Owlet Inc (OWLT) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon. Thank you for attending the Owlet fourth-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. My name is Cameron, and I'll be your moderator for today. (Operator Instructions) And I would now like to pass the conference over to your host, Jay Gentzkow, Investor Relations. You may proceed.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Earlier today, Owlet released financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2024. I'm pleased to be joined today by Kurt Workman, Owlet's Co-Founder and CEO; Jonathan Harris, President and Chief Revenue Officer; and Amanda Twede Crawford, our CFO.

Before we begin, please note that our financial results press release and presentation slides referred to on this call are available under the Events and Presentations section of our Investor Relations website at investors.owletcare.com. This call is also being webcast live with a link at the same website. The webcast and accompanying slides will be available for replay for 12 months following this call. The content on today's call is the property of Owlet. It cannot be reproduced or transcribed without our prior consent.

Before we begin, I'd like to refer you to our safe harbor disclaimer on slide 3 of the presentation. Today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements based on the company's current views and expectations as of today's date. These statements are only predictions and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in our most recent filings with the SEC and in the Risk Factors section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K. Please note that the company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as the result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.

With that, it's my pleasure to turn the call over to our CEO, Kurt Workman. Kurt.

Thanks, Jay, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining Owlet’s fourth-quarter and full year 2024 financial results call today. As always, we sincerely appreciate your continued support.

I will begin on slide 5.

2024 was a pivotal year for Owlet. Building off momentum from creating the first and only FDA-cleared baby monitor, we kicked off 2024 by launching both of our FDA-cleared devices, Dream Sock and BabySat, defining a new category of medical-grade infant health monitors. We leverage these powerful endorsements of our technologies to expand our global footprint throughout 2024 with CE medical approval in Europe, taking us to 26 total countries by year-end, contributing to 98% of international revenue growth in 2024 versus 2023. Capitalizing on BabySat FDA clearance, we began to lay the groundwork in 2024 to open up the large long-term opportunity for insurance reimbursement in the medical market. Owlet expanded our medical distribution channels throughout the year, ending 2024 with six DMEs and began rolling out to 12 Medicaid states.

Finally, we crossed a significant milestone with the development and deployment of our new Owlet360 subscription service last year, with the full marketing launch at the end of January. Owlet360 is the beginning of our vision of moving the center of care to the home, enabling parents to better navigate health and sleep challenges without needing to travel to the doctor. Alongside our 2024 product sales and partnership successes, we significantly improved our financial performance, capping off the year with exceptional fourth quarter results. 2024 was truly a breakout financial year for Owlet, the best in company history.

We established financial guidance for the first time in three years on the second quarter 2024 earnings call. Including strong Q4 results released today, we exceeded the high end of all guidance ranges for revenue, gross profit, gross margin and adjusted EBITDA. This coincided with company records for revenue, gross profit, gross margin and adjusted EBITDA for full year 2024. 2024 revenue was $78.1 million, representing 45% growth compared to 2023. We continue to improve our cost profile throughout the year, and in combination with strong top-line growth, significantly expanded gross margins to over 50% for the full year 2024, the best annual gross margin in Owlet history.

Finally, we turned the quarter on profitability with the final three quarters of 2024 at positive adjusted EBITDA. This included significantly improving adjusted EBITDA by over $14 million in 2024 versus 2023. It's clear 2024 was a turning point for Owlet, and I could not be prouder of the incredible amount this team has accomplished and a huge step forward as a company.

Now zooming into our fourth quarter 2024 performance on slide 6.

Owlet delivered an exceptional quarter, exceeding expectations across all key metrics. We achieved revenue of $20.5 million in the fourth quarter 2024. Adjusting for revenue associated with the new Amazon distribution partner agreement we signed last year that shifted $6 million in revenue from Q3 to Q4 in 2023, year-over-year revenue growth was 37%. Fourth quarter 2024 gross margins were 53.5%, increasing 650 basis points versus prior year. Q4 2024 represents our seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year gross margin expansion. Adjusted EBITDA was $0.5 million in Q4, an improvement of $1.2 million versus fourth quarter 2023. We completed the year with three consecutive quarters of positive adjusted EBITDA as we look toward expanding profitability going forward.

Our strong Q4 results underscore the significant momentum we have in the business. Owlet has never been better positioned as a company. We kicked off 2025 by announcing a major milestone in our evolution into a comprehensive pediatric health platform, the official launch of our new subscription service, Owlet360. Owlet360 puts the value from Owlet’s massive data set of pediatric health and sleep information directly into the hands of parents and caregivers, a reminder that the cost of healthcare in the first five years of life is quite staggering. In the United States alone, there are 12 million annual pediatric ER visits, 80 million pediatric office visits, and hundreds of thousands of babies who stay in the NICU. This adds up to over $30 billion in pediatric healthcare costs, every single year, just in the US.

Owlet360 is aimed to empower parents at home with information that can help them better manage care for their children. We believe that unlocking care at home is the key to improving overall infant health outcomes and reducing costs. The launch of Owlet360 also positions us closer to delivering on the potential of telehealth than we've ever been. Leveraging the information from Owlet360, parents will be able to chat with their pediatricians, nurses, sleep coaches, and maternal health professionals, while sharing their infant data from the app in order to provide more personalized, actionable remote care. We'll begin testing our first in-app telehealth visits in the second quarter of this year before releasing more broadly throughout 2025 as we refine the opportunity.

Initial subscription metrics are trending very positive, exceeding our expectations with attach rates for the January cohort at approximately 12% in just the first month. We expect this cohort's attach rate will continue to increase. And note, that attach rate is before official launch on January 28th without any real marketing spend supporting our confidence in the adoption potential. Jonathan will dive into more details of this innovative service we're so proud of. From a strategic standpoint, Owlet360's launch marks a significant step in Owlet's evolution into a comprehensive pediatric health platform that I'd like to unpack.

First, this is an additional growth lever, driving more predictable recurring revenue for Owlet. We already have an established loyal customer base to initially roll Owlet360 out to with over 0.5 million Owlet Care monthly app users and growing. We believe we've aggregated the largest pediatric health population on the planet.

Second, Owlet360 supports our goal of growing long-term profitability. Subscription margins are accretive to current margins and the service does not require substantial ongoing costs or capital expenditures.

Third, Owlet360 represents a major shift in LTV potential for Owlet. Owlet has been very focused on infants and will continue to be. But the pains of parenthood don't stop at 18 months, as health care utilization remains very high in the early childhood years. Owlet wants to be an important part of the parent-child journey, and a compelling subscription service extends the longevity of Owlet's potential relationship with families.

Finally, Owlet360 enhances our competitive differentiation as the category leader in pediatric health and safety. Our massive and growing data set is unique in the market today. Unlocking these tools for parents and caregivers through subscription makes it harder for competitors to match our value, which increases the value proposition for our full product suite, which in turn increases our scale to drive more data to deliver better solutions.

In addition, as we begin to add features to the Owlet360 platform, such as integrating professional service partners, telehealth capabilities, and other enhancements in the works, the value proposition will continue to strengthen. We could not be more excited about this next phase for Owlet. I'd now like to turn the call over to Jonathan to walk through recent progress against our strategic focus areas.

Thanks, Kurt. We're thrilled to embark on this next chapter for Owlet. The launch of Owlet360 marks an exciting inflection point, positioning us to deliver long-term value as the leading pediatric health platform. Our success hinges on purposeful execution across our three strategic focus areas for growth; first, driving continued global adoption of Dream Stock; second, expanding medical and health care channels to offer an insurance reimbursed monitor; and third, transitioning Owlet into a service through the through Owlet360 subscription, supporting parents from infancy into their toddler years and increasing customer lifetime value. These three priorities will remain consistent with 2024, and we believe they are the right areas to continue to stay hyper-focused on this year.

In the US, Dream Sock demand remains robust, with another strong quarter of domestic sell-through growth of 34% versus Q4 2023. We also continue to gain market share. According to consumer research firm, Circana and Owlet's own data, Owlet now has the largest share of total dollars spent in the baby monitor category. Brand health remains strong. Dream Sock's net promoter score closed the year at 73%, reflecting high customer satisfaction. We're also seeing positive sentiment in our registry trends with Q4 showing a 72% year-over-year increase in Dream Sock additions to all registries we track, with new parents increasingly prioritizing Dream Sock on their nursery list. This customer enthusiasm has continued to maintain return rates down consistently lower than our historical averages.

Looking at domestic growth potential, we see a clear path forward. Products that enhance baby health and safety, like car seats to breast pumps, often achieve category level adoption. We believe every baby will eventually have access to health monitoring, and Owlet is the category leader and the only FDA-cleared monitor on the market. Currently, Dream Sock only has a 10% adoption rate broadly across the US, but states like Iowa, Nebraska and Utah, show a significantly higher penetration. These markets with smaller birth populations and generally more price-sensitive, demonstrate the power of word-of-mouth amongst parents. As awareness continues to grow in larger states like California, Florida, New Jersey and Texas, we expect adoption to align with our top-performing regions.

Internationally, adoption remains a bright spot. Despite a breakout 2024, we're just scratching the surface globally. Europe's birth rate slightly exceeds those in the US and with continued execution, achieving adoption rates closer to our 10% US benchmarks could unlock significant growth. In Q4, international revenue grew 45% year-over-year. Black Friday was a standout, with Amazon sell-through up 72% in the UK and up 147% in Germany compared to Q4 2023.

For 2025, driving global adoption remains critical. We intend to continue to expand the opportunities for Dream Sock globally, capitalizing the momentum from 2024 as more parents worldwide choose Owlet. In US health care, we're making solid progress in expanding BabySat into medical and health care channels. In 2024, we ramped up commercialization to tap into the large, accretive health care market in order to elevate the standard of care for higher-risk infants. As a reminder, BabySat, our FDA-cleared prescription eligible device, targets babies at higher risk, such as those discharged from the NICU or with serious conditions. This market includes over 570,000 US babies annually and over 16% of all US birth. All of them could benefit from medical-grade, at-home monitoring. We see no reason why every one of these infants shouldn't leave the hospital with a prescribed, reimbursable BabySat.

In Q4, we continued to onboard and train our new DME partners added in 2024. We're working on expanding commercial insurance coverage and began rolling out Medicaid reimbursement with 12 states signed up, who will be fully operational by mid-2025. This channel will take time to scale, and that work will continue through 2025. But the feedback we're receiving from parents and clinicians alike reinforces BabySat value and the potential long-term opportunity.

Finally, I'd like to add on to Kurt's introduction of Owlet360. The launch of Owlet360 is a pivotal milestone in our evolution from a hardware company to a comprehensive pediatric health platform, supporting parents from day one through the toddler years. Building on our data set that has monitored millions of babies and trillions of heartbeats, Owlet360 delivers personalized, actionable insights into key health metrics; pulse rate, oxygen levels, movement and comfort temperature. Parents can compare their baby's trends against our vast pediatric database, gaining daily and weekly insights into health and sleep patterns to understand what's normal and when attention may be needed. No other platform offers this level of at-home infant insights.

We've already onboarded over 25,000 paying subscribers with fantastic early feedback. Parents report greater reassurance and confidence, with some noting reduced, unnecessary health care visits. Retention rates remained strong at approximately 85% after the first month, consistent with Q3; and 60% of subscribers are active daily users. Attach rates from the January cohort hit 12% pre-launch exceeding expectations, and we anticipate even stronger results with marketing efforts already underway. Price at an introductory $0.0599 per month, Owlet360 will see additional features, enhancements, and international expansion later this year. This service bridges the gap between hospital and home care, driving predictable recurring revenue, boosting LTV and growing our connected ecosystem.

Owlet is firing on all cylinders across our strategic initiatives. And as we enter 2025 at this critical inflection point, our priorities are clear: sustain Dream Sock's core growth, scale BabySat and Owlet360, and execute with operational efficiency to deliver meaningful value for all of our stakeholders. We're excited about the road ahead and remain committed to empowering parents while advancing infant health and well-being worldwide. I'll now pass the call to Amanda to discuss our results in more detail, as well as our 2025 outlook. Amanda, over to you.

Thank you, Jonathan, and good afternoon, everyone. I'll begin on Slide 15.

Unless noted otherwise, I will be comparing our fourth quarter 2024 results to the fourth quarter of 2023. Financial results are preliminary until our 10-K filing. Q4 was another strong quarter as we exceeded the high end of the raised guidance we provided on the third quarter 2024 earnings call across all key metrics: revenue, gross profit, gross margin, and adjusted EBITDA. Revenue in the fourth quarter was $20.5 million, excluding the revenue impact from the prior year Amazon distribution partner transition, which shifted $6 million of revenue from Q3 to Q4 2023, revenue was up 37% compared to Q4 2023. Revenue growth was driven primarily by sales of Dream Sock and Duo.

Full year 2024 revenue was a record at $78.1 million, growth of 45% versus prior year, exceeding the high end of our guidance. Gross margin in the fourth quarter was 53.5%, an increase of 650 basis points over prior year. This was our seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year gross margin expansion. The significant gross margin improvement reflects strong volume growth, favorable product mix towards Dream Sock, a reduction in return rates, and improved fixed cost absorption. Full year 2024 gross margin was a record for Owlet at 50.4%, expanding 850 basis points versus 2023 and exceeding the high end of our guidance expectations. Total operating expenses in the fourth quarter were $18.4 million, including stock-based compensation of $1.6 million, representing an increase of $5.4 million versus the same period last year.

Operating costs increased in Q4 primarily due to $6.2 million of charges related to certain legal matters. These charges were primarily related to the settlement and legal costs associated with two outstanding cases related to our 2021 SPAC offering, in which plaintiffs alleged to be made false or misleading statements and failed to disclose certain information regarding the FDA's potential classification of our Smart Sock as a medical device requiring marketing authorization. We have been vigorously defending these cases ever since they were filed. And while we do not admit any wrongdoing and continue to strongly disagree with the allegations, the cost and resource strain of continuing to fight these cases has outweighed the benefits of settlement. We expect insurance will cover a portion of the settlement costs. However, any potential insurance recovery has not been included in our 2024 results.

Operating loss in the fourth quarter was $7.4 million compared to $3.1 million the same period last year. Net loss in the fourth quarter was $9.1 million versus $6.9 million in the same period last year. Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA was positive $0.5 million, an improvement of $1.2 million compared to the same period last year. Top line growth, in combination with our focus on operational efficiency, drove the increase as we concluded the year with three consecutive quarters of positive adjusted EBITDA. Full year 2024 adjusted EBITDA was negative $2 million, improving $14.3 million compared to 2023. 2024 adjusted EBITDA exceeded the high end of our guidance expectations. Turning to our balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents as of quarter end December 31, 2024, were $20.2 million, down slightly from $21.5 million in the third quarter 2024.

Shifting to our 2025 financial outlook on Slide 19.

As Jonathan mentioned, 2025 will be about capitalizing on the momentum exiting 2024, and purposeful execution to deliver on our strategic areas for growth. For the full year 2025, we expect to generate revenue in the range of $88 million to $92 million. Our first half revenue seasonality is expected to be consistent with 2024. In the second half, we're observing a change in retailer purchasing patterns. Specifically, key partners are holding fewer weeks of inventory and pushing Black Friday-related orders into Q4. We expect that there will be a shift in revenue from Q3 to Q4 compared to the prior year, making Q4 our highest revenue contribution quarter. We also expect gross margins in the range of 50% to 52%, demonstrating expansion over 2024. And finally, we are striving to achieve adjusted EBITDA profitability for the full year 2025, which would represent strong improvement over 2024.

And with that, we will now take your questions.

We will now begin the question and answer session. (Operator Instructions) Charles Rhyee, TD Cowen.

Hi. This is Lucas on for Charles. Thanks for taking the questions, and congrats on the quarter. In your guidance, you're guiding to revenue growth of -- excuse me, about 13% to, I believe, 18%, if I have that right. I guess, can you help us understand how much of this is expected to come from the Dream Sock and Duo, as well as other products like BabySat. And then I obviously understand it's early days for Owlet360, but can you help us understand what's baked into the guide in relation from contribution from that subscription offering?

Yeah. So as far as the guidance goes related to Owlet360, which we just launched, we're being pretty careful in what we model internally. While early indicators are looking really positive, it's still early. So for both Owlet360 and BabySat, we're not assuming any material revenue in 2025.

Okay. Appreciate that. And then maybe if I can just ask the same question in terms of what kind of -- in international, you guys saw a pretty strong growth in 2024, and ending '24 with 45% growth in 4Q. Can you help us understand maybe what's assumed in the guidance from international and US?

Yeah. So currently, there is a little bit of a difference between how we look at the US versus international just because the international markets are still emerging, so it does represent a little bit of a bigger opportunity in terms of growth. So, the growth is expected to come equally from both the US and international, but as a relative proportion for international baseline, international is going to grow more. So, if you split the growth, if that makes sense, in that range, half of that dollar value growth would come from the US and half would come from international.

Okay. That's helpful. And then I guess focusing on the US, obviously, you guys are doing really well in the three states, Iowa, Utah, and Nebraska, that you had named out specifically. You know that word of mouth is an integral part of seeing higher adoption rate in these states. I guess, how do we get states, you know, more populated states like California, Texas, and Florida to see higher adoption rates? I guess, what's the strategy for attacking those populations?

Yeah, for sure. I think, the biggest thing to note is that the awareness is the highest correlation with adoption in these states. So the three states you mentioned have the highest levels of awareness for Owlet, and it's really about driving credible awareness in each of those states. And we're doing that not only through partnerships, expanding our reach with partners and influencers, social media and digital marketing, but we're also really driving more engagement in the product. I think one of the biggest opportunities this next year is with Owlet360, there's going to be a lot more value driving into the product every single month this year. And that's going to continue to turn that word of mouth, which we think will help us in those states.

We're already seeing the tipping point happen in some of the high awareness states. As we get the rest of the states on board, we think that the opportunity here to create a standard of care in a new category with health monitoring is absolutely massive.

Understood. And then maybe another question on the guidance. I want to ask about gross margin. In 4Q, we saw gross margin nearly get up to 54%, but in 2025 we're guiding to 50% to 52%. Obviously, 4Q saw strong mix -- heavier mix of Dream Sock, as well as improved fixed cost absorption. So, I guess, can you kind of detail why we're assuming gross margin steps down? Is that largely conservatism? Or should we be thinking about something else driving that delta?

Yeah. When it comes to gross margin, when we're looking at it for the full year, our guidance is actually stepping up. We had a blended margin of around 50% for full year 2024. So for '25, we are guiding for that to go up. We do see a little bit of, like seasonality within our quarters as far as our gross margin percentage goes, and that's really driven by promotional activity. So we are expecting margins to grow next year.

Got you. Understood. And then I guess my last question here, and then I'll hop back into the queue. You guys noted making progress with payers now having 12 Medicaid states. Last quarter, you announced Cigna was covering BabySat. Can you maybe give us a little color on what kind of progress you're seeing with other types of payers? Love to hear just kind of how those conversations are progressing.

Yeah, great question. We're really making great strides working with AdaptHealth, our partner -- DME partner, working directly with their sales team that are calling on hospitals, as well as their reimbursement team. So we're really focused on states where they're extremely strong, and really driving that Medicaid reimbursement. So, we're -- it's a slow process, but we're making strides and driving success on there. And we're continuing to push and work closely with our partner in this.

Okay. Great. Thank you, and congrats again on the quarter.

Thank you.

Ben Haynor, Lake Street Capital Markets.

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you for taking the questions. First off for me, just on the Owlet360, it sounds like the early returns are quite exciting. But I was wondering, do you have a sense on where retention can kind of (inaudible), Jonathan? I mean, is there something in your historical experience in other firms, or what you've seen on subscriptions already with the daily active users on where that could kind of bottom out at?

Look, yeah, I see us continuing to drive quite a bit of success with the features that we've rolled out so far. We're seeing quite a bit of engagement on subscription. So with greater engagement drives greater retention. Also, we believe it can really drive momentum and extend that word of mouth as parents share their stories with other parents, and really start building on itself.

And as we get later into the year, we're going to really be investing in telehealth, and helping to address that $30 billion that are spent every year on pediatric care for children zero to five. So we believe that we're in the super early days of providing true value on our subscription, which will continue to drive that momentum and execute against a great year.

Got it. And then on the -- I think you said January 28, January 26 launch, I guess that's when kind of the marketing kicked off for Owlet360, or what's the right way to think about that? And anything anecdotal you can share on how much progress since the 28 and 26?

Yeah. I mean, really, at the end of January, we're in a beta before that. So that was really our first launch, like true public launch. We had a subset of users prior to that. So now we're fully active and engaged, and we're pushing with in-app communication. And we're really starting -- in the first phases of really seeing an overall outlet marketing campaign, driving not only the benefits of the Dream Sock itself, but the value of this data platform that we're really starting to build out with the Owlet360. So again, super early, but initial feedback is extremely positive from our user base. And we believe that they're going to be telling their friends and family and peer group about this to extend the value.

Okay. That's great. And then on kind of the adoption dynamics that you see in Europe or outside the US. So do you have any sort of experiences that you can point to? Like you've seen in some of the states where you kind of get to a critical mass and all of a sudden adoption accelerates? Or is it just too early in most of these countries?

I'd say it's still pretty early, but I'll give you Germany as a great example, like getting the CE clearance in Germany. Germany was always a strong market. But as you know, like Germany is probably the strongest GDP throughout Europe. And then getting that CE med mark, we saw a big surge just because it's sort of a prove it to me. So we're really beginning to see strong strength throughout Germany, which is a great sign for us because that's a newer market within Europe for us, like the UK has always been a strong market, but we're really starting to see good momentum in Germany, which is a strong GDP, which will continue to grow across Northern Europe for us.

Okay. Great. And then lastly for me, I think you mentioned last quarter the (technical difficulty) kind of developing [relished] with NICU’s and hospitals and such. Any updates there on how those sorts of conversations have progressed?

Yeah. AdaptHealth has been really helpful getting us into these NICUs, in these hospitals. In fact, for the first time, we're hearing from people across the country that their physicians are actually recommending Owlet. So NICU neonatologists are instructing parents to get a Dream Sock or a BabySat, as the babies are leaving the hospital. So again, we had essentially a full year of that FDA clearance, and that is rolling out through the pediatric community and continuing to gain momentum. So it's not just us or other families, but now the pediatricians and the neonatologists are starting to recommend. So a very good sign for us.

Excellent. Well, that's all I had, folks. And thanks for taking the questions. Congrats on the progress.

Thank you.

There are currently no questions registered. (Operator Instructions) There are no additional questions waiting at this time. I would now like to pass the conference back over for closing remarks.

Yeah. Well, I'm really glad that we can be here today, and I want to thank the Owlet team for continuing to outperform and execute. Really proud of our team. We are witnessing a fundamental shift with medical professionals increasingly recommending Owlet products, reinforcing our vision of making health monitoring a standard of care for every baby.

As we look ahead, we're committed to leveraging our technology and our data to revolutionize pediatric telehealth. And we really want to address the critical need for earlier detection and improved health at home. We believe this will not only improve outcomes for babies, but also transform the way parents are able to navigate care. So thank you for joining us today. And we are very grateful for your continued support.

That concludes the Owlet fourth-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Thank you for your participation and enjoy the rest of your day.