Traeger - Q1 2024

Transcript

Nick Bacchus (VP of Investor Relations)

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining Traeger's call to discuss its first quarter 2024 results, which were released this afternoon and can be found on our website at investors.traeger.com. I'm Nick Bacchus, Vice President of Investor Relations at Traeger. With me on the call today are Jeremy Andrus, our Chief Executive Officer, and Dom Blosser, our Chief Financial Officer. Before we get started, I want to remind everyone that management's remarks on this call may contain forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations, but are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied herein.

I encourage you to review our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, once filed, and our other SEC filings for a discussion of these factors and uncertainties, which are also available on the investor relations portion of our website. You should not take undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. We speak only as of today. We undertake no obligation to update or revise them for any new information. This call will also contain certain non-GAAP financial measures, including Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted net income per share, and Adjusted EBITDA margin, which we believe are useful supplemental measures.

The most comparable GAAP financial measures and reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures contained herein to such GAAP measures are included in our earnings release, which is available on the investor relations portion of our website at investors.traeger.com. Please note that our definition of these measures may differ from similarly titled metrics presented by other companies. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Jeremy Andrus, Chief Executive Officer of Traeger.

Jeremy Andrus (CEO)

Thank you, Nick. Thank you for joining our first quarter earnings call. Today, we'll be discussing our first quarter results, and we'll provide an update on our strategic growth pillars before handing the call over to Dom to provide further detail on our quarterly performance. Despite facing a challenging demand backdrop, I am pleased with our execution in the first quarter. Sales were $145 million, and Adjusted EBITDA was $24 million at the high end of our guidance range. Our first quarter results give us confidence in our outlook for the year, and we are reaffirming our prior financial guidance for fiscal 2024. As we move through the quarter, we continue to focus on our key strategic imperatives of driving energy to our brand and delighting our consumers with innovative product.

The underlying measures of health for our brand remain strong, and I continue to believe that Traeger is well-positioned to be a long-term share gainer in outdoor cooking. Our retail partners continue to be very supportive of the Traeger brand and invest alongside of us into the consumer experience at retail. The Traegerhood, our community of Traeger enthusiasts, continues to be passionate, as evidenced by the strong growth in engagement in our social media channels, as well as our industry-leading NPS score. I believe that our premium positioning and our current efforts will allow the company to disproportionately benefit from an eventual recovery in grill industry demand. As we anticipated, the demand environment continued to be soft in the first quarter. From a sell-through perspective, consumer demand for our grills remained below the prior year.

We believe the consumer continues to shift spend away from durable goods like our grills and other product categories they over-indexed on during the pandemic. In particular, we see greater pressure on higher ASP SKUs. From a sell-in perspective, in the first quarter, we were comparing against significant load-in tied to the launch of two new grills in the prior year, which also pressured sales this year. We are assuming that consumer demand for grills remains soft for the balance of this year. The first quarter is a seasonally slower period in terms of consumer demand for grills, and our peak selling season at retail typically starts with Memorial Day and lasts through the end of the summer.

Therefore, we are highly focused on execution as we move into our most important seasonal period in the next several months, and we will have greater visibility as we move through the second quarter and key holiday periods. In the first quarter, our results continued to benefit from our significant efforts over the last two years to enhance profitability and efficiency. Despite lower sales versus the first quarter of last year, Adjusted EBITDA grew 11% year-over-year, and our Adjusted EBITDA margin grew by 250 basis points. This growth was driven by 700 basis points of gross margin expansion. I am very pleased with our ability to drive first quarter gross margin above 43%, and our Q1 margin represents the highest quarterly gross margin we've reported as a public company.

This is our fourth consecutive quarter of gross margin expansion, and the significant progress we have made on margins has been driven by both improvements in the cost environment as well as company-specific initiatives. We continue to have line of sight into strong gross margin improvement for the fiscal year. Well, at the core of the Traeger story is our long-term opportunity to expand our household penetration and market share. In the current challenging demand environment, our ability to drive meaningful improvements in our margins and our Adjusted EBITDA speaks to our financial discipline, and we expect these improvements will set the company up well for significant growth as demand improves. Overall, I am pleased with our ability to deliver first quarter results at the higher end of our guidance range. I believe we are well positioned to execute on our plan this year.

Let me now review our strategic growth pillars and key wins in these areas. Our first growth pillar is to drive awareness and penetration in the United States. While the first quarter is a seasonally slower period in terms of grill usage, our community was highly engaged with our brand during the quarter, and we continued to interact with the Traegerhood and create energy behind our brand during key seasonal events. In February, our social posts focused on the Super Bowl, and we offered up content and recipes for the big game, including our epic take on Trash Can Nachos. We also teamed up with The Dan Patrick Show to demonstrate to viewers how to use their Traeger to create an incredible Super Bowl spread. Overall, we saw strong engagement with our brand during the Super Bowl and had another record year of user-generated content posts.

We also saw a solid increase in connected cooks on the day. Heading into the peak grilling season this year, we are highly focused on driving execution and position at retail. Historically, Traeger has leveraged community and ground-level marketing, as well as in-store selling and merchandising efforts to drive awareness and accelerate conversion. We will continue to utilize these strategies in the coming months, and we believe that investments into retail execution and merchandising are some of our highest return activities. This includes our Captain Traeger program. This program is designed for associates at our retail partners who are barbecue enthusiasts and are ready to take their knowledge, training, and commitment to the Traeger brand to the next level. Captain Traeger provides retail associates with access to educational trainings, limited edition products, and exclusive VIP events, and transforms these associates into Traeger evangelists.

This year, we are investing into the Captain Traeger program through in-person and digital training experiences moving into peak grilling season. Next week, on May 18, we will be celebrating our seventh annual Traeger Day. Traeger Day centers around gathering friends and family, enjoying food cooked on your Traeger, and sharing these memories with the Traegerhood via social media. Members of our community have been recording their best Cheers to the Traegerhood videos and submitting these to us over the last couple of weeks. On May eighteenth, we'll post a reel with the best submissions. We'll also run a contest with Traeger Giveaways to encourage our community to post their Traeger Day content on social. The day is a celebration of all things Traeger and is our highest user-generated content day of the year. Turning to innovation.

Innovation is a key pillar of our long-term vision for Traeger, and we remain committed to empowering our capabilities in this area. In the first quarter, we completed the build-out of our new R&D lab in our corporate headquarters in Salt Lake City. The R&D lab is designed to equip the R&D team with tools needed to bring innovation into their physical forms, as well as inspire creativity. We believe this new space will greatly enhance our ability to create and will be a driver in our long-term mission to disrupt the outdoor cooking industry with innovation. Also, on the innovation front, I'd like to mention that Traeger was named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in 2024. In fact, Traeger was ranked the sixth most innovative company in North America.

Fast Company's list highlights businesses that are shaping industry and culture through innovations in a variety of sectors, and the annual list is highly anticipated. This achievement is a testament to our longstanding commitment to innovation and disruption. I'm incredibly proud of our team for this well-deserved recognition. Our next growth pillar is growing our consumables business. In the first quarter, we drove innovation in our pellets business through our partnership with an iconic American brand. In March, we announced the introduction of a limited edition wood pellet in collaboration with Louisville Slugger, the official bat of Major League Baseball. Traeger's limited edition maple pellets are crafted from the same hardwood used to make Louisville Slugger's iconic bats and repurposed wood from the bat manufacturing process to transform into wood pellets for the enjoyment of Traeger users.

To drive awareness for this launch, we released a series of videos on social featuring our Director of Marketing, Chad Ward, cooking on a Traeger with 13-time MLB All-Star Ken Griffey Jr. As we mentioned on our last earnings call, in February, we relaunched our new branded barbecue sauces across all markets and launched a marketing campaign highlighting our updated offering. With new and improved formulas and easier-to-use squeeze bottles, we believe our new line is a big upgrade. We have also positioned our revamped sauce line at a more competitive MSRP. We have been pleased with consumer reception of our new sauces and have seen a lift in sell-through versus our previous line of sauces. Next, I will discuss our fourth pillar, expanding internationally.

In Canada, we saw improved sell-through at our big box and specialty grill channels in the first quarter, and we are pleased with the momentum and demand going into the summer. In Europe, our distributors continue to work down excess inventory, and we expect that inventory levels will be balanced later this year. In Germany and the U.K., our direct markets in the EU, we are focused on execution at retail going into peak grilling season. We recently rolled out a sales training initiative where we gather leading sales associates from our retail partners to educate them on the brand, demo the product, and have them meet brand influencers. Similar to our strategy in the U.S., we believe that ground-level execution will drive retail conversion in our international markets, where awareness of our brand remains lower than in the United States.

On the MEATER side, we recently launched new distribution at Canadian Tire, one of the leading retailers in Canada. MEATER also continues to see growth from its partnership with Vorwerk, which is a nice complement to MEATER's DTC-driven revenue base. Overall, I am pleased with our ability to execute our plan in the first quarter, in particular, given the near-term market challenges continuing to face our industry. We saw strong growth in gross margins, which has been a key area of focus for our organization for the last 24 months and grew Adjusted EBITDA. Going into the peak seasonal period, we are hyper-focused on executing against our plan, and I remain highly confident in our ability to navigate the current environment while positioning the brand for long-term success. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Dom. Dom?

Dom Blosil (CFO)

Thanks, Jeremy, and good afternoon, everyone. Today, I will review our first quarter performance and discuss our outlook for fiscal year 2024. First quarter revenues declined 5% to $145 million. Grill revenues declined 14% to $77 million. Grill revenue was impacted by lower sell-through at retail and a lower average selling price. Furthermore, in the first quarter of 2024, we were lapping initial load-in of 2 new grill launches in the first quarter of last year, which pressured sell-in on a comparative basis. Consumables revenues were $32 million, up 7% compared to the first quarter of last year, driven by growth in both our pellet business as well as our food consumables business. While first quarter pellet revenues did benefit from a timing shift in the second quarter, we are pleased with the growth.

Accessories revenues increased 7% to $36 million, largely driven by increased sales at MEATER. Geographically, North American revenues were down 9%, while rest of world revenues were up 31%. Gross profit for the first quarter increased to $63 million from $55 million in the first quarter of 2023. Gross profit margin was 43.2%, up 700 basis points versus first quarter of 2023. We are pleased with our first quarter gross margin performance, which benefited from lower costs as well as the margin-enhancing initiatives we implemented in the last two years. The increase in gross margin was primarily driven by, one, lower freight and logistics costs, which drove 290 basis points of margin favorability.

Two, higher pellet margins, driven by our efforts to increase efficiency at our pellet mills, which drove 170 basis points of margin. Three, FX favorability, which positively impacted margins by 90 basis points. And four, other favorable gross margin items worth 150 basis points. Sales and marketing expenses were $22 million, compared to $22 million in the first quarter of 2023. During the quarter, decreased demand creation costs were partially offset by increased employee expenses. General and administrative expenses were $32 million, compared to $27 million in the first quarter of 2023. The increase in G&A expense was driven by higher stock-based compensation expense, higher employee expense, and higher occupancy expenses, partially offset by non-recurring expenses related to the disposal of pellet mill assets in the comparable period.

Net loss for the first quarter was $5 million, as compared to net loss of $11 million in the first quarter of 2023. Net loss per diluted share was $0.04, compared to a loss of $0.09 in the first quarter of 2023. Adjusted net income for the quarter was $5 million or $0.04 per diluted share, as compared to adjusted net income of $1 million or $0.01 per diluted share in the same period of 2023. Adjusted EBITDA was $24 million in the first quarter, as compared to $22 million in the same period of 2023. First quarter Adjusted EBITDA was approximately in line with the high end of our guidance range of $21 million-$24 million. Next, I will discuss the balance sheet.

At the end of the first quarter, cash and cash equivalents totaled $24 million, compared to $30 million at the end of the previous fiscal year. We ended the quarter with $404 million of long-term debt. At the end of the quarter, the company had drawn down $41 million under its receivables financing agreement, resulting in total net debt of $421 million. From a liquidity perspective, we ended the first quarter with total liquidity of $153 million. Inventory at the end of the first quarter was $100 million, compared to $96 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023 and $132 million at the end of the first quarter of 2023.

We believe inventories on our balance sheet are appropriately positioned for our current demand outlook. Moving to our outlook for fiscal year 2024, we are reiterating our guidance for revenues of $580 million-$605 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $62 million-$71 million. As previously discussed, we expect our grill revenues to be pressured by lower sell-through as consumer demand for grills remains below historical levels.... Furthermore, we will be lapping the load-in of the Ironwood and Flatrock, and we will be sunsetting several grill SKUs this year ahead of future product launches, which will also pressure grill revenues. We expect that third quarter revenues will be our most challenging on a year-over-year basis.

We are also reiterating our outlook for full year gross margins of 39%-40%, which represents expansion of 210-310 basis points. We continue to expect that our margin will benefit from lower transportation costs, in particular, lower inbound freight rates, as well as margin-enhancing initiatives, including our pellet mill optimization and our direct import program, partially offset by planned strategic pricing actions to stimulate demand. We expect that our first quarter gross margin improvement will be the largest of the year and believe the rate of improvement will moderate going forward. Furthermore, we expect that third quarter gross margin will be negatively impacted by deleverage, given the expected pressure on sales and the lower revenue base in the quarter. Overall, while we faced ongoing demand pressure, we delivered first quarter results in line with our plan.

Despite lower sales, we grew Adjusted EBITDA, and we have visibility into a second year of meaningful gross margin expansion. We are highly focused on execution as we move into our peak selling season and remain committed to navigating the current environment while positioning for long-term growth. With that, I'll turn the call over to the operator for questions. Operator?

Operator (participant)

Thank you. If you'd like to queue for a question, you can do so by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If for any reason you'd like to remove your question, you can press star two. Again, to queue for a question, you can do so by pressing star one. We'll pause here briefly as questions are registered. Our first question is from Simeon Siegel with BMO. Your line is now open.

Simeon Siegel (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Thanks. Hey, guys. Afternoon. Hope you and your families are doing well. So Dom, what was the... Sorry if I missed it, but what was the breakdown in grill revenue declines between units and price? And then, Jeremy, higher level question on that, just when thinking about the return to grill growth domestically, when it happens, how do you think about what we're gonna see in terms of replenishment versus new customers? And just kind of thinking about maybe if you have any views on replenishment and cycles there. Thanks, guys.

Dom Blosil (CFO)

Yeah, so the breakdown, roughly speaking, is there was a greater impact to ASP in kind of the high single digit decline, and then for units, it was somewhat more moderated in kind of the mid single digits decline.

Jeremy Andrus (CEO)

Simeon, happy to hit the second part of the question. First of all, as I mentioned in my remarks, you know, the environment is soft, and it's not easy to sort of unpack how much of it is driven by pull-forward demand from a pandemic versus a soft consumer. Sentiment is down, you know, consumer financing is expensive, and housing transactions are very low, and all of these things facilitate grill sales or sell-through retail. We spent a fair bit of time thinking about replenishment cycles, talking to consumers, doing the math on grill ownership period. And our general belief is that, you know, we should be about to the end of pull-forward demand from 2020 and 2021.

And then I think as you step back and look at not only this category, but other high-ticket discretionary consumer categories, they tend to have some element of cyclicality to it. And so as we see the consumer strength and interest rates start to come down, we believe that is those are catalysts to the beginning of a new cycle. And we believe that, you know, replacement should start to replenishment should start to normalize. You know, certainly in 2025, absent meaningful downside, the consumer should be back to a fairly normalized cycle. And then the question is, what is the impact on the macro on a consumer choosing to wait to get one more year as they do out of durables?

In terms of, you know, how we think about new versus replacement, you know, as we lean back into top-of-funnel investment, and we're doing some, you know, some testing this year, but certainly don't believe that this is an environment where we should be investing meaningfully in top-of-funnel. We will always think about NPS and engagement and ensure that we can drive our existing consumers to our new products. We believe as we look at our innovation pipeline, that the first consumer likely to buy is an upgrade from a Traeger owner who bought, you know, 5, 6, 7 years ago. But I think we'll start to see the mix increase towards new customers as we invest in new markets where unaided awareness is low and penetration is low.

Simeon Siegel (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Right. That's great. And then just congrats on that, that gross margin. I mean, you pointed out the highest point public. Do you and recognizing the deleverage comment for Q3, but do you think that the supply chain always feels behind us. Do you think that as you look at where you are and you look longer term, and not talking about the guide for this year, but you look longer term, are we back to that path towards low- to mid-40s? Like, is there any externalities we need to still keep in mind? Because I just this was an encouraging number.

Dom Blosil (CFO)

Yeah, I would say that it's consistent with what we've addressed around gross margin in previous calls, in that, you know, there will be sequential benefit from macro over, say, the next couple of years, just given the dynamics of certain decisions we made during the pandemic when pressure was pronounced. You know, locking in some fixed contracts on the inbound transportation side as an example of something that will bleed down over the next couple of years. But it is safe to say that, you know, macro is working in our favor, and that has been an important assist to how we think about the long-term sustainability of a gross margin that we believe is appropriate for our business. And so Q1 is a great signal.

There's some, you know, some idiosyncrasy to the year that I think, you know, we've sort of spoken to, and I would say that, you know, H1 is in particular benefiting from, you know, the continued tailwind of inbound transportation and then also the FX component that we addressed on the opening remarks. Whereas back half was maybe, you know, it's sort of facing, you know, less of a benefit from a comp standpoint, given the fact that the inbound rates were improving in the back half of last year. So I'd say we're starting to see some stabilization in that realm, and I think that that assist has really, I think, you know, driven a different perspective on the long term of gross margin in conjunction with the controllables that we continue to drive.

So, positive kind of view on, you know, where we are today, where we think, you know, we'll be able to take gross margin in the future with continued, you know, tailwinds, hopefully, you know, driving some of that in the out years. But I wouldn't say that we've necessarily reached that mark just yet.

Simeon Siegel (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Perfect. All right. Thanks a lot, guys. Best of luck for the rest of the year.

Dom Blosil (CFO)

Thank you, Simeon.

Operator (participant)

Our next question is from Peter Benedict with Baird. Your line is now open.

Peter Benedict (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Hi, guys. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the question. Just on the strategic pricing plan, Dom, that you mentioned kind of at the end there. Just curious if you can expand a little bit more on that. Is that around the existing portfolio? Is that new innovation that you plan to bring in at different either price points or margin points? Just maybe help us understand a little more what you're referring to there. Thanks.

Jeremy Andrus (CEO)

Yeah. Hi, Peter. This is Jeremy. Happy to answer that. Yeah, I'd say a couple of things. One is, as we prepare to launch new products in the future, I think it gives us permission, as we get later in life cycle of existing products that have been in the market for some time, to lean into promotion as a lever to ensure that we're in a good channel inventory position as we launch new products next year. So that's sort of thought number one.

Number two, you know, in a challenging macro economy and notably for the category that we play in, you know, we're very thoughtful as we look at what is selling through, what trends we're seeing from a consumer perspective, and price sensitivity is certainly one of those. And so, you know, we are measured in how we plan promotions. We plan our promotions, you know, many months in advance, but we feel like this is an environment where we will lean into promotion a little bit more. Perhaps not in the number of promotions, but in the level of promotion.

We'll be thoughtful, you know, to consumer trends and where we think there's value and opportunity to doing more. So, this is part of the plan. You know, as we think about guidance, this is inherent in the guidance that we reaffirmed today.

Peter Benedict (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Yep. No, no, that makes sense. Is there any, Jeremy, is there anything in terms of the timing of the innovation that you have planned for the back half of this year or, or even for 2025, which, which sounds like might be a bigger innovation year, that you could, you could adjust that based on the macro? I mean, I'm just trying to get a sense for maybe how the macro is right now relative to kind of your, your band of expectations and, and whether it would, you know, what would cause you to maybe shift the timing of any of the innovation, if there is anything that would make you do that?

Jeremy Andrus (CEO)

You know, we don't really think about product launches around macro. You know, our development pipeline, our objective is to be very consistent in how we invest and when we launch, and so we do it independent of the macro. And I would say from a time of launch, it's driven more by seasonality and by our retailer reset windows. This category is one that tends to reset in the first quarter in preparation for the spring/summer selling season. So we'll stick to that calendar. It's what works best operationally for us, it's what we plan on and for our retailers.

But to the extent that we need to be more promotional to ensure that our channel inventory is healthy, before we launch new products, promotion is certainly a lever that we can use, especially at the end of life of products.... You know, right, I mean, our innovation plan is. I was just going to say, Peter, our innovation plan is many years out, and so it's really hard in a durables business to plan innovation around macro cycles.

Peter Benedict (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Yep. No, no, I think that makes sense. That makes sense. Just one, one more for, maybe for Dom, just to clarify on the third quarter gross margin expectation. You mentioned, you know, the—it would be the softest sales quarter, therefore, you know, some pressure there. Do you expect gross margin in the third quarter to be down year-over-year or just up the, the least, I guess, as we think about the year? Thank you.

Dom Blosil (CFO)

Yeah, we're not guiding specifically to, you know, quarters from a gross margin standpoint or anything. But what I would say is that, you know, the impact should be pronounced, so it will be a deviation from kind of the general run rate we see in the other quarters. And just to add to that, we are reaffirming our gross margin guidance, so that's an important, you know, comment as you think about modeling and in relation to how you treat Q3, given kind of the lower sales and the deleverage off of those lower sales.

Peter Benedict (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Yep. Okay, makes sense. Thanks so much, guys. Good luck.

Dom Blosil (CFO)

Thanks, Peter.

Operator (participant)

Our next question is from Joe Feldman with Telsey Advisory Group. Your line is now open.

Joe Feldman (Senior Managing Director and Assistant Director of Research)

Great. Thanks, guys. Wanted to follow up. When consumers are making purchases, 'cause clearly you are selling, you know, quite a few grills still, but are they opting for the better quality grills? Are they spending, you know, more? Have you seen any change in their behavior? I know it may be subtle, but always curious about that.

Dom Blosil (CFO)

No, we most definitely have seen a change in behavior, where there's been, you know, I would say, a pronounced shift, from the volumes that we tended to see, increasing above $1,000, to now having that kind of dynamic shift to sub $1,000 and, you know, kind of those entry price points that we offer. So that is definitely a trend that we're seeing and reinforced by the point Jeremy made earlier in terms of how we're thinking about promotion to ensure that we are strategically competitive in an environment where consumers are just simply more price sensitive, right? These aren't necessarily-

Simeon Siegel (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Mm-hmm.

Dom Blosil (CFO)

systemic changes that we're making per se. We just want to ensure that we remain competitive, and we always think about price as a strategic lever within the, you know, guardrails that we've defined around how we think about gross margin and ensuring that we're not a brand that's considered to be on promotion, right? So I think within the margins, we have flexibility to lean more aggressively into promo without straying outside of those guardrails. But that really is in an effort to follow these trends, which is certainly specific to Traeger as well as specific to, I think, broader kind of categories as you think about pressure on big ticket, in relation to where we see kind of the volumes and where we want to capture that benefit.

I think, you know, at the end of the day, we still believe that there's a consumer that is willing to pay for innovation and quality, and we, we address that, you know, across our product line. But, you know, at this moment in time, we want to follow that trend and ensure we play more aggressively where the consumers are shopping.

Joe Feldman (Senior Managing Director and Assistant Director of Research)

Got it. That's very helpful. Thank you. And then, just another maybe question about sourcing. I was curious, can you remind us the exposure to China, and if that—if you guys are still making any effort to shift further away from China? If I recall, you said you were not. You're kind of happy with where you're sourcing from. I'm just curious because people ask us in relation to, you know, potential, you know, Trump administration and if tariffs were to increase again. So I was just curious about that. Thanks.

Jeremy Andrus (CEO)

Yeah, Joe, so we do have an active effort underway to diversify sourcing outside of China. We currently manufacture in Vietnam. There are other geographies in Asia where we are actively investigating sourcing options, and in some cases, the existing suppliers just taking operations outside of China. You know, those are active conversations, and we do certainly believe in, you know, the value of diversification, always measured against sort of stability and cost within the supply chain. But we're also... You know, we're very contemplative around what the environment may be to the extent that a new president, such as President Trump, leans into additional China tariffs.

We think about what a contingency plan may be to accelerate movement from China to other sourcing geographies. So that is, it's absolutely top of mind.

Joe Feldman (Senior Managing Director and Assistant Director of Research)

Got it. Thanks, guys, and good luck with the second quarter.

Jeremy Andrus (CEO)

Thanks, Joe.

Operator (participant)

Our next question is from Brian McNamara with Canaccord. Your line is now open.

Madison Callinan (Equity Research Associate)

Hi, this is Madison Callinan for Brian. We were just curious about retailers' floor space dedicated to the category, and whether they remain committed to keeping or increasing floor space for the category. Thanks.

Jeremy Andrus (CEO)

Madison, yeah, we haven't really seen any shift in retailers' point of view on the category, either in season or across seasons. You know, there were certainly moments a handful of years ago where we saw retailers begin to move to year-round barbecue sets and also to expansion of floor space. But I would say it feels pretty steady state right now.

Madison Callinan (Equity Research Associate)

Great. Thank you.

Jeremy Andrus (CEO)

Thanks.

Operator (participant)

Our next question is from Megan Alexander with Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open.

Megan Alexander (Executive Director of Equity Research)

Hey, thanks very much. Wanted to come back to the sell-through. You know, Jeremy, I know you talked about it still being down in the quarter. Is there any way you can quantify, maybe just for grills, what that sell-through number looked like in relation to your grills revenue being down that mid-teens number? I know you were lapping the sell-in of the launch last year. So just trying to understand, number one, what sell-through looked like in the quarter. And then just bigger picture, from a units perspective, are you seeing that decline stabilize? Or, you know, with your commentary earlier around the macro, does that suggest the declines may get worse, or are you kind of thinking about the declines have heavily stabilized at this point?

Dom Blosil (CFO)

Yeah, I can jump in and answer that. Thanks for the question, Megan. I think to your first or first question on sell-through, I think at the end of the day, you know, it sets sort of a baseline for how we think about our forecast this year. But there are idiosyncratic components to sell-in that are building on the declines that we're seeing in sell-through, which look more pronounced on a reported basis. And it's exactly what you said. It's the launch comparison, right? So comping Flatrock, Ironwood launch in H1 of last year, and then the sunsetting of products ahead of a new product launch in 2025 in the back half of the year. So those are sort of layered on top of our baseline forecast, which sort of underpins our general thinking around demand planning.

And I think, you know, from a reported, you know, standpoint, those look, you know, in excess of what we're seeing from a sell-through standpoint. You know, we don't obviously share sell-through information, but, you know, I would say that, you know, we've talked sort of about the pre-pandemic comparison historically, and I would say that that's still holding at a higher watermark. And so that kind of has been a barometer for how we think about the health of sell-through, where, you know, a comp against pull forward through the pandemic is very different than a comp against 19, where there's a reversion back to pre-pandemic levels, which we're not seeing.

And so our belief is that at the end of the day, we just continue to lap pull forward through the pandemic, and then that's augmented and sort of distorted by this picture that's emerged around, you know, excess inventories that we had to bleed down, and that came at the cost of top line. Then this year, these two sort of comp comparisons in first half and second half around the sunsetting of product, and then the comp in the first half against the new product launch. So that's really, I think, a kind of a summary of what we're seeing. And I wouldn't necessarily say we're in a position to tell you that things are getting worse or better. I think right now it's just kind of consistent themes around the sell-through side.

Megan Alexander (Executive Director of Equity Research)

Got it. That's really helpful. And then maybe asking the gross margin question a different way. You know, again, really impressive. It was above what you did in 1Q 2019, and you did a 43% full year gross margin in 2019. Understanding you have, you know, the unique dynamics in the second half with the sunsetting of some products, but is there a way to quantify maybe just what the impacts that you expect the sunsetting of the products to be, whether it's from a top line or margin basis? As I know you've said, I think it's accretive from an EBITDA perspective. But any way just to contextualize that?

Dom Blosil (CFO)

Yeah. So the sunsetting isn't really—it's not really driving margin erosion by replacing old with new. It's more a function of the added pressure on Q3 around the fact that, one, Q3 is always our lowest selling period, and two, you're sunsetting product, which is adding additional pressure to volumes in that quarter, which in turn is just driving more pronounced deleverage in the quarter, right? So, you know, where we saw some nice expansion in gross margin in Q1, you know, we do expect that to moderate some over the course, and from a run rate standpoint, from Q3 to Q4 or from Q2 to Q4.

We're reaffirming our gross margin guide for full year, which means that most of the pressure is coming in Q3 based on the impacts on volume and just how pronounced that deleverage is in relation to the impact on gross margin.

Megan Alexander (Executive Director of Equity Research)

Okay, understood. That makes sense. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

We have no further questions at this time, so as an additional reminder, it is star one to queue for a question. There are no further questions, so at this time, we'd like to thank you all for your participation, and you may now disconnect your line.