Q3 2024 Earnings Summary
- Strong growth in both e-commerce and wholesale channels, with net sales increasing by 28% in Q3 2024 and expectations of continued growth of 20% to 25% in 2025. The company is expanding distribution into mainstream retailers such as Kroger, Albertsons Safeway, Wegmans, and Target, driving further sales growth.
- Successful expansion of product offerings, including powdered creamers, liquid creamers, coffee, instant lattes, and new products like protein creamers which have sold out multiple times. The company is launching larger sizes of popular products, like liquid creamers, to drive incremental consumption and meet strong consumer demand.
- Improved profitability and cash flow, achieved by reducing discounting and promotional spend, increasing gross margins (expanded to 43% in Q3 2024), and operating with positive cash flow (cash balance increased by $0.5 million year-over-year). The company is efficiently managing operations, not needing to draw on credit, and expects to fund growth internally.
- The company's ambitious 20%-25% growth target for 2025 relies heavily on increased investments in promotions and marketing, which could strain margins and profitability. There is a risk that these investments may not produce the desired sales growth, leading to margin compression.
- Laird Superfood's liquidity may become pressured due to the need for higher inventory levels and working capital to support growth. The company acknowledged they have been running with tight inventory and may need to draw on their line of credit to finance working capital expansion, which could impact their financial stability.
- The expansion into new customer segments and mainstream retailers involves targeting consumers less familiar with their brand, which may require higher marketing spend and could result in lower marketing efficiency. This could increase customer acquisition costs and impact overall profitability.
-
Growth Outlook
Q: How will you achieve 20-25% growth next year?
A: We expect strong growth across all channels. Our online business, including DTC and Amazon, performed better than expected this year, with increased repeat purchasers and subscribers creating sticky revenue heading into next year. We anticipate more growth in our wholesale business, having added selective new retail accounts like Target. Natural channel sales have been strong due to both increased distribution and velocity gains. We plan to invest in growth by offering sharp prices on promotions, increasing displays, and marketing behind the brand, leveraging our database of over half a million loyal consumers. We expect strong growth across all categories, as everything is "lighting up green" in our sales reports. -
Promotional Strategy
Q: How will discounts and promotions impact growth next year?
A: Last year, we overspent on pricing promotions, which eroded our brand equity. We made a strategic pivot at the end of last year to reduce pricing promotions, focusing instead on fewer, deeper sales during key events like Amazon Prime Days and Black Friday. This approach has increased net sales, as consumers are willing to pay full price for our premium brand. We have pulled back 11 points of trade promotion this year. Next year, we'll focus on quality promotions like secondary displays and features in grocers' circulars, which are effective in introducing products to new consumers. We'll also increase marketing efforts to build brand awareness, leveraging tactics that highlight our founders and share the functionality of our foods. -
Liquidity Position
Q: How do you feel about your cash and liquidity position?
A: We feel confident about our cash position. We have an ABL line of credit in place from Q2, but we haven't drawn on it and don't plan to. We've been managing working capital efficiently by balancing accounts receivable, accounts payable, and inventory, and refining our sales and operations forecasting. While we need to invest in additional inventory, we don't anticipate a significant need due to our lean, just-in-time supply chain. Our cash increased by around $0.5 million year-over-year, and we expect to continue generating cash, even as we invest more in growth next year. We don't anticipate needing additional cash to operate the business and aim to increase our cash balances in 2025 as we did in 2024. -
Customer Base Expansion
Q: Have you expanded to new customer segments?
A: Yes, we've expanded beyond our initial core of Laird and Gabby's friends and followers. Initially, our consumers were concentrated on the West Coast and in surf and health circles. Over the past 18 months, we focused on health and wellness diehards in regions like Colorado, Texas, Minneapolis, and Chicago. In the last year, we've pushed into health and wellness aware consumers—those who know they need to eat better and are exploring functional foods. We've been cautious with marketing spend to ensure efficiency, but we've successfully tapped into new consumer sets, expanding our geography and customer base. With our push into conventional retail channels, we expect to reach another set of consumers altogether. -
Product Performance
Q: Which products are resonating in new retail channels?
A: Both our legacy powdered creamers and liquid creamers are performing well. Liquid creamers have a higher sales velocity per point of distribution and are markedly stronger. Our coffee and instant latte products have been "on fire" this year, driving growth in grocery and online. We've launched new SKUs, including a protein creamer that sold out multiple times, and a new instant latte. We've also released new coffee products with added functionality from adaptogenic functional mushrooms, which retailers and consumers are gravitating towards. These four product areas—powdered creamers, liquid creamers, coffee, and instant lattes—are expected to "really explode" going into next year, along with greens, which have been strong all year.
Research analysts covering Laird Superfood.