Align Technology - Earnings Call - Q1 2025

Executive Summary

• Q1’25 revenue of $979.3M and non-GAAP EPS of $2.13 came in slightly above Wall Street consensus on revenue ($975.8M*) and above on EPS ($1.99*); GAAP operating margin was 13.4% (FX headwind ~1.1 pts q/q and ~1.4 pts y/y) and non-GAAP operating margin was 19.1%.
• Clear Aligner volume rose 6.2% y/y to 642.3k cases with teens/growing patients up 13.3% y/y; Systems & Services grew 1.2% y/y despite seasonal q/q decline, supported by iTero Lumina adoption.
• FY’25 outlook raised to 3.5%–5.5% revenue growth (from “low single digits” in Feb); Q2’25 revenue guide $1.05B–$1.07B with sequential margin expansion (~+3 pts GAAP and non-GAAP) and gross margin up on higher ASPs/volume.
• Catalysts/overhangs: favorable U.K. VAT tribunal ruling (potential ASP/discount relief if sustained) and tariff mitigation plans; FX remains a swing factor, and mix shift to non-comprehensive products continues to pressure ASPs.
• Strategic innovation drumbeat (MA with occlusal blocks; Align X‑ray Insights AI; restorative software for iTero Lumina) underpins medium‑term growth narrative and DSO channel momentum.

Note: Consensus estimates marked with * are from S&P Global; see Estimates Context for details.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

• What Went Well

  • Broad-based volume growth: Clear Aligner cases +6.2% y/y to 642.3k; teens/growing patients +13.3% y/y with record first‑quarter submitters and higher GP utilization; CEO: “highest y/y growth rate for both adult and teen patients since 2021”.
  • Innovation tailwinds: iTero Lumina restorative software launched late March; management cited positive feedback and record scanner systems/wands in a quarter, supporting Systems & Services +1.2% y/y despite seasonality.
  • FY’25 growth outlook raised; Q2 guide implies sequential revenue and margin expansion; UK VAT ruling favorable and considered a potential lever on U.K. pricing/discounts if sustained.

• What Went Wrong

  • FX headwinds weighed on revenue (~$31.1M y/y) and margins (operating margin −1.4 pts y/y impact); non-GAAP operating margin fell 0.7 pts y/y to 19.1%.
  • ASP pressure from mix/discounts persisted; Clear Aligner revenue per case dropped to $1,240 (from $1,295 in Q4’24 and $1,350 in Q1’24); management highlighted product mix shift to lower-priced, non‑comprehensive products.
  • Working capital: Days sales outstanding increased to 97 days (+7 q/q, +11 y/y) given extended terms to support practices; deferred revenues declined y/y for both Clear Aligners and Systems & Services.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Align Technology First Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I will now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Shirley Stacy, Vice President of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Shirley Stacy (VP of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations)

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. Joining me on today's call is Joe Hogan, President and CEO, and John Morici, CFO. We issued first quarter 2025 financial results today via Business Wire, which is available on our website at investor.aligntech.com. Today's conference call is being audio webcast and will be archived on our website for approximately one month. As a reminder, the information provided and discussed today will include forward-looking statements, including statements about Align's future events and product outlook. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve risks and uncertainties that are described in more detail in our most recent periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available on our website and at sec.gov. Actual results may vary significantly, and Align expressly assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

We've provided historical financial statements with corresponding reconciliations, including our GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation if applicable, and our first quarter 2025 conference call slides on our website under quarterly results. Please refer to these files for more detailed information. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Align Technology's President and CEO, Joe Hogan. Joe?

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Thanks, Shirley. Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us today. On our call, I'll provide an overview of our first quarter results and discuss a few highlights from our two operating segments, Systems and Services and Clear Aligners. John will provide more detail on our financial performance and comment on our views for Q2 and full year 2025. Following that, I'll come back and summarize a few key points and open the call to questions. I'm pleased to report first quarter revenues, operating margin, and earnings in line with our outlook. Fiscal 2025 is off to a good start with Q1 Clear Aligner volumes up both sequentially and year-over-year, reflecting strength in both the teens and adult patient segments across all regions, driven year-over-year strength across the Asia-Pacific and EMEA regions, and growth in North America.

It's also worth noting that Q1 was the highest year-over-year growth rate for both adult and teen patients since 2021. From a channel perspective, Q1 Clear Aligner volumes in the orthodontic and GP dentist channels increased year-over-year with a record number of total submitters and utilization for GP dentists for first quarter. For our systems and services business, Q1 revenues were down sequentially, reflecting Q1 seasonality as well as unfavorable foreign exchange. On a year-over-year basis, Q1 systems and services revenues were up slightly, reflecting continued adoption of iTero Lumina scanner platform, as well as the launch of iTero Lumina with restorative software at the end of month. On a year-over-year basis, Q1 Clear Aligner volumes grew 6.2%, driven primarily by continued strength across the EMEA and APAC regions, as well as growth in North America, offset by lower volumes in Latin America region.

For North America, Q1 year-over-year increase in Clear Aligner volumes reflects continued adoption of Invisalign First for teens and kids, Invisalign DSP touch-up cases, and Invisalign Comprehensive 3-in-3. On a sequential basis, Q1 North America Clear Aligner volumes primarily reflect growth from Invisalign DSP touch-up cases, Invisalign Palatal Expander System, as well as Invisalign Comprehensive 3-in-3. For the EMEA region, Q1 year-over-year Clear Aligner volume growth primarily reflects strength across the region in both the ortho and GP channels across teens, kids, and adult patients. On a year-over-year basis, Q1 EMEA volumes reflect continued adoption of Invisalign non-comprehensive cases, primarily driven by Invisalign Moderate and Invisalign DSP touch-up cases, as well as the initial launch of the Invisalign Palatal Expander across the EMEA region in Q1. On a sequential basis, Q1 EMEA growth was driven primarily by Invisalign DSP touch-up cases.

For the APAC region, Q1 year-over-year Clear Aligner volume growth reflects increased utilization and submitters in both ortho and GP channels across teen, kid, and adult patients in nearly all country markets. On a sequential basis, Q1 growth reflects strength from China and many of our emerging markets led by India and Korea. From a product perspective, Invisalign First, Invisalign Standard, and adult products drove Q1 growth in APAC both on a year-over-year and sequential basis. For Q1, we had over 85,000 doctor submitters worldwide for a record total for first quarter, primarily reflecting a sequential increase in Clear Aligner volume for teens, kids, and adults in both non-comprehensive and comprehensive cases.

In the teen and growing kids segment, approximately 226,000 teens and kids started treatment with Invisalign Clear Aligners during the first quarter, an increase of 4.5% sequentially and an increase of 13.3% year-over-year, reflecting growth across regions, especially from Invisalign First in the APAC and EMEA regions in North America, as well as growth from the Invisalign Palatal Expander system in North America. For Q1, the number of doctors submitting case starts for teens and kids was up 2.1% year-over-year, led by continued strength from doctors treating young kids and growing patients. During the quarter, we continued to commercialize the Invisalign Palatal Expander system with continued momentum for doctor submitters and shipments. In Q1, we announced that Align's Invisalign Palatal Expander system was commercially available in Turkey, and today we received confirmation of regulatory clearance in China.

Along with Turkey and China, the Invisalign Palatal Expander is available in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, EU, U.K., UAE, and Switzerland, and is expected to be available in additional markets following regulatory clearances. This month, we announced the commercial availability of the Invisalign system with mandibular advancement featuring occlusal blocks designed specifically to address Class II skeletal and dental correction by simultaneously advancing the mandible while aligning the teeth. Class II malocclusion is one of the most common orthodontic issues characterized by a discrepancy in jaw alignment, where the lower jaw is positioned too far back relative to the upper jaw. It represents approximately 30%-45% of malocclusions globally. Left untreated, this condition can lead to functional, aesthetic, and other challenges for patients.

The Invisalign system with mandibular advancement featuring occlusal blocks is a direct response to the needs of orthodontic practices and underscores Align's ongoing commitment to innovation in orthodontics that enhances clinical outcomes and the patient experience. By integrating occlusal blocks into the mandibular advancement feature, we are providing doctors with a powerful new tool that they have asked for to effectively treat growing patients with Class II malocclusions while maintaining the aesthetic and comfort benefits of Clear Aligner therapy. The Invisalign system with mandibular advancement featuring occlusal blocks is available to Invisalign-trained doctors in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It was just launched in most EMEA countries this week and we expect to be introduced in additional markets through 2025 pending regulatory clearance.

Along with the Invisalign Palatal Expander system and Invisalign First, the latest innovation supports the commitment to establishing a unique and differentiated portfolio that supports growing patients throughout their continuum of care. Dental service organizations, or DSOs, continue to present one of the fastest-growing channels in digital dentistry as they recognize the practice and patient experience benefits of digital workflows enabled by our portfolio of products and services that make up the Align Digital Platform. This includes increased practice efficiency and profitability, as well as delivering shorter treatment appointment cycle times for their patients. In short, DSOs are a force multiplier for practice growth and Invisalign adoption. For Q1, Clear Aligner volume from DSO customers worldwide increased sequentially and year-over-year, reflecting growth across all regions. Q1 iTero scanner sales growth was also strong with DSOs as they continue investing in their member practices and end-to-end digital workflows.

The DSO business growth continues to outpace that of our retail doctors, driven primarily by some of the largest DSOs in each region. Turning to systems and services, for Q1, year-over-year revenue growth primarily reflects scanner and wand revenue driven by iTero Lumina wand upgrades, partially offset by lower scanner revenues and the impact of unfavorable foreign exchange. For Q1, we delivered more scanner systems and wands in a quarter than ever before. On a sequential basis, Q1 systems and services revenues were down, reflecting capital equipment seasonality, partially offset by higher iTero Lumina scanner wand upgrades. In Q1, we launched the new restorative capabilities and our next-generation iTero Lumina intraoral scanner and the new iTero Lumina Pro dental imaging system with iTero NIRI technology to enable efficient restorative and multidisciplinary workflows and support the diagnosis of interproximal caries above the gingiva.

The new restorative capabilities of iTero Lumina improve GP dentists' ability to diagnose and develop treatment plans that deliver exceptional clinical outcomes while concurrently helping GPs collaborate more effectively with their restorative labs, deliver incredible, precise, custom-fitting restorations, and reach new levels of practice efficiency and growth. The iTero Lumina intraoral scanner with iTero Multi-Direct Capture, or MDC, technology sets a new standard with effortless scanning and superior visualizations, and feedback from doctors, labs, and other stakeholders regarding our Lumina portfolio has been positive. Its intuitive design and ease of scanning is appealing and is making everyday scanning more viable, especially when compared to other scanners. Like any breakthrough technology, it's important to ensure that doctors and their staff are properly trained on scanning.

Even the most experienced iTero users may need to unlearn previous scanning techniques, and we are working closely with our teams to offer follow-up training for our customers and their staff. The iTero Lumina intraoral scanner delivers faster scanning speed, higher accuracy, superior visualization, and a more comfortable scanning experience. The iTero Lumina solutions include superior 3D and 2D visualizations that augment and amplify oral health assessment and patient communication using the Align Oral Health Suite, designed to increase patient engagement with greater visual understanding of their oral health conditions. Following regulatory clearances in applicable countries starting earlier this month, existing iTero Lumina scanner owners began upgrading to the new software, which includes restorative and diagnostic capabilities. We're excited about the continued technology evolution we deliver with iTero Lumina system and the depth of tools and features it offers for imaging, diagnostics, treatment planning, visualizations, restorations, and so much more.

iTero has always been much more than a PDS replacement, and with iTero Lumina, it has truly become the gateway to digital treatment for orthodontics and any type of GP practice, from family dentistry to high-end aesthetic practices. With that, I'll now turn the call over to John.

John Morici (CFO)

Thanks, Joe. Now for our Q1 financial results. Total revenues for the first quarter were $979.3 million, down 1.6% from the prior quarter and down 1.8% from the corresponding quarter a year ago. On a constant currency basis, Q1 revenues were unfavorably impacted by approximately $21.4 million, or approximately 2.1% sequentially, and were unfavorably impacted by approximately $31.1 million year-over-year, or approximately 3.1%. For Clear Aligners, Q1 revenues of $796.8 million were up 0.3% sequentially, primarily from higher volumes, partially offset by the impact of unfavorable foreign exchange.

Unfavorable foreign exchange impacted Q1 Clear Aligner revenues by approximately $17.9 million, or approximately 2.2% sequentially. Q1 Clear Aligner average per case shipment price of $1,240 decreased by $25 on a sequential basis, primarily due to the impact of unfavorable foreign exchange. On a year-over-year basis, Q1 Clear Aligner revenues were down 2.5%, primarily due to unfavorable foreign exchange of $25.8 million, or approximately 3.1%, and lower ASPs due to product makeshift to lower-priced products and discounts, partially offset by higher volumes. Q1 Clear Aligner average per case shipment price of $1,240 was down $110 on a year-over-year basis, primarily due to higher discounts, product makeshift to lower-priced products, and the impact from unfavorable foreign exchange, partially offset by price increases.

Clear Aligner deferred revenues on the balance sheet as of March 31st, 2025, decreased $9.3 million, or 0.8% sequentially, and decreased $74.7 million, or 5.8% year-over-year, and will be recognized as additional aligners are shipped under each sales contract. Q1 systems and services revenue of $182.4 million were down 9.2% sequentially, primarily due to lower scanner systems revenues and unfavorable foreign exchange. This was partially offset by increased scanner wand revenues, mostly due to iTero Lumina wand upgrades. Q1 systems and services revenue were up 1.2% year-over-year, primarily due to higher iTero Lumina scanner wand revenues, partially offset by lower scanner systems revenues and unfavorable foreign exchange. Foreign exchange negatively impacted Q1 systems and services revenues by approximately $3.5 million, or approximately 1.9% sequentially. On a year-over-year basis, systems and services revenues were unfavorably impacted by foreign exchange of approximately $5.3 million, or approximately 2.8%.

Systems and services deferred revenues decreased $11.3 million, or 5.1% sequentially, and decreased $37.2 million, or 15.2% year-over-year, primarily due to decline in deferred revenues due in part to shorter duration of service contracts applicable to initial scanner system purchases. Moving on to gross margin. First quarter overall gross margin was 69.5%, down 0.6 points sequentially, and down 0.5 points year-over-year. Foreign exchange negatively impacted the overall gross margin by 0.7 points sequentially and 0.9 points on a year-over-year. Clear Aligner gross margin for the first quarter was 70.5%, up 0.4 points sequentially due primarily to lower manufacturing costs and lower restructuring expenses, partially offset by unfavorable foreign exchange of 0.6 points. Clear Aligner gross margin for the first quarter was down 0.3 points year-over-year, primarily due to unfavorable foreign exchange, partially offset by lower manufacturing spend. Foreign exchange negatively impacted Clear Aligner gross margin by 0.9 points year-over-year.

Systems and services gross margin for the first quarter was 64.7%, down 4.7 points sequentially, primarily due to lower wand ASPs and unfavorable foreign exchange, partially offset by manufacturing efficiencies. Foreign exchange negatively impacted the systems and services gross margin by 0.7 points sequentially. Systems and services gross margin for the first quarter was down 1.2 points year-over-year, primarily due to lower scanner and wand ASPs and unfavorable foreign exchange, partially offset by manufacturing and services efficiencies. Foreign exchange negatively impacted the systems and services gross margin by 1.0 points year-over-year. Q1 operating expenses were $549 million, down 0.7% sequentially and up 1% year-over-year. On a sequential basis, we saw a $3.8 million decrease in operating expenses, primarily due to lower restructuring and other non-recurring charges in Q1, which were partially offset by consumer marketing spend.

Year-over-year, operating expenses increased by $5.3 million, primarily due to our continued investments in R&D activities. On a non-GAAP basis, excluding stock-based compensation, restructuring, and other charges, and amortization of acquired intangibles related to certain acquisitions and legal settlement loss, operating expenses were $500.7 million, up 5.5% sequentially and down 1.1% year-over-year. Our first quarter operating income of $131.1 million resulted in an operating margin of 13.4%, down 1.1 points sequentially and down 2.1 points year-over-year. Foreign exchange negatively impacted operating margin by approximately 1.1 points sequentially and 1.4 points year-over-year. On a non-GAAP basis, which excludes stock-based compensation, restructuring, and other charges, amortization of intangibles related to certain acquisitions, and legal settlement loss, operating margin for the first quarter was 19.1%, down 4.1 points sequentially and down 0.7 points year-over-year.

Interest and other income expense, net for the first quarter was an income of $9.3 million, compared to an expense of $3.4 million in Q4 2024, driven by favorable foreign exchange movements, partially offset by lower interest income and gain on investments from last quarter. On a year-over-year basis, Q1 interest and other income and expense were favorable compared to income of $4.3 million in Q1 2024, primarily driven by favorable foreign exchange movements, partially offset by gain on investments in the first quarter of the prior year. The GAAP effective tax rate in the first quarter was 33.6%, compared to 26.3% in the fourth quarter of last year and 33.7% in the first quarter of the prior year.

The first quarter GAAP effective tax rate was higher than the fourth quarter effective tax rate, primarily due to the tax expense recognized related to stock-based compensation and the release of uncertain tax provision reserves in Q4 of 2024, partially offset by a one-time tax-deferred tax adjustment in foreign jurisdictions in Q4 of 2024. The first quarter GAAP effective tax rate was roughly in line with the first quarter effective tax rate of the prior year. On a non—our non-GAAP effective tax rate in the first quarter was 20%, which reflects our long-term projected tax rate. First quarter net income per diluted share was $1.27, down $0.13 sequentially and down $0.13 compared to the prior year. Foreign exchange negatively impacted our EPS by $0.08 on a sequential basis and $0.12 on a year-over-year basis due to foreign exchange.

On a non-GAAP basis, net income per diluted share was $2.13 for the first quarter, down $0.31 sequentially and down $0.01 year-over-year. Moving on to the balance sheet. As of March 31st, 2025, cash and cash equivalents were $873 million, down sequentially $170.9 million and up $7.2 million year-over-year. Of our $873 million balance, $133.1 million was held in the U.S. and $739.9 million was held by our international entities. During Q1, we repurchased the remaining $72.1 million of the $275 million open market repurchase initiated in Q4 of 2024. In Q1, we initiated a new plan to repurchase the remaining $225 million of our common stock under our January 2023 approved stock repurchase program of $1 billion through open market repurchases. As of March 31st, 2025, we had repurchased $129 million.

Once completed, this open market repurchase will complete our $1 billion stock repurchase program approved in January of 2023. Q1 accounts receivable balance was $1.062 billion, up sequentially. Our overall day sales outstanding was 97 days, up approximately 7 days sequentially and up approximately 11 days as compared to Q1 last year, and primarily reflects flexible payment terms we have extended as part of our ongoing efforts to support Invisalign practices. Cash-flow from operations for the first quarter was $52.7 million. Capital expenditures for the first quarter were $25.3 million, primarily related to investments in our manufacturing capacity and facilities. Free cash-flow, defined as cash-flow from operations minus capital expenditures, amounted to $27.4 million. Before I turn to our Q2 and fiscal 2025 outlook, I'd like to provide the following remarks regarding the U.K. VAT and U.S. tariffs as of April 30th.

As previously disclosed in our Q4 2024 earnings release and conference call, we anticipated receiving a ruling regarding the applicability of VAT to our Clear Aligner sales in the U.K. On April 24th, 2025, we received a favorable ruling in which the Tribunal determined that our Clear Aligners are dental prosthesis for the purposes of VAT in the U.K., which is a key condition to be considered exempt from VAT. This outcome reaffirms our commitment to enhancing patient access to oral health, leveraging digital technology. HMRC has until June 19th to appeal the Tribunal's ruling. HMRC may also attempt to challenge the applicability of VAT on a different basis. Moving on to tariffs. Align Technology has Clear Aligner manufacturing operations in Mexico, Poland, and China. For the U.S. domestic market, we currently manufacture Clear Aligners in Mexico prior to shipment to the U.S.

Align does not currently ship Clear Aligners from Poland or China to the U.S. We currently manufacture Clear Aligners for the Chinese market in China. Our Clear Aligners and intraoral scanners made in Mexico that are imported into the U.S. are compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, USMCA. As noted in President Trump's executive order dated April 2nd, 2025, USMCA-compliant goods are exempt from tariffs under the executive order. However, the U.S.-Mexico tariff situation remains fluid, and we are unable to predict whether USMCA-compliant products will remain exempt, whether there will be other changes to the announced executive order, or if other tariffs will be imposed in the future. We expect an incremental tariff, if implemented, to be applied to the transfer price on goods shipped from Mexico. With respect to our Clear Aligners made in China, all manufactured for China takes place in China.

We have assessed the potential impact of China's retaliatory tariffs and believe that we are able to mitigate most of the tariff exposure through adjustments in our supply chain. Based on the current situation, we do not expect a significant impact to our costs from these retaliatory tariffs. We have also assessed the potential direct impact of additional U.S. tariffs on China on our business and currently do not expect to realize a significant impact from these retaliatory tariffs. Our intraoral scanner manufacture primarily occurs in Israel, with scanners shipped from there to worldwide locations. We produce a small number of scanners in China, primarily for the market. Regarding tariffs on Israel goods imported into the U.S., at the current 10% baseline tariff, we estimate the average monthly potential impact to be approximately $1 million, which we have considered in our guidance for Q2 and fiscal 2025.

Moving on to 2025 business outlook. Assuming no circumstances occur beyond our control, such as foreign exchange, macroeconomic conditions, and changes to our currently known tariffs that could impact our business, we expect Q2 2025 worldwide revenues to be in the range of $1.05 billion-$1.07 billion, up sequentially from Q1 2025. We expect Q2 2025 Clear Aligner volume to be up sequentially and Q2 2025 Clear Aligner ASPs to also be up sequentially due to favorable foreign exchange at current spot rates, partially offset by the continued product makeshift to non-comprehensive Clear Aligner products with lower list prices. We expect Q2 2025 systems and services revenue to be up sequentially as we continue to ramp up the iTero Lumina scanner with restorative software. We expect Q2 2025 worldwide gross margin to be up sequentially, primarily from higher ASPs and Clear Aligner volume.

We expect our Q2 2025 GAAP operating margin and Q2 2025 non-GAAP operating margin to be up sequentially by approximately three points for each GAAP and non-GAAP operating margin. For fiscal 2025, we expect 2025 Clear Aligner volume growth to be up approximately mid-single digits year-over-year. We expect 2025 Clear Aligner ASPs to be down year-over-year due to continued product mix shift to non-comprehensive Clear Aligner products with lower list prices and continued growth in our emerging markets where those products may carry lower list prices. We expect 2025 systems and services revenues, systems and services year-over-year revenues to grow faster than Clear Aligner revenues. We expect 2025 year-over-year revenue growth to be in the range of 3.5%-5.5% at current spot rates.

We expect fiscal 2025 GAAP operating margin to be approximately two points above the 2024 GAAP operating margin, and we expect 2025 non-GAAP operating margin to be approximately 22.5%. We expect our investments and capital expenditures for fiscal 2025 to be between $100 million and $150 million. Capital expenditures primarily relate to technology upgrades as well as manufacturing capacity and support of our ongoing business. With that, I'll turn it back over to Joe for final comments. Joe?

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Thanks, John. I'm pleased with the results of our first quarter, the strength of our Clear Aligner business, including the return to stability in the United States and the response to our recent innovations such as the Invisalign Palatal Expander System and iTero Lumina. All of us are aware of the global economic uncertainty and the headwinds that tariffs or changes in consumer sentiment might bring.

Align is focused on what we can control. As I mentioned last quarter, that means building on the innovations introduced in 2024 that drive efficiency and growth for our customers' practices while delivering the best customer and patient experiences in the industry. First, through our digital scanning technology. While iTero has long been valued in orthodontic and GP practices as much more than a replacement for PBS impressions, our next-generation iTero Lumina solution with comprehensive dentistry capabilities provides transformative solutions for GP dental practices to enable diagnostics, restorative, and multidisciplinary orthorestorative workflows, including NIRI technology and the iTero Lumina Pro dental imaging system. With iTero Lumina, we truly have a gateway to any type of digital orthodontic and dental treatment. Second, driving practice transformation to fully digital practices must address two key variables: doctor and patient efficiency. Less patient chair time and fewer patient visits increases practice profitability.

We're helping customers drive efficiency and create more time and capacity in their practices with our digital treatment planning software, delivering ClinCheck in minutes for most treatment plans. The latest innovations in a ClinCheck signature experience combines automation of each doctor's clinical preferences with AI-powered tools that deliver customized treatment plans in near real time. Based on doctors' built-in personalized treatment preferences or pre-populated templates, a doctor chooses our almost touchless digital workflows, ClinCheck in minutes technology, which is revolutionizing treatment planning for doctors and enabling chairside treatment planning, improving patient conversion, and getting patients started in treatments within days. Next, we're building on the world's most advanced Clear Aligner system to make it even more effective and efficient for all patients.

With innovations such as the Invisalign system with mandibular advancement featuring occlusal blocks that expands Align's Class II treatment portfolio for growing patients with a comprehensive solution for treating growing patients in Class II malocclusions caused by mandibular protrusion. Finally, we're delivering on the promise of 3D technology that is part of Align's DNA with direct 3D printed orthodontic devices, demonstrating our commitment to pushing the boundaries of digital orthodontics. The first example is the Invisalign palate expander system, a series of removable devices that expand a patient's palate without traditional metal expanders and screws in a way that is both effective clinically and comfortable and easy to use for kids and parents. This is the first direct 3D printed appliance Align has commercialized.

With others in development, we believe direct 3D printing will give doctors new levels of precision and appliance fit and shape and deliver the best possible outcome for patients. As we celebrate 28 years of digital innovation this year, we're also proud to be grateful and highlight that we've met a significant milestone with over 20 million Invisalign patients treated globally, representing 20 million smiles, 20 million stories, and 20 million lives transformed. A testament to the passion and purpose of our employees, our doctor customers, and their patients. With that, I thank you for your time today. I look forward to speaking with you at our Investor Day meeting next week. Now I'll turn the call over to the operator for questions. Operator.

Operator (participant)

Thank you.

As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for a name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. In the interest of time, please limit yourself to one question. One moment for our first question. Our first question will come from Brandon Vazquez from William Blair. Your line is open.

Brandon Vazquez (Research Analyst)

Hi everyone. Thank you for taking the question and congrats to a nice start of the year here. I thought maybe just to start, I was pleasantly surprised at kind of the strength in the quarter and the strength of the guide given historically we've relied a lot on and we've talked a lot about the ties of consumer sentiment to the dental space. Again, kind of a nice surprise in this quarter.

I was hoping you guys can just spend a little time talking. We saw consumer sentiment come down, but it seems like the business is doing well. Talk a little bit about maybe why that's decoupling and what kind of confidence that gives you in the guidance on a go-forward basis, even though in April we were seeing sentiment go down? Thanks, guys.

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Hi, Brandon. It's Joe. Thanks for the question. We saw good volume. It's great to see North America grow again. It's been a while, as I mentioned. We are good strength in APAC overall, including China and Europe. Really, across the board in Europe, we saw good demand also. Obviously, the Lumina scanner coming out now with restorative capability gives us a tailwind in that sense too. What I would love to also was a team.

You saw teens grow, but you also saw adults grow also. I just end that comment by saying we saw breadth in the sense of the growth, whether it was product line or whether it was by country or region, and also by our different segments, including iTero.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from Vik Chopra from Wells Fargo. Your line is open. Vic, you there?

Vik Chopra (Equity Research Analyst)

Hi, good afternoon. Yep, can you hear me? Hey, good afternoon. Thanks for taking the questions and congrats on a nice quarter. Maybe just two for me. I appreciate all the color you provided on the tariff front, but can you just talk about plans to potentially mitigate this by moving production to different locations or putting in some price increases? I had a quick follow-up. Thank you.

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Hey, Vic, it's Joe.

Look, obviously, we're, I think, pretty well situated right now when you look at how the tariffs would affect us. We're in China for China. As John said, there's some material movements and all that we'll take care of, but we don't see much of an impact there, if anything. We're good with Mexico right now. We feel pretty solid on that. Our Poland plant's fully operational and working well in Europe. I guess the only issue we really have is iTero, a lot of the shipments are coming out of Israel, but we have some plans. We'll be able to address that. As you can see in our forecast, we're planning on holding our margin that we've committed to. We think we'll be able to mitigate that. Overall, I feel fortunate.

I think we've positioned ourselves as truly a global business, meaning we have global supply lines in each one of those specific regions that we can maximize and work through. We feel good about the situation right now. As I mentioned in my comments too, there's a lot of volatility out there, but we feel we're well positioned in the sense of what we've seen so far.

Vik Chopra (Equity Research Analyst)

Got it. That's super helpful. You're hosting a much-anticipated Investor Day next week. I'm just wondering if you can just provide some insights as to what we can expect next week. Thanks so much.

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Yeah, Vik, I think what you can expect is we'll give you a good portfolio look at the company, a good demand, what we think the next few years look like in the sense of how we're positioned overall from a technology standpoint and also a commercial standpoint. It's been a while since we've been with our investors, so we're really excited to share with you. We've developed a lot since the last meeting, and we're looking forward to the time in New York.

Operator (participant)

One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from Align, John Block from Stifel. Your line is open.

John Block (Managing Director in Healthcare Sector)

Thanks, guys.

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Hey, John.

John Block (Managing Director in Healthcare Sector)

Hey, guys. The first one, John, I'll ask some sort of detailed questions on the 2025 revenue guide. And so I think I've got it right. You raised it from low single digits to 4.5% at the midpoint.

The language around ASPs did not change. That is still expected to be down low single digits year-over-year. The Clear Aligner language did not change. The bottle is still expected to be up mid-single digits year-over-year. Maybe this is a pretty straightforward question, but any more color on the ASPs? Are the ASP thoughts basically, call it unchanged from three months ago, but now we should be thinking down one and the prior was down three? That both fits the LSD narrative with that 200 basis point delta, sort of specific to just updating for the spot rate. Let me know if that came across well.

That is accurate the way you phrased that, John.

Okay. That was an easy one. Concise. I will get another one. Joe, I would love to spend time on teen.

I mean, this was always sort of like the Holy Grail, and it went to the moon during COVID, and then you had some tough comps. Here you are with new products. The double-digit growth, the 13%, it was a pretty good beat on teen versus where we were. The two-year stack is mid-20s. It was not up against an easy comp, so the 13 off the 12. Maybe just elaborate on that. What are you seeing with IPE? Clearly, that is helping the balls, but are you seeing the IPE to alignment pull through, which I think we would still be in the early stages of that?

Maybe I'm getting a little bit aggressive here, but can we think about teen as this low double-digit plus grower going forward as long as the innovation continues to step up and you got MA with occlusal blocks first hitting the market? Thanks.

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Yeah. Hey, John. First of all, I like the breadth of what you saw in teens. We saw it across each geography too. Obviously, IPE is a big part of that, but it combines well with Invisalign First. We see that. Some doctors specified immediately, some in sequence. Overall, that's just a great—we call it kids' products. We have it in the teen segment. Those two products function very well together. You're right about mandibular advancement with occlusal blocks. It addresses the twin block kind of a system that's been out there for years. It's kind of an invasive system.

We've done that before with mandibular advancement, but not to the extent that these strong occlusal blocks will be able to address the Class II, like I mentioned before. I feel good about our distribution capability in each geography to take that kind of technology forward. There's a lot of specificity in stuff like IPE and obviously occlusal blocks that you need a great distribution team to be able to explain and help to integrate in doctors' offices. I hope I have answered your question, John, but overall, it's not just like one region and one product. It's really good synergy in our portfolio across the different regions.

John Block (Managing Director in Healthcare Sector)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from Jeff Johnson from Baird. Your line is open.

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Hey, Jeff.

Jeff Johnson (Senior Research Analyst)

Thank you. Good afternoon, guys. Hey, Joe. How are you?

Let me ask, I guess, John's ASP question, but let me kind of dig down a little bit more. If I can ask one question about ASPs this quarter and then one question about ASPs going forward, hopefully that's all blended and counts as one question. John, I think ASPs were down 8.2% year-over-year, not sequentially, 8.2% year-over-year this quarter. Can you just remind us how much the VAT, the price discount you had to give to normalize that VAT impact to the U.K. docs, how much that contributed out of that 8.2% and how much FX contributed as a negative headwind? I think that was 200 basis points by my math, but just trying to confirm that.

John Morici (CFO)

Yeah, the FX is that impact that we have on a year-over-year basis. We have unfavorable FX.

I mean, on a year-over-year basis, the FX on the overall company is 3.1 points. Remember, we started the VAT, withholding the VAT, a year ago in Q1. On a year-over-year basis, it is already in the baseline numbers from last year.

Jeff Johnson (Senior Research Analyst)

Okay. Going forward, currency should switch to a positive contributor to ASPs. You mentioned the 310. I thought that was the top line impact, but is that the flow-through impact to ASPs as well, the 310 headwind in the first quarter? Going forward, FX switches to a positive tailwind. Any spot rates, can you just kind of put us in the ballpark there? I can do my math later tonight, but would love to hear your opinion there. If the HMRC does not appeal, can you re-raise those U.K. prices?

Would that actually be a contributor, or do you stick at these prices? You just do not have to pay that VAT, or the providers do not have to pay that VAT tax, I guess. Could that potentially switch to an ASP tailwind? Lastly, just MAOB, the mandibular advancement blocks. I think I was hearing that that is going to be a $100 add-on charge. If we start mixing more and more MA cases, does that theoretically then drive a little bit of ASP tailwind the way IPE and DSP has created a little bit of ASP headwind right now? Thank you.

John Morici (CFO)

Okay. Let me try to take these three ASP questions, Jeff, on this. MAOB, yes, slightly higher price. That would help our overall ASP as we sell more of that premium product on our comprehensive cases, and we would add to that for the MAOB pricing on that.

Regarding the U.K., we have to hear back on whether HMRC will appeal and what they do. We have a lot of flexibility to that. If we win, either they do not appeal or win an appeal, we can always make changes to our discount and not discount as much. If we do that, then that gives us a benefit in ASP going forward. That has not been contemplated in our forward-looking ASP. I am just kind of taking the U.K. VAT impact completely out from a forecast, but it does give us flexibility depending on what HMRC decides to do or if it works its way through. Regarding overall FX, yes, it turns into now, at current spot rates, a slight benefit on a year-over-year basis.

You still have what we've talked about before, just that list price, lower list price products, which would be comprehensive, as well as some of the other growth in certain countries just at a lower list price. Gross margin, as you know, is in many cases favorable as a result of those lower-stage products because the cost to serve for us is less. That's how the dynamics shape up for ASPs. Appreciate it.

Jeff Johnson (Senior Research Analyst)

Thank you.

John Morici (CFO)

Thanks, Jeff.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from Michael Cherny from Leerink Partners. Your line is open.

Michael Cherny (Senior Managing Director)

Afternoon, and congrats on a really nice quarter and the guidance. I just want to make sure we have all the pieces right. I'm not going to do as much mental math as Jeff. I'm a little slower there.

In terms of the margin uptick that you now expect, nice margin expansion over the year, how much of it would you accrue to kind of better revenue expectations on an organic basis for operational changes? I know we've spent a lot of time talking with the ASP regarding the impact from FX there. Anything else you can allude to relative to the operating margin dropdown, how much of it has been within your control versus how much is market conditions? It'd be great. Thanks so much.

John Morici (CFO)

I think when you look at our margin expansion, and like I said in the prepared remarks, that's still net of, so it's 70 basis point improvement in op margin from 2024 to 2025 with the known tariff impact that we would have now.

Where we're seeing the expansion improvements is continue to improve our manufacturing efficiencies with volume, with material savings, logistical savings, things that we talk about from an innovation standpoint when we do touchless clean check, a lot of less activity for us, as well as some of the new products that we have that are at good margins, some of them higher ASP like we talked about with MAOB and so on. It is really a host of initiatives that we have. It is what we continue to do in the business. With this forecast, we're pleased to report that as we know tariffs now, we can still get to our margin targets that we have because we're seeing productivity in other areas.

Michael Cherny (Senior Managing Director)

Got it. Just one really quick last follow-up. Did you give the DSP number for the quarter?

I apologize if I missed it in the slides or anywhere else.

John Morici (CFO)

No, we did not give the DSP. As we've said in our prepared remarks and what we see is this helps grow the low-stage part of our portfolio. It's rolling out in other areas, and we're pleased with the performance.

Michael Cherny (Senior Managing Director)

Got it. Thanks so much.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from Align, Jason Bednar from Piper Sandler. Your line is open.

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Hi, Jason.

Jason Bednar (Senior Research Analyst)

Hey, there. Hey. I wanted to first start on two financing topics. We saw higher rates. Credit denials were an issue over the past year or so. You've got a new preferred financing partner, an HFD. Just curious if you're seeing that help resolve any of the challenges with consumers early on in that relationship.

On the provider side, John, I think you said that you attributed the rise in DSOs to expanding financing or better favorable terms to practices. I just want to understand what's going on there. If you can double-click just to be blunt, it's a pretty big increase in DSOs for a policy you've had in place for multiple years. I am just wondering what's changed just in the last few months that would materially shift that line higher.

John Morici (CFO)

Yeah. I think really you highlighted kind of the components about how people pay in general. You have some patients that just pay directly, and they pay the 100% of the cases that the treatment that they want. That happens in many markets, and that continues. Maybe it's less of that because of some of the pressures that they might be facing.

The other two ways that essentially patients will pay is some will utilize some of the doctor financing. They'll kind of pay as you go through the doctor. That's where it really helps to have favorable terms with those doctors so that we can provide a little bit longer time for them to pay. We continue that effort so that those doctors can take a little bit more time to pay us back so that they can use their balance sheets or their working capital to help kind of that patient financing that they'll provide. The third way is external. HFD is one of them.

There's many different companies that provide this, but we're seeing a good combination of finding the right way to get to HFD, meeting the requirements that they have, or others that are providing this and getting those potential patients into financing. We're seeing a good combination of this, but we know that how much things cost and how much they have to pay over a monthly basis is important, and this is a good way to offset that.

Jason Bednar (Senior Research Analyst)

Okay. All right. Understood. Just maybe real quick on some of the tariff dynamics and not necessarily as it influences what you have to pay, but more so from a competitive standpoint. It seems like you might have some competitors that may get dislocated or may be facing higher costs as they have to import or reconfigure their supply chains.

It seems like this is a good opportunity to lean in with your business. I want to ask, are you seeing any dislocation with doctor customers? Is that happening where you're now, call it, relatively more favorable from a cost perspective than maybe what you were pre-tariffs?

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

It's Joe. I'd say we haven't seen anything material in that sense of change so far. I can't really speak of most of our competitor supply lines. It's a lot of intricacies in the sense of manufacturing, whatever. I mean, obviously, some of them are going to be very disadvantaged. We don't know to what extent. We just continue to operate in the marketplace, focus on what we can focus on, like I mentioned, our product capability, our digital platform, iTero Lumina, and just the efficiencies that we really can gain with doctors.

We'll let the tariffs kind of take care of themselves. We'll see how that goes. We really feel good about our position in it, and we'll continue to execute. All right.

Jason Bednar (Senior Research Analyst)

Thanks, Joe.

Operator (participant)

One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from Align, Steve Valiquette from Mizuho Securities. Your line is open.

Steve Valiquette (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Thanks. Good afternoon, Joe and John. Yeah, thanks for taking the question here. One of my questions was just answered on the tariffs. I think I'll just hold off on that one. One of the things that you mentioned, you said that you assessed the potential impact of China's retaliatory tariffs, and you believe you're able to mitigate the tariff exposure through adjustments in your supply chain. I guess my high-level thought was that if you're manufacturing in China for the Chinese market, you would essentially have zero impact from tariffs.

I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into your wording there, but just hoping that you can provide a little more color on the dynamics on making adjustments to your supply chain. Thanks.

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Yeah, you're right, Steve. From a product movement between China and the U.S. and vice versa, there's no movement across that. There are some raw materials that for our China manufacturing location, there are some raw materials that come from the U.S. as well as other places. That's the piece that we're adjusting from a supply standpoint so that it should not impact us from a tariff standpoint.

Steve Valiquette (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Got it. Okay. All right. That's it for me.

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Thanks. Okay. Thanks, Steve.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from Align of Elizabeth Anderson from Evercore ISI. Your line is open.

Elizabeth Anderson (Senior Managing Director)

Hi, guys. Good afternoon.

Thanks so much for the question. I see what you're saying about the 2Q guidance, and I understand what you've been saying in some of the math about the FX flip and things. You're talking about in the 2Q guidance, cases volume being up sequentially. Can you sort of, but obviously a lot of the 1Q results happen sort of BT before tariffs. Can you sort of talk about how the demand, are you starting to see any impact from demand? Would you characterize the demand since sort of the tariff announcements as broadly stable? I guess any sort of color you could help provide on that would be helpful just as people kind of put through the puts and takes of the current macro choppiness. I have a follow-up.

John Morici (CFO)

Yeah. No, Elizabeth, hi. This is John.

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Look, we were pleased with our volume and our performance in Q1 despite some of the choppiness that people allude to and so on. When we look at how we're guiding and what we're using, it's a normal process that we go through to be able to come up with guidance. We're showing that we expect that sequential improvement from Q1 to Q2. I think I would just remind everybody that it's a global business. There's a lot of different parts to our business and various products as well that I think sometimes gets a little bit lost. I think that you look at the global breadth of our business, the strength that we saw in Align and APAC, and the stability that we saw in the Americas.

There's always something about tariffs and some of the noise around that, but we're guiding for that increase, and it's based on the data that we see.

Elizabeth Anderson (Senior Managing Director)

Got it. As a follow-up, obviously, you launched the restorative iTero at IDS sort of late in the quarter. I would assume that there's almost no benefit in the first quarter from that. Can you sort of help us think through sort of the uptake for that and sort of how you expect that based on sort of prior launches to come across as you sort of launched the new products with the Lumina Ortho version last year?

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

The second version is a restorative scanner, obviously, as you know, Elizabeth. It is broadly in a GP segment that we're focused on right now. Obviously, we'll deliver it through our channels, so we'll deliver it globally.

We feel really good about some of the capability of that from a restorative standpoint. We're seeing images right now that most of these images will go to labs, and it's a restorative procedure. We're pretty excited about the degree of detail and specificity that Lumina has because of its multi-projection type of a system. I can't tell you what the exact growth is going to be. I can tell you we'll take it to the marketplace. We'll take it from a lab side and the GP side. We feel really good about our competitive positioning. Much stronger, we feel, in the restorative way than some of our scanners in the past. I hope that helps.

Elizabeth Anderson (Senior Managing Director)

Yep. Thank you so much.

Operator (participant)

Yeah. Sure. One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from Erin Wright of Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open.

Erin Wright (Healthcare Services Analyst)

Great. Great. Thanks for taking my questions. I'll ask them both upfront here. On team, I guess any metrics that you have on the actual conversion rates of Invisalign First and Palatal Expander and how you're seeing that translated to growth there? I know it was asked earlier at a more higher level, but curious if we are hitting that inflection point and what some of those metrics may be. Maybe it's just too early. The second question I have is just on direct fab and your latest thoughts on contributions, where you're at with sort of the initiative and how that should progress. Maybe we wait for investor day on that, but the potential contributions there. Thanks.

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Hey, first of all, from a team conversion standpoint, I wouldn't say we're hitting critical mass or something like that.

I mean, what you see is in that pre-teen or kid stage, we do have a very strong portfolio. In that phase one area that orthodontists talk about, obviously, they're excited about it because there's a group of products that are much simpler from a patient standpoint, a lot less painstaking, I'd say, than before. We see really all over the world a good uptake and interest in those product lines, as we expected. I'd say that includes mandibular advancement. It also happens. It'll take time for that penetration piece. There is nothing about this market that moves really quickly in the sense it's an individual doctor's office, piece by piece, all over the world. We certainly feel really good with the momentum of those three products in general in kids.

Overall, from when I look around the world right now, I just think we have good momentum, like I mentioned before, in every region that we've had. We haven't seen this since 2021. The teen growth overall being double digits is terrific. The penetration rate is improving. I think we have to take this thing quarter to quarter and report to you on it. I hope that helps.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from Align now, Mike Ryskin from Bank of America. Your line is open.

Mike Ryskin (Managing Director)

Hey. Thanks for taking the question, guys. Appreciate you squeezing me in. A couple small ones, just kind of following up on prior points people brought up. I'll shoot them real quick. You talked about tariffs. You talked about China.

I kind of want to talk about the indirect impact of tariffs, the trade war. There's a lot of thoughts of maybe indirectly, China will try to punish American companies by sort of pushing people towards local brands even more. The question how much they can really do that. Just from that perspective, are you seeing anything? Obviously, you've got a local competitor there. Just thoughts on that and what have you kind of assumed for the rest of the year if that trade war continues to escalate?

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Yeah. Based on what we saw in the first quarter, obviously, we're looking for that. There's some kind of consumer backlash. We haven't really experienced that at all. We had a good quarter in China across the board. As far as where we stand today, we haven't seen that kind of an issue.

I think we're an in-China, for-China type of company there too. Obviously, we're a Western company, but we don't deliver from a Western sense. We deliver within that country, the technology, the manufacturing, the treatment planning, and all those things. It is very local in the sense of how we operate there.

Mike Ryskin (Managing Director)

Okay. Great. You talked about effects on revenues and ASP. What about on margins? I mean, it's just a pretty big swing in terms of how rates have gone. Is there any impact on margins? I see that you're keeping your full year non-GAAP up and the same. Just anything we should keep in mind in terms of how that flows through the P&L?

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Yeah. With the FX, favorable FX, just slight improvement in our op margin as a result of that.

We have that as well as being able to offset some of the tariffs and so on. That is the components that show up in op margin. We are pleased with the start of the year in terms of our op margin. We are guiding to sequential improvement into the second quarter. If FX rates stay stable as they are now, we will end up with a good accretive op margin for 2025.

Mike Ryskin (Managing Director)

Okay. A quick one, if I could squeeze in a third, just sort of a technical question. Some of the disclosures, you mentioned you are not giving DSP anymore. It looks like, unless I am missing it, you are not giving Americas versus international clear aligner net revenues. Is it just sort of the new disclosure going forward? Is that something we will find in the 10Q or just sort of what is the rationale behind that?

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

We're always looking to simplify and provide information. We get a lot of feedback that we provide so much information and it gets a bit confusing as to what's really driving things. We try to give the best information that helps you and others be able to understand and analyze the business. We look to make changes that make the most sense to help provide more clarity to the business.

Mike Ryskin (Managing Director)

All right. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks.

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Thanks, Mike.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. One moment to our next question. Our next question will come from Kevin Caliendo from UBS. Your line is open.

Kevin Caliendo (Managing Director)

Thanks. Thanks for getting me, and I appreciate it. Of course. Hi, guys. I want to go back to the ASP question.

It was down 8%, 3% FX, I think, is how to think about it, which would imply that between discounting and mix, it was down sort of 5%, right? I do not think that any of your expectations are going forward that ASPs are going to decline 5% to perpetuity. What gets better in your mind between either mix, either customer mix or product mix or discounting programs? Are you anticipating—I do not know that I have contemplated this until right now, but it used to be every July there would be price increases. Are you thinking that you have the ability to do that, broadly speaking, and that helps?

I guess it's a short-term question, but it's also sort of a long-term question when we think about the ASPs because if we're going to get back to sort of the kind of growth that we think the business can do, we don't want ASP to be a huge overhang in that on the clear aligner side.

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Yeah. I think you have to look at it when you think about it, Kevin, where we're growing. Certain countries grow faster. They're just at a lower list price product that they have there. Or some of the product growth that we have is lower. We certainly saw some of the shift where we, starting this year, have introduced DSP in several markets and other new products with IPE and some of the other growth that we've had, whereas we didn't have those in the past.

I think some of it's just the products and the locations that impact the mix. You see, as doctors, we sell to more and more doctors, record number of first-quarter doctors that we sell to. Many of these doctors that come in are just—they're at an ASP, a product, a list price that are maybe not the comprehensive, and they're lower list price type products. That's the expectation that you have. We have things that we can be able to mitigate with some of the new products we have, some of the additional pricing like we have on MAOB and others to be able to get us to that stability in ASP.

Of course, as you work your way down the P&L, we're very mindful of making sure that gross margin is accretive and being able to drive the gross margin and ultimately to op margin. That's what we look at as we work our way down the P&L.

Kevin Caliendo (Managing Director)

Great. Thanks, guys.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. If there's any further questions in the queue, I want to let you turn the call back over to Shirley for closing remarks.

Shirley Stacy (VP of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations)

Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. As a reminder, we are hosting an investor day meeting next Tuesday, May 6th, in New York City. If you would like more information about that or to register, you visit our website, aligntech.com, or you can contact investor relations. If you have any other questions, we'll look forward to hearing from you. Thanks and have a great day.

Joe Hogan (President and CEO)

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.