, over 1 million people who participated in the OPTAVIA plan.

我們要感謝今天能夠參加快驗保號召的所有人。我們特別感謝我們的教練去年為改變現在的生活所做的努力，超過 100 萬人參與了 OPTAVIA 計劃。

We are confident and looking forward to the upcoming year. We feel like we've shown our ability to work through environmental and macro challenges as well as continue to add innovation and new ways of thinking about our business and the broader market and look forward to speaking with our investors again as well as our analysts in the -- to report our next quarterly results. Thank you.

我們對新的一年充滿信心和期待。我們認為，我們已經展示了應對環境和宏觀挑戰的能力，並繼續增加創新和思考我們的業務和更廣泛市場的新方式，並期待再次與我們的投資者以及我們的分析師交談。 - 報告我們的下一個季度業績。謝謝。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。