Sonos - Earnings Call - Q2 2025

Executive Summary

• Revenue of $259.8M came in at the high end of guidance and above Street consensus, while non-GAAP gross margin of 47.1% exceeded guidance high end; adjusted EBITDA of -$0.8M beat guidance (less negative than expected) on lower OpEx.
• GAAP EPS of -$0.58 and non-GAAP EPS of -$0.18; revenue modestly beat consensus ($254.1M*) while non-GAAP EPS missed consensus (-$0.145*) given restructuring charges and amortization.
• Management guided Q3 revenue to $310–$340M, GAAP gross margin 43–45%, non-GAAP 45.2–47%, non-GAAP OpEx $135–$140M, and adjusted EBITDA $12–$37M, and sized tariff P&L expense at <$3M in Q3 and $5–$10M in Q4 (with higher cash outlays in Q4).
• Execution catalysts: nine software updates improving core reliability, Era 100 price repositioning to reinvigorate demand, continued home theater share gains; tariff flexibility via Malaysia/Vietnam production and accelerated builds ahead of holiday.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

• What Went Well

  • Revenue grew 3% YoY to $259.8M, driven by Arc Ultra home theater strength and incremental headphones (Ace) contribution; growth markets delivered double-digit increases.
  • Non-GAAP gross margin reached 47.1%, above the high end of guidance, aided by lower inventory reserves and cost optimization.
  • Non-GAAP OpEx fell 14% YoY to ~$135M, about $5M below the low end of guidance, reflecting restructuring benefits and efficiency gains; adjusted EBITDA beat guidance by ~$5M.
  • Management quote: “We’re firmly on track in restoring the reliability and responsiveness our customers expect, with nine major software updates delivered in the last 120 days” — Tom Conrad.

• What Went Wrong

  • GAAP net loss widened to -$70.1M and GAAP EPS -$0.58 due to restructuring charges and amortization, despite margin strength.
  • Free cash flow of -$65.2M (improved YoY) remained negative; CFO noted ~$24M of non-recurring cash items impacted Q2 FCF.
  • Category mix headwinds persisted in portables amid high price competition; management flagged ongoing macro/tariff uncertainty and tough Q3 comp versus last year’s Ace launch channel fill.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Hello, and welcome to the Sonos Second Quarter Fiscal 2025 conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, please press star one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to turn the conference over to James Baglanis, Head of Corporate Finance. You may begin.

James Baglanis (Head of Investor Relations)

Good afternoon, and welcome to Sonos Second Quarter Fiscal 2025 earnings conference call. I'm James Baglanis, and with me today are Sonos Interim CEO Tom Conrad, CFO Saori Casey, and Chief Legal and Strategy Officer Eddie Lazarus. Before I hand it over to Tom, I would like to remind everyone that today's discussion will include forward-looking statements regarding future events and our future financial performance. These statements reflect our views as of today only and should not be considered as representing our views of any subsequent date. These statements are also subject to material risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements. A discussion of these risk factors is fully detailed under the captioned risk factors in our filings with the SEC. During this call, we will also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures.

For information regarding our non-GAAP financials and a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures, please refer to today's press release regarding our second quarter results posted to the Investor Relations portion of our website. As a reminder, the press release, supplemental earnings presentation, including our guidance and conference call transcript, will be available on our Investor Relations website, investors.sonos.com. I will now turn the call over to Tom.

Tom Conrad (Interim CEO)

Thank you, James, and thank you all for joining us today. We delivered a solid second quarter with revenue up 3% year-over-year and adjusted EBITDA increasing by $33 million, driven by a combination of strong gross margin and disciplined execution on our restructuring. These efforts led to a 14% year-over-year decline in non-GAAP operating expenses. We're executing with more focus and efficiency, and the progress we've made gives us the confidence to further reduce our annual run-rate expense targets, which Saori will speak to in more detail shortly. Let me start with an update on the core Sonos experience, which remains central to our differentiation and long-term success. My view here is simple: our software must be responsive, reliable, and intuitive. No exceptions. In the last 120 days, we've delivered nine software updates focused on quality, responsiveness, and fit and finish.

Another is just days away, and more are planned for spring and summer. Our core product metrics now reflect performance and reliability levels that exceed those of our previous generation software. We are doing more than just making progress on performance and reliability. We fully operationalized the reorganization I described on our Q1 call. In the process, we have sharpened our priorities, restructured how our teams organize and execute, and uncovered new efficiencies. At the same time, we are tapping into a deep well of creativity and innovation that had been waiting for clearer lanes of expression in our products. This is an incredibly powerful dimension for Sonos. Just last week, IEEE Spectrum ranked Sonos fourth in patent power for consumer electronics, trailing only Apple, Samsung, and LG. By streamlining how we work and where we focus, we are clearing the way for a bold new chapter of innovation across the Sonos platform.

Speaking of innovation, powered by our category-defining Sound Motion architecture, Sonos continued to gain dollar share in home theater year over year in both the U.S. and EMEA. Our Arc Ultra soundbar sets the industry standard for performance, and our customers are consistently choosing Sonos over the competition. This quarter, we also made a decisive move to invigorate our customer acquisition flywheel through the pricing of one of our most popular gateway products, the Era 100. Millions of our customers with multiple products in their homes started with our original flagship plug-in speaker, the Play:1, and its successor, the Sonos One. These products received great critical acclaim when they were in market, and the Era 100 is a step function improvement. That is why I am so excited that we are now offering the Era 100 for the same price as its predecessors at under $200.

This combination of performance and value is a powerful unlock for attracting new households and feeding long-term Sonos system expansion through repurchase. While it's early days, we're pleased with the initial customer response to the pricing change. As we look ahead, we're operating in a dynamic global environment shaped by macroeconomic forces and an evolving tariff landscape. Sonos is not on its heels. We're well positioned thanks to the proactive steps we've taken over the past few years. We moved the vast majority of our US-bound production out of China and into Malaysia and Vietnam, significantly limiting our exposure to China tariffs. Our remaining China exposure is limited to a few accessories like speaker stands and our Sonance co-branded products, which are a very small part of our total business.

These actions afford us flexibility as to what products we manufacture in each country and provide critical optionality as new tariff structures take shape. We are managing this moment to improve our position. We're accelerating production to take advantage of the current pause in reciprocal tariffs for Vietnam and Malaysia. We're scenario planning with our contract manufacturers to ensure we maintain maximum flexibility on country of origin. We're collaborating closely with both our partners and retailers to limit downstream impact to the consumer. We're evaluating pricing and promotion strategies that keep our products compelling while balancing margin and volume to optimize for gross profit dollars. Meanwhile, our investments in global sales expansion are right on time as this moment reinforces the strategic importance of a broader international footprint. Against this backdrop, we're controlling what we can.

We've sharpened our focus on the initiatives that matter most: improving our core experience, investing in profitable growth, and driving cost efficiency while delivering innovative new experiences. With a strong balance sheet, a nimble operational posture, and an experienced team that's executing with discipline, we're setting ourselves up to win. Tremendous opportunity lies ahead. The team and I are moving forward to build the future of Sonos with a renewed sense of purpose and energy. Now let me turn things over to Saori to discuss our Q2 results in greater detail.

Saori Casey (CFO)

Thank you, Tom. Hi, everyone. We're pleased to deliver Q2 financial results towards the high end of our guidance, or better. Revenue at $260 million grew 3% year over year versus our guidance of down 5% to up 5%. The increase was driven by home theater strength due to Arc Ultra and over-the-air headphones Ace, which we launched in June last year. We saw a great response to a targeted promotion to our installed base, which was a very encouraging sign from our customers. We believe this is a testament of the progress we have made improving our core experience and restoring our customers' trust. Our Q2 results also benefited from our continued investments in geographic expansion.

While our growth markets represent a small share of revenue today, they grew double digits in Q2 and the first half of the year and contributed nicely to the total revenue growth in the quarter. Expanding our presence in these markets will be a key driver of our growth in the years to come. GAAP gross margin was 43.7% towards the high end of our guidance range, driven by lower inventory reserves. Non-GAAP gross margin was 47.1%. Q2 GAAP operating expenses were $175 million, down 4%. Please note that this included $20 million of restructuring charges related to the reduction in force we announced last quarter. Non-GAAP operating expenses of $135 million were down 14% year over year, came in about $5 million below the low-end of our guidance.

We saw a partial quarter benefit of savings from the reduction in force announced last quarter, as well as many other cost optimization efforts that we had set out last summer. As for the year-over-year trends in each non-GAAP operating expense category, G&A expenses decreased by 32%, driven by headcount and various cost optimization efforts initiated last year. Research and development expenses decreased by 18%, with a partial quarter benefit of the February reduction in force and product roadmap rationalization. Sales and marketing expenses increased by 1%, with many puts and takes. Adjusted EBITDA was negative $1 million, which was above the high end of our guidance range by $5 million, primarily due to lower operating expenses. This is a $33 million improvement from last year's Q2.

For the first half of the fiscal year, revenue declined by 6.3%, driven by a 10% decline in Q1 and 3% growth in Q2. GAAP gross margin came in at 43.8% and non-GAAP at 45.4%. Our GAAP and non-GAAP operating expenses declined by 5% and 10%, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA grew 11% year over year, driving 170 basis points of margin improvement. Our balance sheet remains very strong as we ended the quarter with $224 million of net cash, which includes $50 million of marketable securities as we hold some excess cash and short-duration treasury bills. We also have $100 million of undrawn revolving credit facility at our disposal. Q2 free cash flow was negative $65 million, up from negative $121 million last year due to accounts receivable timing, inventory management, and lower operating expenses, as well as lower CapEx.

CapEx was $6 million, down from $13 million last quarter and $10 million last year as we rationalize our spend in the near term. Please note that our free cash flow in Q2 was reduced by $24 million of non-recurring items, including $12 million of cash restructuring payments and $11 million of tax payments for intercompany transfer of IP. Excluding these items, Q2 free cash flow would have been negative $41 million, an improvement of $80 million versus Q2 last year. Our period-end inventory balance decreased by 23% year-over-year to $138 million, primarily due to lower component balances. Sequentially, this was a decline of 2%. Our inventory consists of $113 million of finished goods and $26 million of components. Under our previous share repurchase authorization, we returned $33 million to shareholders in Q2, reducing our share count by 2.3 million shares.

In late February, the board of directors approved a $150 million share repurchase authorization, all of which remains available as of Q2 period end. While returning capital to shareholders remains a key pillar of our capital allocation framework, our near-term priority is navigating this dynamic and uncertain environment with ample liquidity to preserve operational flexibility. Turning to our guidance, the Q3 outlook we're providing today reflects the demand trends we have observed quarter to date and does not assume any material change in consumer purchasing behavior as a result of this highly dynamic global trade environment. We expect Q3 revenue to be in the range of $310 million- $340 million, up 19%-31% sequentially from Q2, which is consistent with past seasonality and down 22% to down 14% year-over-year.

As a reminder, last quarter we said we expect to have a very difficult year-over-year comparison in Q3 due to the launch and associated channel fill of Ace headphones towards the end of the quarter. We're not guiding Q4 at this time, but I would note that we expect revenue to grow modestly year-over-year if current conditions hold. We expect our Q3 GAAP gross margin to be in the range of 43%-45%, with non-GAAP gross margin in the range of 45.2%-47%. Our gross margin guidance embeds our expectations that tariff expenses will be less than $3 million in Q3 due to inventory on hand. We expect our tariff expense to rise to $5 million-$10 million in Q4. These figures do not contemplate any changes to pricing nor promotional strategy, which, as Tom mentioned, we are in the process of evaluating.

Please note that the timing of cash payments for tariffs will differ from when we see the P&L expense, as the cash outlay happens at the time of receipt of inventory, whereas the P&L expense is incurred when we sell the inventory. On a cash basis, we expect to pay $5 million-$10 million of tariffs in Q3, which may rise to as much as $20 million-$30 million in Q4 as we build inventory ahead of our holiday quarter. The cash outlay and P&L expense resulting from tariffs will ultimately be determined by both tariff rates and how much inventory purchases we accelerate. We expect Q3 GAAP operating expenses to be in the range of $157 million-$162 million, down 9%-12% from $179 million in Q3 last year.

We expect non-GAAP operating expenses to be in the range of $135 million-$140 million, down 10%-13% from $155 million in Q3 last year. This is lower than the 14% decline we saw in Q2, primarily due to lower variable compensation expense in Q3 last year. On a normalized basis, our guidance implies non-GAAP operating expenses decline by 19%-22% from Q3 of last year. Bringing it all together, we expect Q3 adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $12 million-$37 million, representing a margin of approximately 4%-11%. Lastly, I want to provide an update on the transformation journey we embarked on last year. Following the update we provided in Q1, we have continued to make great progress, driving efficiencies in our business and improving our cost structure.

Accordingly, we are raising our annualized run rate savings for both GAAP and non-GAAP operating expenses. For GAAP operating expenses, we now estimate that our run rate base is $640 million-$670 million, down $100 million-$130 million from our normalized fiscal 2024 GAAP operating expenses of $770 million, a reduction of 13%-17%. This represents incremental savings of $40 million-$60 million versus the targets we outlined last quarter. For non-GAAP operating expenses, we now estimate that our run rate expense base is $580 million-$600 million, down $80 million-$100 million from our normalized fiscal 2024 non-GAAP operating expenses of $680 million, a reduction of 12%-15%. This represents incremental savings of $20 million-$30 million versus the target we outlined last quarter.

The new run rate expense range for GAAP operating expenses is wider than the range for non-GAAP operating expenses due to potential variability in our expectations for non-GAAP adjustments, primarily stock-based compensation. Reducing management layers through our reorganization efforts has helped reduce the impact of stock-based compensation on our shareholders. Actions that we have taken should serve to strengthen the business and allow us to continue to invest in most impactful growth opportunities while structurally improving our profitability. Most importantly, this should enable us to emerge from this uncertain period in a stronger position. After the call, we will update our earnings slides to reflect the following items: our Q3 guidance, our expected tariff exposures, and expense savings that I just walked through. With that, I'd like to turn the call over for questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you.

If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. Please ensure you are not on speakerphone and that your phone is not on mute when called upon. Thank you. Your first question comes from Steve Frankel with Rosenblatt Securities. Your line is open.

Steve Frankel (Director of Research and Senior Research Analyst)

Good afternoon and thanks for the opportunity. A lot to unpack here. As you try to deal with the tariffs, what's your sense of the channel's willingness to take on inventory that might have lower tariffs attached to it versus you're just going to hold the inventory until we get closer to the typical seasonal inventory build?

Saori Casey (CFO)

Hi, Steve. I can try to take that. Is your question around the channel inventory or our on-hand inventory?

Steve Frankel (Director of Research and Senior Research Analyst)

Channel inventory.

You're going to be building inventory ahead of tariffs, it sounds like. Do you anticipate that flowing through, or are you going to build and hold until we get closer to some kind of natural demand curve that's going to drive that inventory into the channel and into the consumer?

Saori Casey (CFO)

Yep. We're very much in discussion with our partners in the channel on both where this tariff rates will land and how we mitigate the consumer impact to the demand and between pricing strategies and promotion strategies, as well as the channel inventory strategy. We're very much at work in progress on that. Thank you.

Steve Frankel (Director of Research and Senior Research Analyst)

Okay. I'm going to slip another one in here. There have been press reports about the winding down of the IKEA partnership.

Saori Casey (CFO)

Should we read anything into that in terms of your pricing strategies, or is this just the notion of trying to simplify what you do and having more control over the entire ecosystem and product vision?

Tom Conrad (Interim CEO)

I'd just say that for the last eight years, we've had the pleasure of working closely with IKEA, and we're proud of what we achieved together. We have largely wound the partnership down and won't be releasing new products together. I think you can read this in part as us just sharpening our focus on what matters most in improving our core experience, investing in profitable growth, driving cost efficiency, and delivering innovative new experiences to our customers.

Steve Frankel (Director of Research and Senior Research Analyst)

One last quick one for you, Tom. Where do you think you are in repairing your relationship with the installer channel, given all the challenges of the last year?

Tom Conrad (Interim CEO)

We've made tremendous progress over the course of the last 120 days on the quality and reliability of the core experience. I mentioned in my prepared remarks that we've delivered nine software updates focused on stability, speed, and usability. We're getting really great positive customer response on the backs of these improvements. We're seeing all of our core metrics improve across every dimension. We're at levels that are better than the previous generation software. We're seeing positive customer response to targeted install-based promotion, suggesting that trust is returning with our customers. We're seeing social sentiment improve. Our inbound support inquiries are down, and that positive momentum accrues to the professional channel as well.

Steve Frankel (Director of Research and Senior Research Analyst)

Great. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

The next question comes from Logan Katzman with Raymond James. Your line is open.

Logan Katzman (Financial Analyst)

Hey, guys. This is Logan on for Adam. Thanks for taking our question.

I appreciate you guys surviving the tariff impact. Just a quick question for you guys here. Have you guys seen any demand being impacted by these tariffs yet or any pulling ahead of potential tariffs from your customers?

Saori Casey (CFO)

Hi, Logan. I can take that question. We are five weeks into the quarter now and somewhere around since the tariffs. We are really not seeing any material change to our demand at this point since the announcement. However, we are monitoring that closely. What we have comprehended in our guidance for Q3 is based on what we are seeing so far today, but nothing material we have seen thus far.

Logan Katzman (Financial Analyst)

I appreciate it. Tom or Saori, maybe just more of a high-level philosophical question around the tariffs as well.

Just thinking about them layering in if they stay status quo into July, how do you guys think about the potential impact on the holiday season? Do you think this could have a material impact on consumer spending there? I know it's a little early, but I just wanted to get your high-level thoughts.

Saori Casey (CFO)

I can get started, and maybe Tom can chime in. We provided the Q3 tariff impact, which we said below $3 million since we have mostly our inventory on hand pre-tariffs. In Q4, we've given also an estimate of $5-$10 million based on best we know today. Again, the timing in which we are expecting. As Tom said on the call, we're doing a number of actions to try to mitigate, including accelerating some of the productions that we're in talks with our partners.

We're actively working on that, but it's still very much work in progress, and it's really hard to speculate where the tariff rates will land and the consumer demand and how much we're able to accelerate and also migration within our footprint of manufacturing between the countries that we manufacture outside of China.

Tom Conrad (Interim CEO)

I'll just underscore that we're just actively engaged in all of these topics every day here, evaluating pricing and promotional strategies, trying to find a balance between margin and volume for gross profit optimization. We're working closely with our CM partners and retailers as, of course, they want to see demand hold as well. We're all working to limit the impact downstream to our customers. It continues to be a very live and evolving topic and one that we're deep in every day here.

Logan Katzman (Financial Analyst)

Thank you. I appreciate the color.

Operator (participant)

Again, if you have a question, it is star one on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from Erik Woodring with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Erik Woodring (Managing Director and U.S. IT Hardware)

Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Thank you. Thank you for taking my questions. One quick clarification to start off, and I might have missed this at the top of the call, but Tom or Saori, can you just clarify for us what I know you sized the tariff impact by quarter, but can you just clarify either what % of your revenue base or what % of your COGS base is currently exempted versus not exempted and then obviously faces a small reciprocal tariff outside of China?

Tom Conrad (Interim CEO)

What we shared on the prepared remarks is that we have moved all of our U.S.-bound production out of China and into Vietnam and Malaysia with the exception of a few accessories like speaker stands and the speakers that we make in partnership with Sonance. Collectively, those represent a tiny, tiny fraction of our U.S. business. I think the right way to think about it today is that the vast majority of our U.S.-bound production comes from Vietnam and Malaysia, which is subject to the paused rate of 10%.

Erik Woodring (Managing Director and U.S. IT Hardware)

Just to clarify on that, the April 11th exemptions for the 20 HTS U.S. categories, the majority of your products fall into the exempted category. I just want to make sure that's correct.

Tom Conrad (Interim CEO)

Not into the exempted category, but into the paused category for reciprocal tariffs outside of China. At 10%.

Erik Woodring (Managing Director and U.S. IT Hardware)

Right. Right. Okay. Okay.

Got it. Thank you. I realize that in the June quarter, you face the tough year-over-year compares from the over-the-air headphone launch last year. Is there any way that you can help us understand that if we normalize for that launch, what would that imply for year-over-year growth or declines for this June quarter? Just trying to do a bit of an apples-to-apples comparison, if you may.

Saori Casey (CFO)

Yeah. Thank you, Erik. There are a lot of different moving parts here that we are contending with. We know for sure the Ace channel fill, but there is also initial Ace channel fill, but also initial pent-up demand of the Ace launch as well, since that was very much rumored out there for many quarters. There are elements of that that we also need to—we hate to normalize for that because that is a demand.

However, that was something that we now, hindsight, know that there was an initial pent-up demand that took place in Q3 last year. There are certainly other macro environments in terms of where our category is. While we have been—we're pleased to see how we're gaining in home theater, the strength in our home theater from a dollar share perspective, both in U.S. and Europe this past quarter. We have other offsets in other categories like portables, where it's very price competitive. There is a lot of puts and takes in that. Even just Ace alone, it's very hard to perfectly normalize. We wanted to just put out some of those factors in which that distorts our year-over-year comparability.

Erik Woodring (Managing Director and U.S. IT Hardware)

Okay. Okay. Understood.

Maybe last question for you, Tom, and this is kind of big picture, is when we hear you guys on these earnings calls, there's clearly a focus on cost rationalization, efficiency, kind of going back to the core of Sonos. There's also a clear focus on repairing the brand image and kind of doing right across several channels. What's the latest message, just high level on product launches? I'm not asking for the number of product launches per year. I'm just asking more on the philosophy of when does the focus for Sonos on product launches maybe start to take priority over some of these other factors that you're talking in the near term?

Again, not saying you're not prioritizing new products, but just from the narrative, when should we start thinking that product launches, new either in the home or out the home, become more important to the story as opposed to repairing past issues or cutting costs? That's it for me. Thank you so much.

Tom Conrad (Interim CEO)

Sure. Thank you, Erik. I guess I'll begin by saying I do think that two new hardware launches a year is a really great cadence for Sonos. Already this year, we've launched Arc Ultra, Sub 4, and Era 100 Pro. For the balance of the year, we are focused on using software to derive differentiation and experience improvements. We do this not just to repair our relationship with our customers after the missteps of last year, but also because our flywheel is powered by software.

With every enhancement we make, we're delivering additional value to our customers and driving delight and incentivizing future repurchase. We just really believe in that investment. I'll also offer that I think we have the strongest roadmap in the company's history. While we're not here to talk about that today, I am really excited about the day when we'll be able to tell you more about that.

Erik Woodring (Managing Director and U.S. IT Hardware)

Okay. Thanks. Maybe if I could just sneak in one more, I apologize, which is, Saori, a healthy cash balance relative to your market cap. Obviously, we can all look at kind of where your stock price is today, but is there an impetus to use that given where our valuation is today? Just help us understand how you're thinking about the uses of cash. Thanks so much.

Saori Casey (CFO)

Yeah. Thank you, Erik, for that question.

Certainly, returning capital to our shareholders, as you've seen in the past, is one of our key pillars of our capital allocations framework. We did return $33 million in Q2, and we do still have the full new $150 million of share authorization that the board approved this past quarter. We are very much cognizant of returning capital to our shareholders. However, in the near term, our priority is navigating through this dynamic, uncertain environment with ample liquidity, and we want to preserve operational flexibility during this time. Until we see better clarity around where the tariffs will land and the consumer behavior, we will be as prudent as possible in navigating through this environment.

Erik Woodring (Managing Director and U.S. IT Hardware)

Okay. Totally understood. Thank you so much, guys. Good luck.

Saori Casey (CFO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad.

Your next question comes from Brent Thill with Jefferies. Your line is open.

Rayyana Matraji (Research Analyst)

Hi, this is Rayyanna Matraji on for Brent Thill. Thanks for the question. Given the revenue performance this quarter, could you speak to any specific products or regions that contributed to this? Thanks.

Saori Casey (CFO)

I can start that. Yeah. Q2, we have grown 3% year-over-year, and it came in at the high end of our guidance range, and we were pleased with that. As Tom had referred to, we had a better-than-expected response by our customers on the owner promotion that we had run in the quarter. That helped boost our results to be better than the midpoint of the guidance and the higher end of the guidance. From the product perspective, Arc Ultra certainly had a great impact as we also were able to gain share in the quarter in both U.S. and Europe.

That fueled our growth, as well as Ace, the headphone, is incremental to us since we did not launch that until Q3 last year. Last but not least, as we said on the prepared remarks, our growth of 3% had a meaningful contribution from what we're characterizing as our growth markets. They had been smaller markets for us, but we're focused on investing in those markets outside of the U.S. That also fueled our growth rate for this quarter.

Rayyana Matraji (Research Analyst)

Okay. Thanks. On the search for a permanent CEO, what qualities is the board prioritizing in the selection process? That's it for me. Thank you.

Tom Conrad (Interim CEO)

I think the best thing for me to say is that the board, as we've described in Q1, was working with a leading executive search firm, and they're conducting a comprehensive search.

I know that they take this responsibility very seriously, and I'm confident that in the coming months, they'll select a world-class leader for the company's next chapter. I think I'll just leave that and them to the process. I remain a candidate.

Rayyana Matraji (Research Analyst)

Great. Thank you. Good luck.

Operator (participant)

The next question is a follow-up from Steve Frankel with Rosenblatt Securities. Your line is open.

Steve Frankel (Director of Research and Senior Research Analyst)

Yes. Could you give us any updates on your IP litigations?

Tom Conrad (Interim CEO)

Sure. Happy to. Sorry. Just want to get this right, and I have some notes here. We have two affirmative cases against Google that are proceeding. Our damages case that mirrors our successful litigation at the ITC is now getting moving in district court in Los Angeles.

On our appeal of our other case where the trial judge overturned our jury verdict, it is now fully briefed and awaiting oral argument before the federal circuit.

Saori Casey (CFO)

No new updates for today.

Tom Conrad (Interim CEO)

Those are the same updates we have shared in the past.

Steve Frankel (Director of Research and Senior Research Analyst)

Great. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

This concludes the question-and-answer session, and we will conclude today's conference call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.