InMode - Q1 2023
May 2, 2023
Transcript
Operator (participant)
Good day, welcome to the InMode first quarter 2023 financial results conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by 0. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then 1 on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then 2. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Miri Segal, CEO of MS-IR. Please go ahead.
Miri Segal (CEO)
Thank you operator and to everyone for joining us today. Welcome to InMode's first quarter 2023 earnings call. Before we begin, I would like to remind our listeners that certain information provided on this call may contain forward-looking statements and the safe harbor statement outlined in today's earnings release also pertains to this call. If you have not received a copy of the release, please go to the investor relations section of the company's website. Changes in business, competitive, technological, regulatory and other factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed by the forward-looking statements made today. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of future performance. As such, we can give no assurance as to the accuracy of our forward-looking statements and assume no obligation to update them except as required by law.
With that, I'd like to pass the call over to Moshe Mizrahy, Chairman and CEO. Moshe, please go ahead.
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
Thank you, Miri, and to everyone for joining us. With me today are Dr. Michael Kreindel, our Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Yair Malca, our Chief Financial Officer, Shakil Lakhani, our President in North America, Dr. Spero Theodorou, our Chief Medical Officer, and Rafael Licker, our VP of Finance. Following our prepared remark, we will all be available to answer your question. We reported revenue of $106.1 million in the first quarter, an increase of 23.5% compared to the first quarter of 2022. Sales from consumable and service continued to grow in the first quarter. Shakil will go over that more detail shortly.
I would like to take the moment to recognize that 15 years ago, we started this company with a small investment of just $3.5 million, and in an idea that with bipolar RF technology, our expertise and knowledge of the aesthetic industry, we can disrupt the industry and help close the treatment gap. We have been accomplishing this by providing patients remarkable and lasting results. We are working closely with leading plastic surgeons that have endorsed our safe FDA-approved technology. Today, we can say that InMode is the leading global provider of innovative, minimally invasive aesthetic and wellness solution, operating in 92 countries with 7 patented technology across 10 product family and an install base of over 8,400 platforms in the United States and over 18,300 system globally.
We are proud to recognize this 15-year anniversary as we announce a strong start to the year. We would not reach these solid, consistent results without the dedication and hard work of our employees, and I would like to take the opportunity to thank them for their commitment and care. Last year, we successfully introduced the Envision platforms in Canada. Envision is an innovative technology targeted for ophthalmology and optometrist market, and we expect to launch these platforms in the U.S. in the coming months. As we mentioned last quarter, the next generation Evoke, our hand free platforms for face treatment, is planned to launch in the second half of this year, and we look forward to updating you all on this progress. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Shakil, our President in North America. Shakil, please.
Shakil Lakhani (President, North America)
Thanks Moshe and everyone for joining us. We are happy to report a strong first quarter with significant growth coming from consumable sales. Revenue from consumables and service grew nearly 43% year-over-year. This is a strong indication that the platforms we sell are being used more frequently, signifying continued positive demand and momentum. Our Morpheus8 platform continues to gain traction and benefit from our brand ambassadors, strong market awareness and positive patient results. As Moshe mentioned, we'll continue our strategy to expand into new areas of wellness, such as ophthalmology, optometry markets with our Envision platform. We've begun to hire focused sales reps for Envision, and we gradually expect to establish a dedicated sales team for this market and for women's health and wellness market in the future. I'd like to thank our entire North American team for their continued hard work.
I'll now hand over the call to Yair for review of the financial results in more detail. Yair?
Yair Malca (CFO)
Thanks, Shakil, and hello everyone. Thank you for joining us. Starting with total revenue, InMode generated $106.1 million in the first quarter of 2023, representing a 23.5% year-over-year increase with a gross margin of 83% on a GAAP basis. Traditionally, based on past seasonality, our first quarter is the slowest quarter in the year. We expect 2023 to behave in a similar way to last year. First quarter sales outside of the U.S. accounted for $43.8 million, or 41% of sales compared to 38% in Q1 of last year. We see growth coming from different regions, with sales in Europe hit a new record in Q1. We are planning to establish at least one additional subsidiary in Europe or Asia later this year.
To support our operations and growth, InMode now operates in total of over 90 countries with a sales team of more than 236 direct reps and over 81 distributors worldwide. Capital equipment in the first quarter represented 81% of total revenue, while consumables and service revenues accounted for the remaining 19%. GAAP operating expenses in the first quarter were $46.8 million, a 30% increase year-over-year. Sales and marketing expenses increased to $41.7 million in the first quarter, compared to $30.8 million in the same period last year. This increase is attributed to the addition of new sales representatives, as well as investment in direct consumer advertising campaigns and hosting in-person events to support the company's growth projections.
Share-based compensation accounted for $4.2 million in the first quarter of 2023, an increase compared to $3.1 million in the first quarter of 2022. On a non-GAAP basis, operating expenses were $43 million in the quarter, compared to a total of $33.4 million in the same quarter of 2022, representing a 29% increase. GAAP operating margin for Q1 was 39%, compared to an operating margin of 41% in the first quarter of 2022. Non-GAAP operating margin for the first quarter of 2023 was 43%, a slight decrease from 44% in the first quarter of 2022. GAAP diluted earnings per share for the first quarter were $0.47, compared to $0.36 per diluted share in Q1 of 2022.
Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for this quarter were $0.52, compared to $0.40 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2022. Once again, we ended the quarter with a strong balance sheet. As of March 31st, 2023, the company had cash and cash equivalents, marketable securities and deposits of $574.5 million. This quarter, excluding a one-time tax payment of $15 million, InMode generated $36.1 million from operating activities. Before I turn the call back to Moshe to take your questions, I'd like to reiterate our guidance for 2023. Revenues between $525 million and $530 million. Non-GAAP gross margin between 83%-85%. Non-GAAP income from operation between $236 million and $238 million.
Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share between $2.58 and $2.60. I will now turn over the call back to Moshe.
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
Thank you, Yair. Thank you, Shakil. Operator, we are ready for Q&A.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Our first question comes from Michael Sarcone with Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Michael Sarcone (Equity Research Analyst)
Thanks, and good morning, this is Mike on for Matt, this morning. Just the first question on guidance. You had a really strong start to the year, nearly 24% growth in the first quarter, and that was on the toughest comp of the year. Can you just talk about, you know, how you think about guidance and some of the key assumptions there? I know you've got Envision launching in the U.S. soon and the next gen Evoke in 2H. Again, just some key assumptions around guide. Is it fair to characterize the guide as conservative?
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
Yeah. I would say as always, we claim, we try to be very conservative with guidance. Although we did a little bit better than the consensus on Q1, 2023, we decided to keep the guidance until the end of Q2 to see how Q2 will be. As you know, there is some seasonality in this business. The first quarter is the slowest one. Second quarter must be much stronger than the first quarter.
If we will successfully end the second quarter with the expectation that, and above the consensus of the estimate of the analyst, then we will consider, you know, increasing the guidance. On the first quarter, I mean, we did $106 compare with $102 or $101, consensus estimate. We felt like it will be better and more conservative to stay with this guidance and wait another quarter to see what will be the situation in the US and in the rest of the world as far as slowdown, recession, you know, increase, interest rate, and then we'll feel much better to increase the guidance sometime at the end of Q2.
Michael Sarcone (Equity Research Analyst)
Okay. Thanks, Moshe. That makes sense. You know, are you seeing any changes in your customers' ability to finance systems?
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
No, we don't. Although it's took a little bit longer, especially in the U.S., and Shakil will elaborate on that. In Europe, for example, we sign an agreement with the bank that is helping us to finance customers in Europe, something that we didn't have in the last, I would say, 3 years, which will make it easier for customers in Europe to finance the system. In the United States... Shakil, do you want to say a few word on that?
Shakil Lakhani (President, North America)
Yeah, sure. You know, like Moshe said, we're not seeing too much on that end. We are seeing it taking a little bit longer than we're used to, just kind of looking at risks, so on and so forth. Right now, we haven't seen that as a prohibitive factor.
Michael Sarcone (Equity Research Analyst)
Got it. When you say a little bit longer, that's just kind of the selling cycle?
Shakil Lakhani (President, North America)
It's just. Yeah. Well, not necessarily the selling cycle. They're just requiring different documents from the buyer, just to again ensure that, you know, they're. Basically, it's like it's, I wouldn't say it's to the degree of what happened back in 2008, 2009, not even close to that, but banks are just being a little pickier with who they're giving their money to. They just want to ensure that they get the appropriate information. Previously, you'd be able to get X amount of dollars approved with just a credit application. Now they might need to provide some further documentation along with it. It might add 12-24 hours to the process.
Michael Sarcone (Equity Research Analyst)
Got it. Thank you. I'll just sneak one more in there. You know, interesting disclosure in the press release, just about the impact of popular weight loss drugs. It was gonna be one of my questions. You know, you're seeing an influx of loose skin patients. You know, is there any offset there, like, you know, when you factor that in, the weight loss drugs, you know, do you expect to see lower demand for liposuction and kind of, you know, what's the net impact on demand for InMode procedures that you're expecting?
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
Spiro, could you please answer that?
Spero Theodorou (Chief Medical Officer)
Sure. That's a great question. Look, it's on the contrary, the weight loss actually helps us because first of all, we're the skin tightening company, right? When the patients have loose skin, they've already lost the weight, they come to us to be able to tighten that. What it actually does, it increases the number of patients you can do with liposuction, right? They still have some fat pockets or fat areas, fatty areas that need removed. If you have loose skin, that kind of limits them in the aesthetic results. Adding a tightening procedure in addition to the liposuction capabilities we have, increases the size of that market. What the, what the drugs have done is increased awareness. I mean, they use this marketing thing like, Ozempic face, right?
That's a cool name. At the end of the day, it's just weight loss. We deal with that, and our plastic surgeons and our doctors across the board are always dealing with loose skin. I remind you that the holy grail of plastic surgery is the ability to tighten skin without scars. Even though a lot of these patients might end up needing an excisional procedure, perhaps, if depending on the amount of weight loss, we're perfectly positioned to take advantage of this, and our clinics have seen a large influx of patients since this has taken over like wildfire. Net-net benefit. Does that answer your question?
Michael Sarcone (Equity Research Analyst)
It does. Very helpful. Thank you.
Spero Theodorou (Chief Medical Officer)
You're welcome.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from Matt Miksic with Barclays. Please go ahead.
Speaker 11
Hi, this is Sarah on for Matt. Thanks for taking our question. I guess just to clarify on the guide, is it fair to say then that you don't see any specific concerns related to the rest of the year and it is just general conservatism?
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
I didn't understand the question. Do you ask if we see any concern in the market?
Speaker 11
Yeah. Just based on the answer you provided earlier, I'm just wanting to clarify if it's fair to say that you don't see any specific concerns or, and it's just general conservatism into your current guide.
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
I believe we said it very clear. We don't see any signs of a slowdown, any sign of recession on the market that we operate. Maybe another market is different. You know, just because our technology today is in the very embryonic stage. I mean, we have less than 20,000 system installed, and the potential is few hundred. If you take into account only doctors who are doing medical aesthetic using laser and others, all of them in the future will need bipolar RF because with laser, they do only topical treatment, and if they want to do body and face reshaping, they will need us. We don't see any slowdown.
On the contrary, I have to say that we sell more disposable this quarter than in the fourth quarter of 2022, and usually the fourth quarter is the strongest one. We don't see any slowdown. The reason why we did not change the guidance is because we wanted to wait another quarter before we change. We just gave the guidance a quarter ago, and if everything will look, according to our expectation on the second quarter, then the guidance will be raised.
Speaker 11
Understood. That's helpful. I guess shifting gears here to EmpowerRF. Just curious on how has this been tracking and if the 20% growth in 2023 is still the right way to think about this, or do you expect a bit more acceleration in this year?
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
Well, we didn't give any guidance on EmpowerRF this quarter, but I can tell you that in the first quarter, we sold more than the first quarter of 2022.
Speaker 11
Okay, great. Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from Danielle Antalffy with UBS. Please go ahead.
Danielle Antalffy (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Hey, good morning, everyone. Thanks so much for taking the question. Just a question, Moshe, on capital allocation. You guys have talked in the past about how to think about potential M&A here. Any updates there on how you're thinking about capital allocation and potential for a deal to happen sometime this year?
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
Well, that's the $64,000 question, I would say. Yes, we are exploring opportunities, more than one. Some of them are, we even, you know, spend money to check, to due diligence, et cetera. One thing I want to say, very difficult to find a company that will be with the same profitability structure of InMode. Any company that we will acquire should not dilute the shareholders. It should be accretive and not dilutive. It's not easy. It's not easy because of the profitability structure of InMode. We're very careful in the analysis that we're doing on companies that we would like or that we're exploring a possibility to do M&A. I cannot announce anything special today.
The only thing I can say that we spend on the time, money, management, attention, and we're looking for acquisition.
Danielle Antalffy (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Okay. Got it. That's helpful. Just a question on indication expansion. You know, EmpowerRF is obviously doing well. Beyond that, you know, as we think about stress urinary incontinence, et cetera, any updates or next steps we should be looking for to measure InMode against making progress there? Thanks so much.
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
InMode against what? Against whom? I don't think we have.
Danielle Antalffy (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
No, no. Just whether like any milestones we should be looking for to measure progress against getting those indications or launching in those markets.
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
I believe we said a quarter ago that we will be happy and expect to do 20% more on EmpowerRF than last year. We're not changing this guidance today.
Danielle Antalffy (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Okay, thanks.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from Dane Reinhardt with Baird. Please go ahead.
Dane Reinhardt (Equity Research Analyst)
Good morning, guys. Thanks for the questions. Just wondering if you can maybe give any more color, you know, kind of on the U.S. placements just being up 10%. I think that was a little bit lighter than we and what some and other investors had kind of been expecting. I know, you know, seasonality definitely plays a factor. Is there anything else there impacting? I know you have both Evoke and Envision launching kind of later this year. What might we be able to kind of expect for those to contribute to U.S. placements later this year?
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
Shakil, could you please elaborate on that?
Shakil Lakhani (President, North America)
Sure. Yeah. As far as placements go, I mean, when it comes down to revenue, we still had a pretty significant amount of growth. When you're looking at placements, again, I'm not sure what model you guys have in place, but we don't see too many, you know, economic factors affecting things right now or changing the growth path that we're on. Of course, we anticipate further growth, as I mentioned in the script, in building out Envision, and a sales force dedicated to that. We do have plans to obviously see some pretty substantial growth. Can't give you a number, really.
We're kind of feeling out the market and getting things ready. We're extremely excited about it. We think there's gonna be a nice little runway for us.
Dane Reinhardt (Equity Research Analyst)
Okay. Thank you.
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
I think it was mainly seasonality. It was mainly due to seasonality. Q1 tends to be the slowest.
Danielle Antalffy (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Yeah
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
In the year, especially we see this effect in the US. That's something that I would like to add. It's not something new. It's been like that in the medical aesthetic category or industry or whatever. I don't think that InMode can change that.
Spero Theodorou (Chief Medical Officer)
Yeah. I think Spiro here. I think what's important to outline is that there is a discrepancy between the macro picture and what people are saying, what we're seeing on the ground in demand for patients and doctors. We don't see any slowdown. The demand's very high. Most of our physicians are booked, still booked so solidly two, three months in advance. If there is something and people are concerned about, we're not seeing it. That's sort of what we're seeing from all the offices we talk to, if that helps you at all.
Dane Reinhardt (Equity Research Analyst)
Okay. Yeah. Thank you. On the Morpheus8 new burst in 3D modes, I know we've been kind of seeing some more competition here in microneedling just over the past year or two, with some other competitive launches. Can you just maybe give us a little bit more color on how you believe these new kind of Morpheus8 options and its bipolar design are help differentiating versus competition?
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
Okay. First I want to say something about comparison of Morpheus8, which is a fractional RF, the only fractional RF technology on the market because it's well protected than all the other microneedling. The fractional RF, which we call Morpheus8 as a brand name, is basically a bipolar RF device, which basically deliver the energy from deep to the epidermis, and by doing that, treat all level of the skin. Unlike all the others microneedling, we are delivering the energy only on the tip of the pin. That's what make the results much better. Regarding the 3D. The 3D is basically something that we have developed for body treatment. In body treatment, we use 40 pin tips, which make it larger spot size for treatment.
Just because the return electrode, the second electrode of the bipolar is on the skin, we wanted to make sure that the distribution of energy in all four pins will be equal to eliminate any kind of, you know, any kind of uneven distribution between the pins and therefore we develop it. It's, it's a minor change, but it give the doctor some advantage and saving time in the treatment. Overall is the same Morpheus8 technology.
Dane Reinhardt (Equity Research Analyst)
Okay. Thank you. If I can just sneak one last one, and I think, you know, every quarter you kind of have given an absolute number of consumables sold. I think last quarter was like 230K and 180K the two quarters prior to that. I was just wondering if you could update that for the first quarter.
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
We did 237,000 pieces.
Dane Reinhardt (Equity Research Analyst)
Okay. Thank you. Appreciate the questions.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from Mike Matson with Needham & Company. Please go ahead.
Mike Matson (Senior Equity Research Analyst, Managing Director)
Yeah. Thanks for taking my questions. Just starting with EmpowerRF, wondering if you could give us an update on where you're at, kind of launching that product outside the U.S., which markets it's been launched in. Then I guess similar question, you know, for Envision. When you do launch that product, I guess it'll be first in the U.S. and, I mean, is that gonna follow kind of a similar pattern as EmpowerRF outside the U.S.?
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
Okay. The EmpowerRF right now is approved only in certain countries. It's approved in Mexico, and we're now working in Argentina, not yet in Brazil, which is a big market, and not in other countries in Latin America. We have to deal with these platforms and individual regulatory body. In Europe, it's already approved in several countries, but due to the fact that in Europe, the regulation system is changing from what they call MDD to MDR, and I will not try to explain the difference because it's complicated. We have to go again and do some reapproval in certain countries, and we're doing it right now. In most countries in Europe, we're in the process of introducing it.
This quarter, it will be introduced by some luminary doctor that we'd bring from the U.S. in 3 main countries, Spain, U.K. and France. Following that, we will introduce that in Italy. In Italy, it's a special regulation. We don't have the clearance yet. In Asia, we clear the system only in 1 country, which is Australia. Also in India, we're starting now. China, Korea and Japan, the system is not clear yet from a regulatory, but it's in the process. Take time. That's the situation outside the U.S. In Canada, it's already cleared. In the U.S., as you know, we're selling there. As far as Envision outside the U.S., as you know, we did a soft launch in Canada before we starting in the U.S.
In the other part of the world, we have not started yet.
Mike Matson (Senior Equity Research Analyst, Managing Director)
Okay. Got it. Thank you. Then just within the minimally invasive category, I mean, I know you don't break out kind of detailed sales by the product lines, but, you know, you have BodyTite, FaceTite, Morpheus8, probably some other things in there. You know, are they kind of all contributing equally to the growth or? You know, Morpheus8 does seem to be generating quite a bit of buzz, social media and other places. I mean, is Morpheus8 the primary driver there or is it just everything?
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
Well, Morpheus8 is the star, but it's not the only one. You know, we continue to sell the Optimas with all the other hand pieces. We have good results in Asia with the BodyFX, MiniFX. We're doing very well with the minimal invasive BodyTite/FaceTite in Europe. Yes, Morpheus8 is not a platform. Morpheus8 is a technology which basically is a handpiece that can go in different type of platforms. We try to incorporate Morpheus8 in the platforms that we're developing in order to make everything more attractive. In addition, we're developing combination treatment of Morpheus8 Forma, BodyFX Forma, Body MiniFX and Plus.
We continue to develop in a growing market with the existing portfolio by combining and by synergizing between the technologies and the handpieces.
Mike Matson (Senior Equity Research Analyst, Managing Director)
Okay.
Spero Theodorou (Chief Medical Officer)
Mike, this is Spero. Just to give you a little color. You know, primarily we're an aesthetics company, right? We have, by increasing our TAM, this is really important. That's why we went into the OBGYN, gynecology business. We're going ophthalmology business. What we looked at is our narrative is, look, we're gonna teach these doctors how to do aesthetics. When we looked at EmpowerRF, we go in with something they already know, right? They have these patients in their office. They have stress urinary incontinence. This is a captive audience which they're not used to sort of charging for. We come in with all the other technologies to teach them aesthetics. That was our theory.
We looked at our Morpheus8 tips across the board, United States and North America. We saw that the top accounts for every intravaginal Morpheus8 tip sold or used, there is 6 Morpheus8 tips used for aesthetics reasons on that EmpowerRF platform. That just justifies and sort of proves our narrative that, yes, we go in with something that they're comfortable with. They have that existing patient population, and sort of the Morpheus8 tips show that. We looked across the board, and we saw, okay, how about all the accounts? We saw for every intravaginal Morpheus8 tip, we have 2.5 Morpheus8 tips, cosmetic ones being used the rest of the body. Let's not forget that we are an aesthetics company, and Morpheus8 is a technology like Moshe said.
The fact that the consumables are rising shows adoption, and our narrative's actually playing through, and we, and we plan on doing the same with Envision. Does that make sense? Give you a little color, Mike?
Mike Matson (Senior Equity Research Analyst, Managing Director)
Yeah, it does. I guess it's a good point. I mean, because your platforms are for multiple, you know, capabilities, it's a little hard to...
Spero Theodorou (Chief Medical Officer)
Right
Mike Matson (Senior Equity Research Analyst, Managing Director)
you know, separate them, I guess, in terms of what's actually driving the growth, at least on the, you know, in terms of platform sales. Got it. Thank you.
Spero Theodorou (Chief Medical Officer)
No problem.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from Kyle Rose with Canaccord. Please go ahead.
Kyle Rose (Managing Director, Medical Technology)
Great. Thank you for the commentary. I wanted to ask just a little bit about, you know, the commentary around the weight loss drugs and patients there. I guess just I know it's all gonna roll up into minimally invasive, but should we expect to see more utilization of Morpheus8 body in BodyTite? Or do you expect that that might drive more of the hands for you, given you have some new products that are coming there?
Shakil Lakhani (President, North America)
Hey, Kyle. I think it's actually gonna be a mix, of both, frankly. You know, as Spero mentioned earlier, you know, the holy grail of plastic surgery is being able to tighten skin. You know, our goal and our job here is to be able to provide the appropriate tools for each physician or surgeon in order to actually help treat those things that they're looking to treat. If they have some laxity, great. Like Spero said, there's still gonna be some patients that have this, you know, have massive weight loss, and they're gonna need an incisional procedure. We're not trying to take away from that as well.
If there's some ways that we can get in, whether it's with BodyTite, FaceTite, or with our hands-free technology or even with Morpheus8, again, it's our job to basically provide the appropriate tools for each one of, you know, the appropriate surgeon or provider so that they can actually pick and choose what they need to use to optimize patient outcomes. Does that make sense, Kyle?
Kyle Rose (Managing Director, Medical Technology)
Yeah, it does. It's helpful. Then I think you've had some commentary, you know, as you go in some of the, I guess, wellness or non-core markets, we'll call them. You've talked about potentially building out, you know, some additional sales and commercial teams there. One, I guess what is the status on those initiatives? Then two, how should we think about those investments taking place, you know, over the course of the year, and relative to your operating expense guidance?
Shakil Lakhani (President, North America)
Sure. You know, in terms of, from a distribution standpoint, you know, we're actually already in the process of hiring, as I mentioned. We've made several recent hires, some from competitors, some from outside that we'll bring them in train, you know, the InMode way. You know, we're obviously looking for that to materialize over the next few quarters. Again, as you know, Kyle, you've been following us for quite a while. We like to do things slow and steady to start. We don't like rushing right out the gate. We wanna do it right.
We wanna do it in a way where, you know, it makes sense for the reps, it makes sense for the company, and at the end of the day, it's gonna contribute to the bottom line and top line. From that standpoint, we look at it that way. I don't see, you know, anything major in terms of anything extraordinary from what we already do in terms of expanding distribution that's gonna lead to any major cost.
Kyle Rose (Managing Director, Medical Technology)
Okay. The last question I'll ask is just on the, we'll call it the core business in the core commercial team. You've got a, you know, a competitor out there that there's a little bit of drama going on. Is there any opportunity to peel off commercial or R&D talent there and just, you know, maybe kind of walk us through your thoughts on being a share taker via some of the commercial talent in the market.
Shakil Lakhani (President, North America)
Sure. I guess we'll leave them as a secret, so no.
Moshe Mizrahy (Chairman and CEO)
Whatever that is, Kyle.
Shakil Lakhani (President, North America)
Yeah, exactly. You know, as we know, when there's chaos, there's opportunity, right? You know, we're again, we're very selective and picky with the people that we bring on. But again, we also want to bring on people that are gonna be able to do business the way that we're used to doing business. We're absolutely on the hunt right now, there's no question about it. We will be. Again, we're only gonna, you know, that might just expose maybe 5%-10% because we're only gonna take the best of the best and bring them over and help them kind of, you know, develop and learn again to do things the InMode way.
From that standpoint, we're of course, Kyle, as you know, you could probably imagine, you know, we were on it within probably about 30 to 60 minutes. Again, you know, it's not. It's not something super major. You know, if people are looking to leave or looking for a better opportunity, we're obviously gonna bring on the right people and be able to provide them with a good livelihood and so on and so forth. Again, we just want them to be able to follow the InMode way and do business the right way.
Kyle Rose (Managing Director, Medical Technology)
Great. Thank you for taking the questions.
Shakil Lakhani (President, North America)
Of course.
Operator (participant)
This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Moshe Mizrahy for any closing remarks.
Shakil Lakhani (President, North America)
Thank you, operator. I want to thank everybody for joining us today. I will be happy, and I'm sure that everybody will join us next time. Thank you for your time, and thank you for all the questions that you asked us. See you next quarter. Thanks, all.
Operator (participant)
Conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.