Medifast Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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April 28, 2025
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Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Medifast First Quarter twenty twenty five Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. You may be placed into question queue at any time by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Steven Zinker, Vice President, Investor Relations.

Operator

Steven, please go ahead.

Steven Zenker
Steven Zenker
Vice President of Investor Relations at Medifast

Good afternoon, and welcome to Medifast's first quarter twenty twenty five earnings conference call. On the call with me today are Dan Chard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Jim Maloney, Chief Financial Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the earnings release for the first quarter ended 03/31/2025 that went out this afternoon at approximately 04:05 p. M. Eastern Time.

Steven Zenker
Steven Zenker
Vice President of Investor Relations at Medifast

If you have not received the release, it is available on the Investor Relations portion of Medifast website at www.medifastinc.com. This call is being webcast and a replay will also be available on the company's website. Before we begin, we would like to remind everyone that today's prepared remarks contain forward looking statements, and management may make additional forward looking statements in response to your questions. The words believe, expect, anticipate, and other similar expressions generally identify forward looking statements. These statements do not guarantee future performance and therefore undue reliance should not be placed on them.

Steven Zenker
Steven Zenker
Vice President of Investor Relations at Medifast

Actual results could differ materially from those projected in any forward looking statement. All of the forward looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this call. Medifast assumes no obligation to update any forward looking statements that may be made in today's release or call. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Medifast's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dan Chard.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

Thank you, Steve. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. There's no question that we are operating in a time of tremendous opportunity. The health and wellness space, particularly around weight loss and weight management, is evolving rapidly, and we believe Medifast is well positioned to take advantage. Scientific research has shown that use of GLP-one medications can result in up to forty percent of weight loss coming from muscle mass, equivalent to a decade's worth of muscle loss within just twelve to eighteen months.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

Furthermore, for eighty eight percent of patients, GLP-one medications do not fully support their achieving a healthy weight. We believe these findings reinforce the importance of supporting any health journey with a straightforward health and wellness lifestyle solution to achieve long term health goals. This is relevant for those using weight loss medications, as well as for those pursuing weight loss and improved health without the use of medications. In either case, Medifast's OPTAVIA program helps preserve lean muscle and delivers healthier outcomes through healthy habits, nutrition, and coaching for those seeking lasting health outcomes. At the same time, independent research that we have commissioned indicated that eighty three percent of people looking to lose weight lack confidence in transitioning to a long term healthy lifestyle.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

This is precisely the strength of our OPTAVIA program, which offers a holistic approach to weight loss and healthier living. Our offering combines science backed products, personalized nutrition plans, the support of a dedicated OPTAVIA Coach, and integration into a like minded community. Additionally, where appropriate, we provide access to weight loss medications through our collaboration with LifeMD. This integrated solution gives people the tools, accountability, and encouragement they need to learn how to make a healthy lifestyle second nature, lose weight, keep it off, and simplify a complex health journey. Coaches play a vital role in helping people navigate both the active weight loss phase and the weight management phase that follows.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

These coaches, having faced similar challenges themselves, bring invaluable experience to the process. Studies indicate that most people using GLP-one medications for weight loss struggle with long term weight maintenance. An average of two thirds of weight loss by people using medications is regained within a year of stopping them, and with up to seventy four percent of people discontinuing GLP-one medications within the first twelve months, it is clear that there is a demonstrated need for guidance in achieving health and wellness. This is exactly why our approach is so relevant. It not only helps people lose weight, but also instructs them in healthy habits that can be utilized to help preserve muscle mass, manage weight loss, and improve health and wellness.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

With more than forty years of experience supporting people with their health and wellness goals, including many years when we were selling through multiple channels, we continue to believe that our coaches represent a core competitive advantage. They are our most effective customer acquisition engine and the most efficient way to scale our business. In 2025, we are sharpening our focus on reigniting that engine. We're taking action to help simplify the coaching experience, increase productivity, and create scalable and successful businesses through stronger, new customer acquisition, better retention, and the reengagement of former customers. There are three key elements to this initiative.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

First, we are streamlining the coach development path, making it easier for coaches to succeed in the changed competitive environment. We envision that a more clearly defined path will show them how to achieve early wins and develop their business by placing more emphasis on building coach leadership skills. We anticipate that with more intuitive incentives and clearer guidance on how to grow their businesses, coaches will be better empowered to optimize their efforts and achieve financial success. Through leadership education, podcasts, networking events, and shared best practices, we are working to create an environment where coaches can thrive and where their success becomes repeatable and scalable. Second, we are enhancing the tools and insights available to the coaches.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

Upgrading digital business tools are expected to provide a more seamless way for coaches to track customers' progress, and they can use that data, tailor solutions that best meet individual customer needs. Education resources will focus on how to deliver more personalized customer service, equipping coaches with the skills and strategies to build stronger relationships and more sustainable businesses. This is especially important in their ability and confidence in supporting customers who are currently using or have used a GLP-one medication. Currently, almost half of OPTAVIA Coaches have supported GLP-one medication patients, the highest level we've seen to date, with twenty five percent of coaches having had personal experience using GLP-one medications themselves as part of their own weight loss and health journey. Third, we are continuing to broaden our product offerings to give coaches more tools to serve their customers.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

Over the past eighteen months, we've launched OPTAVIA Active for those individuals who want to incorporate exercise into their plans, as well as the OPTAVIA Ascend line, which is designed specifically for those using GLP-one medications or transitioning into a weight management phase after achieving their healthy weight. With its high protein content, the Ascend line helps customers preserve lean muscle mass, a core concern for GLP-one users and all people trying to lose weight and learning how to keep it off. With a more diverse set of offerings, our coaches have the flexibility to create highly tailored plans that meet customers wherever they are in their health and wellness journey. Science remains at the core of our program and products. With recent development breakthroughs, our programs and products should be even more effective in delivering key benefits to support customer health and wellness journey.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

These development breakthroughs will first impact our OPTAVIA essential line and will play an important role in the business transformation as we continue to implement changes over the next twelve to eighteen months. Additionally, we are currently developing studies that will evaluate the efficacy of the new Ascend line and the more established Essential line, along with the holistic OPTAVIA model, which pairs customers with a coach and teaches customers how to make a healthy lifestyle second nature, giving coaches even more points to demonstrate why OPTAVIA offers a unique and effective solution. We expect investment in these areas to be mitigated by reductions in company led marketing costs. While those efforts helped re engage past customers, they proved less efficient at attracting new ones. This year, we're putting the emphasis squarely back on our coach community, which remains central to the strength of our brand and the success of our program.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

The impact of coach support was measured in our clinical research and showed that customers who received coaching support while using the OPTAVIA plan lost 10 times more weight, 17 times more fat over the self directed group. Turning to our first quarter results. Revenues and EPS were in guidance range, with bright spots continuing to appear in parts of the business. For the fourth consecutive quarter, we saw lower year over year coach productivity declines, driven in part by increased productivity of newer coach cohorts. These new cohorts are exhibiting new customer growth ahead of last year and are at levels we experienced back when the business was growing.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

Q1 marked the first meaningful year over year increase in new coaches in the past three years, with a double digit increase compared to the same period last year. While this hasn't yet made a meaningful impact on revenue, we believe it sets the stage for future improvement in overall coach productivity and new customer acquisition, and positions us for coach growth in the back half of twenty twenty six, if the trend holds. In the meantime, our continued focus on driving cost savings is helping us maintain a strong balance sheet. While a weaker economy could present consumer demand headwinds, we've historically seen that economic slowdowns can actually help increase coach recruitment as more people seek additional income earning opportunities. Also, we presently do not expect tariffs to have any meaningful impact on our business this year.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

As 2025 progresses, we expect to get a clearer picture just how resilient these early positive indicators are. The foundation we're putting in place through our coach led strategy and evolving product mix supports our focus on delivering more definitive signs of a turnaround by the end of the year. In summary, our focus in 2025 is on empowering our coaches to be more productive, more successful, and better equipped to meet the needs of a growing and diverse customer base. By providing a holistic solution, inclusive of clinically proven plans, access to weight loss medications through LifeMD, and the power of customized coaching, we're delivering solution that addresses the full spectrum of weight loss and long term health. This proven business model has been highly successful in the past, and we are optimistic about its potential to drive growth again in the near future.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

With that, I'll turn it over to Jim.

Jim Maloney
Jim Maloney
Chief Financial Officer at Medifast

Thank you, Dan. Good afternoon, everyone. As Dan mentioned, first quarter twenty twenty five results for both revenue and EPS were within our guidance ranges. Revenue for the first quarter was $115,700,000 a decrease of 33.8% versus the year earlier period, primarily due to a decrease in the number of active earning OPTAVIA Coaches. We ended the quarter with approximately 25,400 active earning OPTAVIA Coaches, a decrease of 32.8% from the first quarter of twenty twenty four.

Jim Maloney
Jim Maloney
Chief Financial Officer at Medifast

As Dan mentioned, we continue to see lower year over year declines in revenue per active earning Coach. Average revenue per active earning OPTAVIA Coach for the first quarter was $4,556 a year over year decrease of 1.4% compared to a year over year decrease of 22% during Q1 of twenty twenty four. This moderation is being driven in part by increased productivity of newer coach cohorts, which are exhibiting new customer growth ahead of last year. Gross profit decreased 33.8% year over year to $84,200,000 driven by lower sales volumes. Gross profit margin for the current quarter was 72.8 percent, which was consistent with the year earlier period.

Jim Maloney
Jim Maloney
Chief Financial Officer at Medifast

SG and A expense was down 28.4% year over year to $85,500,000 primarily due to a $22,400,000 decrease in OPTAVIA Coach compensation on lower volume, dollars 3,000,000 on market research and investment costs related to medically supported weight loss, which were incurred during the first quarter of twenty twenty four that did not occur in the current quarter, a $2,500,000 decrease in employee compensation and a $1,300,000 decrease in credit card fees. SG and A as a percentage of revenue increased five sixty basis points, primarily due to approximately four forty basis points of loss of leverage of fixed cost due to lower sales volumes and 200 basis points of company led marketing efforts, primarily due to lower sales volume. These increases were partially offset by 170 basis points of market research and investment costs related to medically supported weight loss, which were incurred during the first quarter of twenty twenty four and did not recur in the current quarter. Loss from operations was $1,300,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty five, down $9,200,000 versus the year earlier period. As the decline in gross profit was largely offset by lower SG and A, as a percentage of revenue, loss from operations was 1.1 in the first quarter, '5 '60 basis points below the year earlier level.

Jim Maloney
Jim Maloney
Chief Financial Officer at Medifast

Other income decreased 50.9% year over year to $1,800,000 due to higher unrealized gains on our investments in LifeMD common stock in the year earlier period. Company's unrealized gain on investments in LifeMD common stock for the first quarter of twenty twenty five was $600,000 Income tax expense of $1,300,000 for the first quarter of twenty twenty five was lower than the $3,300,000 recorded in prior year's first quarter. The decrease in income tax expense was primarily driven by a decrease in pre tax income and a tax shortfall for stock compensation, partially offset by a change in unrecognized tax benefits due to finalization of a state tax examination. Net loss in the first quarter of twenty twenty five was $800,000 or $0.07 per share compared to net income of $8,300,000 or $0.76 per diluted share in the year earlier period. Turning to our balance sheet.

Jim Maloney
Jim Maloney
Chief Financial Officer at Medifast

Our financial position remains strong with 164,600,000 in cash, cash equivalents and no interest bearing debt as of 03/31/2025. Now I will turn to guidance. We are expecting second quarter revenue to range from $85,000,000 to $105,000,000 and loss per share for the quarter to range from $00 to $0.55 guidance excludes any gains or losses from changes in the market price of our LifeMD common stock holdings, which we are unable to estimate. While it continues to prove challenging to forecast our results for the remainder of the year, we continue to see bright spots in certain pockets of the business and believe they set the stage for improvement in coach productivity in the second half of twenty twenty five with coach growth in the second half of twenty twenty six. With that, let me turn the call to the operator for questions.

Operator

Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question and answer session. Session. Our first question is coming from Jim Salera from Stephens. Your line is now live.

Jim Salera
Research Analyst at Stephens Inc

Yes, good afternoon. Thanks for taking our question. I wanted to start off on the second quarter top line guidance. If we look at where the kind of the rate of decline for the top line over the past four quarters, it's been improving every quarter and that the rate of the year over year sales decline has slowed. But then if I just take the midpoint of the guidance, it's right around 95%, that would actually imply an acceleration in the year over year rate of decline.

Jim Salera
Research Analyst at Stephens Inc

So just any color around what's going on there in the second quarter and why that shouldn't continue the trend we've seen over the prior four quarters?

Jim Maloney
Jim Maloney
Chief Financial Officer at Medifast

Thanks, Jim. I to address that question right when you look at the midpoint of the range and looking at what you're exactly talking about, it could indicate an acceleration. However, you have to take into consideration the timing of promotions that the company has done over Q1 of this year versus Q1, what we're planning on doing and what we did last year. So, you know, in Q1 of this year, we did run a promotion that did quite well. Dan mentioned it in the prepared remarks.

Jim Maloney
Jim Maloney
Chief Financial Officer at Medifast

It is the first time we saw new coaches actually see a year over year improvement, and we haven't seen that in about three years. And that was due to that was really the first time we've seen those improvements in the business when we ran a promotion and it really incentivized the field to focus on acquiring new customers and also acquiring and sponsoring new coaches. So, that worked very well. So, when you run a promotion like that in a quarter, it does have impacts to the next quarter. So, last year we ran a we had a promotion in Q2.

Jim Maloney
Jim Maloney
Chief Financial Officer at Medifast

And in this year in our guidance, we're not really planning on having a promotion. That's not to say that we could not change our minds, but what guidance is showing is that we're not going to be doing such things in this year. So hopefully that addresses your question. I guess the last thing I wanted to say on that is that doesn't mean the following quarters would have that same accelerated trend like you're referring to.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

Jim, let me just go ahead and finish your question. Then I just have a couple of comments.

Jim Salera
Research Analyst at Stephens Inc

No, no, no. Go ahead.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

No, finish asking your question to Jim, and then I have just a couple of points to make.

Jim Salera
Research Analyst at Stephens Inc

So essentially, we should see 2Q as the low point in terms of year over year rate of decline, like it should be the highest year over year rate of decline for the year, if I'm interpreting what you're saying correctly?

Jim Maloney
Jim Maloney
Chief Financial Officer at Medifast

By the way, I can't really go into that since we're not providing guidance. But that's the impact what you're seeing in Q2. But that I wouldn't lead that into if you're modeling it, that trend will continue. That's really all I can say on that point.

Jim Salera
Research Analyst at Stephens Inc

Okay. That's fair.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

And Jim, I wanted to make you aware as well as anyone else who's joining the call for Q and A that we have joining us today for the Q and A session, Nick Johnson as well. Some of you have met Nick before, but Nick is our Chief Field Operations Officer and President of OPTAVIA. And Nick is the one who works closely with our now 25,000 coaches across the country. And we want to specifically for him to be here so we can respond to any specific questions you have about progress and programs that we're making progress with the programs we're making with that we're introducing to our coaches as well as client acquisition productivity. Jim already touched on one of the important bright spots that we're talking about that we've seen in the field, is year over year improvement in new coaches.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

I think the other thing we've talked about over the past several quarters, which continues to be an important trend is the improvement of productivity, which continues to moderate to this most recent quarter of being down 1.4% year over year. But that, as I've said before, is a reflection of what we believe is a trend in improving ability for our coaches to acquire new clients. And also a key indicator, which has been in the past as we've analyzed the business for the last fifteen years, has been correlated with what typically has been an improvement in year over year active earning coach numbers. So I'll let you ask any specific questions, but I want to make sure that we'll give a few minutes or not, just a brief opportunity for Nick to talk about some of these programs that are helping us see that improvement in year improvement in coach productivity. So Nick, just take a minute to reflect on what's happening in the field.

Nicholas Johnson
Nicholas Johnson
Chief Field Operations Officer at Medifast

Yeah, thanks Dan. And thanks Jim. So if we look at those new cohorts as a bright spot that we've been talking about in the prepared remarks, it really comes down to four factors. Number one, coach leaders have evolved their trainings to the new environment, which is key. Those new coaches that have been brought in in the first quarter really only have experienced the GLP-one environment.

Nicholas Johnson
Nicholas Johnson
Chief Field Operations Officer at Medifast

And as Dan said before, they're experiencing productivity rates that are consistent with even high growth periods in the past. Second point here is the training has included support for those on and off GLP-1s. Half of our coaches in fact have supported someone on GLP-one already. 25% of our coaches have been on a GLP-one medication. So the third point here is growth in new coaches and growth in that new coach productivity, looking at it year over year.

Nicholas Johnson
Nicholas Johnson
Chief Field Operations Officer at Medifast

A lot of that has to do with some of the programming that we enacted in the first quarter. So these are incentives that are designed to both drive client acquisition, which improves productivity, and it drives coach sponsoring. So as they're getting activated in their first few months acquiring new clients, then they're on to the next step which is sponsoring coaches and becoming a mentoring coach or a business coach. So those incentives for coach leaders to help their new clients and coaches win in their early months is key to their progress through the compensation plan. As we talked about before, we did continue to pull the client acquisition side through promotions, and we did that through our spring into health program, which assisted in driving productivity for new coaches as well, pulling up those averages as we look year over year.

Jim Salera
Research Analyst at Stephens Inc

I I appreciate the thoughts. One question for you and then either Jim or Dan. So do you have a sense for of the new coaches, how many of them personally have utilized GLP-one? And is that new cohort one that are kind of over indexing to the portion of your coaches that utilize GLP-one? And then maybe a tag on question to that.

Jim Salera
Research Analyst at Stephens Inc

I think you guys said on the last call in January, the Ascend product line was just under like 20% of orders. Just any update on that and how that progressed through the quarter and where we are today?

Nicholas Johnson
Nicholas Johnson
Chief Field Operations Officer at Medifast

I can comment on that specific question with respect to how we're looking at those new coaches coming in. We haven't necessarily done that segmentation, but that is something that we could likely provide through Jim following the call. And then I'll let Jim respond to the Ascend question.

Jim Maloney
Jim Maloney
Chief Financial Officer at Medifast

Yes, so on Ascend question, Jim, is we mentioned last call that we were right in line with our expectations with the Ascend line. And it continues that trend continued all the way through Q1. And we're at the end of Q1, we're basically in the mid teens for the Ascend line for as the number of orders as a percent. So it's right in line with our expectations.

Jim Salera
Research Analyst at Stephens Inc

Okay. And then maybe one last question for me. If I think about the shift in focus on the company led marketing and pulling back on the company led marketing and investing back into the coaches, How should we think about that as impacting SG and A? I mean, does that mean that you're pulling did you say pulling back like you're not doing any company led marketing anymore or it's just a reduction in the amount? Just kind of help us size up what that impact might look like on SG and A as we think about the progression there through the remainder of the year.

Jim Maloney
Jim Maloney
Chief Financial Officer at Medifast

Yes. So when you're doing your modeling, Jim, look we're doing things with the company led as we mentioned in our prepared remarks. But remember that's as a percent of revenue that was not that large of a percent as compared to the compensation we pay our coaches. And we look at those and we look at the driver of which one has the better customer acquisition cost. We looked at that when we first started piloting it through Q1.

Jim Maloney
Jim Maloney
Chief Financial Officer at Medifast

And what we've determined is reactivation works quite well with company led. So we will continue to do that. So there will be some pullback, but it's not going to be that dramatic in your modeling.

Jim Salera
Research Analyst at Stephens Inc

Sounds good. I will pass it on.

Operator

Thank you. Next question is coming from Doug Lane from Water Tower Research. Your line is now live.

Douglas Lane
Head of Consumer Products at Water Tower Research LLC

Thanks. Good afternoon, everybody. Nick, glad you could be on the call. I think what I'd like to get maybe from you if I could is some perspective on the impact the GLP-one has had on your coaching community. I mean, get all the opportunities that you mentioned with the weight loss and gaining it back after you go off the drug, but it also makes it controversial.

Douglas Lane
Head of Consumer Products at Water Tower Research LLC

So I wondered if the controversy of adding GLP-one into the equation has had an impact on your coaching community.

Nicholas Johnson
Nicholas Johnson
Chief Field Operations Officer at Medifast

Well, thanks Doug for the question. Certainly, the impact of the GLP-one environment has been reflected in what we've been seeing throughout the last couple of years. It really, for us, is a training opportunity. It's not necessarily a controversial topic in and of itself. It's simply a disruption that causes us to have to retrain around the new environment specifically.

Nicholas Johnson
Nicholas Johnson
Chief Field Operations Officer at Medifast

And as you know, it takes time for a training around a new way of looking at the market and looking at your offering, as it takes time to take hold and start to duplicate at scale inside of inside of the network. So the disruption really has an effect on the training approach and adjusting our sales to what the environment is giving us. But also, we continue to see bright spots as we said in the prepared remarks, as Dan said in the prepared remarks around what our new coaches are experiencing today. They only know the GLP one environment. They only know that the GLP ones do exist.

Nicholas Johnson
Nicholas Johnson
Chief Field Operations Officer at Medifast

So it's not controversial for them. They're still offering what we've historically offered in our core, and then delivering beyond that from a lifestyle lifestyle transformation perspective. So that's how I would respond to that question, Doug. Dan, anything from your side?

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

Yes, I think it's important, Doug, and I think you're kind of getting on this. I mean, it's now been a little over two years since we've started to see GLP-one drugs have a big impact across the country and specifically among what had been a pretty stable group of clients who were using OPTAVIA for their solution. But initially the GLP-one drugs were positioned as a solution to a problem that had been challenging for people who are struggling with overweightness or obesity. And what it's turned out and increasingly clear is that it's a tool to help, but not a solution for it. I mean consistently the drugs were prescribed by physicians along with lifestyle, but most either didn't know how to pursue a healthy lifestyle or what that actually meant or chose to take the easy route and just use them as an appetite suppressant.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

In both cases, the challenges that were created with the GLP-one drugs have become more apparent today than they were two years ago or the time between, which is when somebody uses a GLP-one drug without modifying their lifestyle, it has a very dramatic impact on their lean muscle mass. So you can lose up to 40% of your lean muscle mass or the weight loss in lean muscle mass. And the other thing that the other part of the GLP-one regimen that was not understood until more recently is that most are not interested in staying on a drug for the rest of their lives. And as a result, seventy four percent of GLP-one patients stop taking the drug after one year, and that those who stop taking it unless they engage in a lifestyle modification regain the weight back within the first year. And so what we are seeing with our coaches now that they have an understanding of that is an ability to bring in some of those what we refer to as off GLP off ramp prospective clients and have them engage in the OPTAVIA program.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

And that's what's driving some of those statistics that we mentioned in the prepared remarks, which are that roughly fifty percent of our coaches now have had experience in coaching GLP-one clients. So someone who is on or who has been on a GLP-one drug. And also twenty five percent of our coaches themselves have either tried or are using a GLP-one drug. So we're seeing this as a changing environment with an increasing opportunity for our coaches to support three segments. Those who don't want a GLP-one drug to be part of their weight loss or health regimen those who are transitioning off, so that's seventy four percent and those who are on and want support with their lifestyle program that works with it.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

So it's a less kind of there are fewer questions now and more answers than we had previously and our coaches are starting to perform accordingly.

Douglas Lane
Head of Consumer Products at Water Tower Research LLC

That's very helpful. That's good color. I mean, get it. The landscape shifted dramatically with the introduction of GLP-1s and so you've adopted and so now your coaching, your coaches are shifting as well in their ability to sell to all three of those clientele. But this is a lot of products now.

Douglas Lane
Head of Consumer Products at Water Tower Research LLC

Just out of curiosity, how much is a monthly cost of being fully on the GLP-one and the supporting nutritional programs?

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

Well, the majority of the clients who are on a GLP-one drug or have transitioned off and want to continue their weight loss, the majority are using our five and one programs or our classic programs. Some of them also add the active line, which is not a significant cost. But think about the monthly cost of being on the five and one program is roughly $400 If you break that down into how much it is per meal is actually quite reasonable because that's feeding them 80% of their food in a given day. So five out of their six meals is an OPTAVIA program. So the change has not been dramatic and the impact and the benefits of adding either the active product or transitioning to the ASCEND line is actually very much in line with what they have paid in the past.

Douglas Lane
Head of Consumer Products at Water Tower Research LLC

Okay. And have you talked about what LifeMT charges for the GLP-one monthly?

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

LifeMT is going there's a subscription cost to use their telehealth service, which is less than $20 I think. Yeah,

Jim Maloney
Jim Maloney
Chief Financial Officer at Medifast

month. Yeah. A month, yeah. Yeah.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

And then they have a variety of price plans for their products. But the majority of people now, and I think this is true of our coaches who use them as well, are covered through their insurance. And most of our coaches or the clients of our coaches who are using a GLP-one drug are using a primary care physician and their own insurance. So we have about we'll just say a majority who are using their own physician services. But we have a complete offer that allows us to use LifeMD where necessary.

Douglas Lane
Head of Consumer Products at Water Tower Research LLC

Okay, that's helpful. Well, it's good to hear about the new coach cohorts and hopefully that bodes well for 2026 and beyond. Thank you.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

Thanks, Doug.

Operator

Thank you. We reached the end of our question and answer session. I'd to turn the floor back over for any further or closing comments.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

Thank you. I just wanted to say that we appreciate your questions and for the opportunity to further discuss the progress in our business transformation. And as we adjust our model and train our coaches and continue to refine our offer, we're focusing on better meeting the needs of customers in this changing environment. But continue to emphasize that today we understand in a far deeper way how our lifestyle program integrates with those who are on GLP-one drugs transitioning off or those who choose not to use them. So we look forward to continuing our efforts to improve productivity as we move forward.

Dan Chard
Dan Chard
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medifast

And we'll provide you with additional details regarding our progress in our next call or for those of you who are participating in investor conferences that will be on, we will see you there as well. Thank you, everyone, and have a great day.

Operator

Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference and webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.

Executives
    • Steven Zenker
      Steven Zenker
      Vice President of Investor Relations
    • Dan Chard
      Dan Chard
      Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
    • Jim Maloney
      Jim Maloney
      Chief Financial Officer
    • Nicholas Johnson
      Nicholas Johnson
      Chief Field Operations Officer
Analysts
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Key Takeaways

  • Scientific research shows up to 40% of weight loss from GLP-1 medications comes from muscle mass and 74% of patients discontinue within a year, reinforcing the importance of Medifast’s OPTAVIA program and new Ascend line to preserve lean muscle and support long-term health.
  • Medifast is sharpening its coach-focused strategy by streamlining the development path, upgrading digital tools & insights, and broadening product offerings—like OPTAVIA Active and Ascend—to empower coaches and drive scalable customer acquisition.
  • First-quarter revenue was $115.7 million (down 33.8% YoY) with a net loss of $0.8 million; gross margin remained stable at 72.8% while SG&A expenses declined 28.4% primarily due to lower coach compensation.
  • Coach productivity declines moderated for the fourth consecutive quarter to –1.4% YoY, and new coach recruits grew double digits, marking the first meaningful improvement in cohort performance in three years.
  • Second-quarter guidance projects revenue of $85 million to $105 million and EPS loss of $0 to $0.55, with emphasis on cost savings and reinforcing coach-led growth over broad company-led marketing.
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Earnings Conference Call
Medifast Q1 2025
00:00 / 00:00

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