Align Technology Inc (ALGN) — Q1 2021 Earnings Call Transcript

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. I'm Shirley Stacy, Vice President of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. Joining me for today's call is Joe Hogan, President and CEO; and John Morici, CFO. We issued first quarter 2021 financial results today via Globe Newswire, which is available on our website at investor.aligntech.com. Today's conference call is being audio webcast and will be archived on our website for approximately 1 month. A telephone replay will be available today by approximately 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time through 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time on May 12. To access the telephone replay, domestic callers should dial 877-660-6853 with conference number 13718065 followed by pound. International callers should dial 201-612-7415 with the same conference number. As a reminder, the information provided and discussed today will include forward-looking statements, including statements about Align's future events and product outlook. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve risks and uncertainties that are described in more detail in our most recent periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available on our website and at sec.gov. Actual results may vary significantly, and Align expressly assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. We have posted historical financial statements, including the corresponding reconciliations, including our GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation, if applicable, and our first quarter 2021 conference call slides on our website under Quarterly Results. Please refer to these files for more detailed information. Please note, as of Q1 '21, we are no longer including the number of doctors trained, Clear Aligner shipment volume by region, and total worldwide average selling price. We will continue to share information management uses to evaluate the business and metrics to help investors and analysts assess our financial performance. With that, I'll turn the call over to Align Technology's President and CEO, Joe Hogan. Joe?

Thanks, Shirley. Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us. On our call today, I'll provide some highlights from the first quarter, then briefly discuss the performance of our two operating segments: Clear Aligners and Systems and Services. John will provide more detail on our financial results and discuss our outlook for the full year. Following that, I'll come back and summarize a few key points and open the call to questions. I'm pleased to report another strong quarter with record revenues and volumes reflecting strong growth for both Invisalign Clear Aligners and iTero Systems and Services across products and customer channels worldwide. Q1 sequential Invisalign Clear Aligner growth was driven by strength in both adult and teen market segments across products and customer channels, especially in North America and the EMEA region. The year is off to a great start, and Q1 reflects increasing momentum and the benefit from continued investments in our strategic initiatives focusing on: expanding our operations globally in existing and emerging international markets; increasing ortho adoption and utilization of Invisalign treatment, especially with teens; training and education GP dentists; an increasing conversion to Clear Aligners; and building Invisalign brand preference with millions of consumers through advertising, PR, digital, social media, and influencer marketing to drive demand and conversion through Invisalign-trained doctors. For Q1, total revenues were $894.8 million, up 7.2% sequentially and 62.4% year-over-year. Q1 System and Services were $141.5 million, up 5.8% sequentially and up 104% year-over-year. Q1 '21 Clear Aligner revenues of $753.3 million were up 7.5% sequentially and increased 56.4% year-over-year. In Q1, we shipped a record 595,800 Invisalign cases, an increase of 4.9% sequentially and 65.8% year-over-year. In addition, we shipped to a record 78,600 Invisalign doctors worldwide, of which approximately 6,600 were first-time customers. During the quarter, we reached a significant milestone with our 10 millionth Invisalign patient, Gabriela Silva, who recently began our treatment with Dr. Eunice Blind, an Invisalign-trained orthodontist in São Paulo, Brazil, one of our fastest-growing country markets. It's remarkable to think about the pace of growth and adoption that we are experiencing worldwide, especially when considering it took 10 years to achieve our 1 millionth Invisalign patient milestone and now we're adding 1 million new Invisalign patients in less than 6 months. We're grateful to our doctor partners and their patients and to our 20,000 employees around the world who have helped us reach this milestone. In recognition of our 10 millionth Invisalign milestone, we have donated $10 million to the Align Foundation donor-advised fund, and are kicking off a campaign called 10 Million Smiles, 10 Million Thanks centered around the transformative power of Invisalign treatment through the eyes of Invisalign patients. From a product perspective, Q1 clear aligner revenues reflect strong growth across the Invisalign portfolio for both comprehensive and non-comprehensive products. Q1 comp volume increased 4.9% sequentially and 62.3% year-over-year, and Q1 non-comp or non-comprehensive volume increased 5.0% sequentially and 74.4% year-over-year. Invisalign Clear Aligners address a wide range of case complexity and can treat approximately 90% of case starts for adults and teens and phase 1 treatment for kids as young as 6 years old. Q1 adult patients increased 5.8% sequentially and 68.5% year-over-year. Q1 teens or younger patients increased 2.7% sequentially and 58.9% year-over-year. Teenage cases made up nearly 75% of the 15 million ortho starts each year, and despite our rapid growth and adoption, Invisalign treatment is still only in the single digits worldwide, so we continue to see significant runway here. Our strong Q1 results also reflect our multimillion-dollar consumer marketing investment across key media channels with broad reach to drive consumers to Invisalign doctor practices. Our teen and mom-focused consumer campaign generated a 138% year-over-year increase in unique visitors to our website and a 35% increase in leads generated. In addition, Invisalign social media influencers like Charli D'Amelio, Avani Gregg, and Tan France, along with many other content creators and influencers, enabled the delivery of 4.2 billion impressions in Q1 '21, delivering exciting new content and increased engagement for the Invisalign brand among their millions of followers. The consumer insights and data we receive from our programs suggest adults are also continuing to invest more in themselves for their overall health and well-being and have more disposable income to do so. They are seeking Invisalign clear aligner treatment from our Invisalign doctors and sharing their positive experiences with their friends, family, and social networks, becoming influencers themselves. Now let's turn to the specifics around our first quarter results, starting with the Americas. For the Americas region, Q1 was another strong quarter with Invisalign case volume up 8.4% sequentially and 53.8% year-over-year reflecting increased Invisalign submitters and utilization growth for both orthodontic and GP channels. Q1 results also reflect continued investment in digital marketing, sales programs, and our channel focus around GPs, orthos, and DSOs, and other initiatives to help drive utilization. In the GP channel, Invisalign Moderate and Invisalign Go continue to gain traction. This was especially true for GP dentists that enrolled in the iPro program as well as doctors that have installed iTero scanners. The GP Accelerator program, designed exclusively for GPs, provides an all-encompassing support plan based on practice needs that is centered around maximizing iTero integration, clinical support needs, and implementing new marketing strategies. DSO utilization also increased and continues to be a strong growth driver that outpaced non-DSO practices. Today, we announced that we have extended our relationship with DECA Dental Group and have signed a new multiyear agreement for the Invisalign System through early 2025. In addition, DECA Dental Group is extending utilization of the iTero Element 5D imaging system across its affiliate practices in the United States. This provides DECA Dental doctors and clinical support team members with access to Align's customized clinical education for the Invisalign system and the iTero Element 5D imaging system to support practices in adopting new workflows for restorative dentistry and for digital orthodontics. In the ortho channel, the Teen Awesomeness Centers program directs patients to Invisalign doctors who are experts in treating teens and are seen as the go-to doctors in their markets, helping to drive increased comprehensive treatments within the North American ortho channel. Tomorrow, registration opens for the 2021 Teen Forum: Virtual Edition to be held on June 10 and 11, which combines 2 days of all-new dynamic sessions focused on the Invisalign teen patient journey. Sessions will focus on building clinical confidence, efficient workflows, teen and parent conversion, and the overall digital treatment experience that teens expect. The timing of the forum is designed as a strong lead to the busy teen season, and attendees will have the option, at the post-forum mentoring by Invisalign teen experts, to help orthos and their staff apply the tools from the teen forum to their practices and get additional support through their busy summer. For our international business, Q1 Invisalign case volume was up sequentially 0.9%. On a year-over-year basis, international shipments were up 83.2%. In EMEA, Q1 volumes were sequentially up 3.7%, up 74.9% year-over-year, with strong broad-based growth across all markets, led by the U.K., France, and Italy, along with continued growth in our expansion markets, led by Turkey, Russia, CIS, and Benelux. We also saw strong performance from both ortho and GP channels, with momentum in the GP channels with adults reflected in strong utilization in shipments from Invisalign Go.

Thanks, Joe. Now for our Q1 financial results. Total revenues for the first quarter were $894.8 million, up 7.2% from the prior quarter and up 62.4% from the corresponding quarter a year ago. For Clear Aligners, Q1 revenues of $753.3 million were up 7.5% sequentially and up 56.4% year-over-year, reflecting Invisalign volume growth in most geographies. Clear Aligner revenue growth was favorably impacted by foreign exchange of approximately $14.4 million or approximately 2.1 points sequentially and on a year-over-year basis, by approximately $22.3 million or approximately 4.6 points. For Q1, Invisalign Comprehensive and Non-Comprehensive ASPs were both up sequentially. On a year-over-year basis, Q1 Invisalign Comprehensive and Non-Comprehensive ASP decreased. Overall, on a sequential and year-over-year basis, ASPs were favorably impacted by foreign exchange. On a year-over-year basis, ASPs were impacted by higher net revenue deferrals in all regions and higher promotional discounts. Clear aligner deferred revenue on the balance sheet increased by $79 million sequentially and $256 million year-over-year and will be recognized as the additional aligners are shipped. Total Q1 clear aligner shipments of 595,800 cases were up 4.9% sequentially and up 65.8% year-over-year. Our Systems and Services revenues for the first quarter was a record $141.5 million, up 5.8% sequentially due to product mix and increased services revenues from our larger installed base and exocad's CAD/CAM services. Year-over-year, Systems and Services revenues were up 104% due to higher scanner shipments and services and the inclusion of exocad's CAD/CAM services from the April 2020 acquisition and increased services from our larger installed base. Our Systems and Services deferred revenue was up 17% sequentially and up 102% year-over-year, primarily due to the increase in scanner sales and the deferral of service revenues, which will be recognized ratably over the service period. Moving on to gross margin. First quarter overall gross margin was 75.7%, up 2.5 points sequentially and up 4.1 points year-over-year. On a non-GAAP basis, excluding stock-based compensation and amortization of intangibles related to our exocad acquisition, overall gross margin was 76.1% for the first quarter and up 2.5 points sequentially and up 4.2 points year-over-year. Overall gross margin was favorably impacted by approximately 0.5 points sequentially and 0.7 points on a year-over-year basis due to foreign exchange. Clear Aligner gross margin for the first quarter was 77.6%, up 2.7 points sequentially due to increased manufacturing efficiencies from higher production volumes, higher ASPs and lower freight, partially offset by higher additional aligner volume. Clear Aligner gross margin was up 4.6 points year-over-year due to increased manufacturing efficiencies from higher production volumes and lower freight, partially offset by lower ASPs. Systems and Services gross margin for the first quarter was a record 65.4%, up 1.2 points sequentially, primarily due to manufacturing efficiencies from higher production volumes and higher ASPs, partially offset by increased freight. Systems and Services gross margin was up 3.6 points year-over-year due to manufacturing efficiencies from increased volume, higher ASPs and services revenues.

Well, thank you, everyone, for joining us today. We appreciate your time. We look forward to seeing you or speaking with you at upcoming financial conferences and industry meetings and events. If you have any follow-up questions, please contact our Investor Relations department. Have a great day.