Lifeway Foods Q4 2025 Earnings Report

Lifeway Foods EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.16
• Consensus EPS: $0.29
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.13
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Lifeway Foods Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $55.36 million
• Expected Revenue: $55.00 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$361.00 thousand
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Lifeway Foods Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q4 2025
• Date: 3/17/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 8:00AM ET

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) (NASDAQ: LWAY) is a Chicago-based food company specializing in probiotic-rich cultured dairy products. Established in 1986 by Michael Smolyansky, the company pioneered the introduction of kefir to the U.S. market. Under the leadership of CEO Julie Smolyansky, who succeeded her father in 2002, Lifeway has grown from a single product operation into a diversified portfolio of fermented foods and beverages aimed at promoting digestive health and wellness.

The company’s flagship product is kefir, a cultured milk beverage naturally rich in probiotics, vitamins and minerals. Lifeway offers a range of kefir varieties, including plain, flavored, organic and reduced-fat options, alongside innovations such as probiotic drinkable yogurt, kefir smoothies and cottage cheese. Production takes place in modern facilities in Illinois, where stringent quality controls ensure the preservation of live active cultures and consistent taste profiles. Lifeway sources its milk from U.S. dairy farms and adheres to clean-label standards, avoiding artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners.

Lifeway distributes its products through a network of national and regional retailers, including conventional supermarkets, natural-food chains and club stores. The company has also expanded its e-commerce presence, leveraging direct-to-consumer channels to reach health-conscious shoppers. While its core market remains in the United States, Lifeway has pursued selective international export opportunities in Canada and Europe. With a focus on research and development, the company continues to introduce new flavored and functional offerings, aiming to capitalize on growing consumer interest in gut health, plant-based nutrition and transparent ingredient sourcing.

Lifeway Foods Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Lifeway delivered record 2025 net sales of $212.5 million (up 13.7% YoY; ~19% on a comparable basis) and a strong Q4 with sales of $55.4 million, marking the 25th consecutive quarter of year‑over‑year sales growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Profitability expanded materially — full‑year gross margin rose 140 basis points to 27.4%, Q4 gross margin reached 27.8% (+250 bps), and net income increased 54% to $13.9 million.
• Positive Sentiment: Management is scaling capacity with a $45 million Waukesha expansion (Phase 2 ribbon cutting completed) targeting double manufacturing capacity by end of 2026, and reiterated a long‑term $45–$50 million Adjusted EBITDA target for 2027.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company is broadening distribution and innovation — Lifeway Farmer Cheese reached 2,000 Walmart stores, new products (Kefir Butter, Mulu Mates, probiotic smoothies) launched, and a licensing deal with Open Farm enters pet nutrition — while SG&A rose modestly as a percentage of sales due to growth investments.

Presentation

[John Mills, Managing Director of Investor Relations at ICR]

Good morning. Welcome to Lifeway Foods' Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Conference Call. On the call with me today is Julie Smolyansky, President and Chief Executive Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the press release that went out this morning. If you have not received the release, it is available on the investor relations portion of Lifeway's website at www.lifewayfoods.com. A recording of this call will be available on the company's website. Before we begin, we would like to remind everyone that the prepared remarks contain forward-looking statements. The words believe, expect, anticipate, plan, will, 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. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements.

[John Mills, Managing Director of Investor Relations at ICR]

Lifeway assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking projections that may be made during today's call, except as required by law. All of the forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this call. Since our last quarterly earnings call, I'm pleased to share that Lifeway President and Chief Executive Officer, Julie Smolyansky, was named one of Progressive Grocer's Top Women in Grocery and honored with the Humanitarian of the Year award from the Illinois Holocaust Museum. These recognitions highlight the leadership and values that guide Lifeway's continued growth and broader impact. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Lifeway's President and Chief Executive Officer, Julie Smolyansky.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

Thank you, John, and good morning to everyone joining us. As always, we greatly appreciate your interest in Lifeway Foods. I'm thrilled to share our exceptional fourth quarter and full year 2025 results with you today. 2025 was truly a remarkable year for Lifeway, marked by record-breaking growth, expanding margins, and operational excellence across every dimension of our business. We achieved the highest annual net sales in the company history, delivered significant growth margin expansion, and grew net income by 54%. All of this while making strategic investments in capacity, marketing, and innovation that position us extraordinarily well for the future. Before diving into the details, I want to acknowledge the exceptional work of our entire Lifeway team. The outstanding results we continue to deliver are a direct reflection of your unwavering dedication.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

Quarter-after-quarter, you all execute at the highest level, and I'm truly grateful for everything you bring to this organization. Let me start with our full year 2025 performance, which showcases the strength of our momentum and our business. We delivered record-breaking full year net sales of $212.5 million, up 13.7% year-over-year, driven by higher volumes of our Lifeway branded drinkable kefir, as well as strong growth in our Lifeway Farmer Cheese. Adjusted for two strategic modifications to customer relationships that we initiated in late 2024 to prioritize high-value brand strengthening opportunities, our growth was approximately 19% on a comparable basis.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

It is worth noting that we are lapping an incredibly strong full year in 2024 when we delivered double-digit growth in every quarter and grew nearly 17% year-over-year, which emphasizes the strength of our growth this year. This represents our sixth consecutive full year of significant volume-led annual net sales growth, a testament to the exploding customer demand for our core Lifeway offerings and the effectiveness of our marketing strategy, as well as the sustainability of our growth trajectory as we maintain our foothold as the undisputed leader in kefir. This outstanding annual performance was capped off by a very strong fourth quarter, with net sales of $55.4 million, up 18% year-over-year, driven by strong volume growth of our Lifeway-branded products.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

This was our 25th consecutive quarter of year-over-year net sales growth and gave us incredible momentum heading into 2026, which is off to a great start. Building on our powerful top-line performance, the growth flowed through the income statement as we delivered significant improvements across our core profitability metrics. Our gross profit margin for the full year was 27.4%, up 140 basis points compared to last year. This meaningful expansion reflects the strong volume growth of our core Lifeway-branded products, which provided manufacturing efficiencies that were enhanced by the ongoing investments in our Waukesha facility and the favorable impact of conventional milk pricing. We wrapped up with our fourth quarter gross profit margin of 27.8%, an impressive 250 basis points increase compared to last year.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

The margin expansion we achieved throughout the year demonstrates our continued disciplined operational execution and our ability to scale the business profitably. Selling, general, and administrative expenses as a percentage of net sales were 19.6% for the full year, up slightly from last year, reflecting continued investments throughout the year in marketing, sales activations, and retail expansion, all centered on growing brand recognition and driving product velocities. For the fourth quarter, SG&A, as a percentage of the net sales, was 20.7%, leveraging more than 200 basis points year-over-year. Our sales performance throughout the year clearly illustrates the success of our marketing strategy. We're driving trial, accelerating product velocity, and building deep customer loyalty in the process while our products are flying off the shelves. We'll continue to invest behind our growth throughout 2026.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

Net income for the full year was $13.9 million or $0.91 per basic and $0.89 per diluted common share, compared to $9 million or $0.61 per basic and $0.60 per diluted common share in the prior year. This represents an exceptional 54% net income growth, showcasing our ability to convert top-line strength into bottom-line results. Net income for the fourth quarter was $2.5 million or $0.17 per basic and $0.16 per diluted common share, compared to a net loss of $0.2 million or a net loss of $0.01 per basic and diluted common share in the prior year. Like the full-year results, the swing to meaningful profitability in Q4 demonstrates the strength of our business model and our commitment to operational excellence while we invest for growth.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

Our outstanding performance in 2025 was driven by several key factors that will continue to power us forward as we look to the future. First, the demand for protein-rich probiotic functional foods shows no sign of slowing down. Today's consumer is focused on health and wellness more than ever before, and they're actively learning about the gut's critical role in their well-being. Additionally, the prevalence of Americans on GLP-1s is surging, with significant uptake projected in the coming years, particularly with the new oral GLP-1 format, and active GLP-1 users are consistently seeking out nutrient-dense foods that support gut health. Lifeway is perfectly positioned at the intersection of these powerful consumer trends. I am particularly excited to highlight the recent validation we've received from the U.S. government. The newly released Dietary Guidelines for Americans specifically name kefir and emphasize the importance of fermented foods and gut health.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

Full-fat dairy was included in the new USDA food pyramid, and kefir was mentioned in the supplemental materials. This is an incredible opportunity for Lifeway as our products are completely aligned with those new dietary guidelines. The government's validation of fermented dairy, kefir, and gut health is not just an endorsement of our category, it's an endorsement of everything Lifeway has been advocating for decades. This is a tailwind for our business, and it will only accelerate as consumers become more educated about the critical role that cultured dairy plays in overall wellness. The performance of our staples, Lifeway Drinkable Kefir and Lifeway Farmer Cheese, highlight our company's perfect position in today's CPG landscape. Our Drinkable Kefir is the significant bellwether of our business, and it continues to drive trial and generate awareness for the entire kefir category.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

I'd also like to spotlight Farmer Cheese as our investment behind the cult favorite continues to pay off. In the fourth quarter, we expanded Lifeway Farmer Cheese distribution to 2,000 Walmart stores nationwide, a game-changing milestone that dramatically increases our footprint and trial. This product is becoming a star among high-protein foods and is well-positioned to lead the trends in functional nutrition by supporting not just gut health, but also the hormonal mechanisms like GLP-1 that underpin satiety and metabolic regulation. Our retail partnerships remain very strong, and our dialogue with key partners is consistent as we continue to land incremental distribution opportunities across the channels that make sense for Lifeway. Notably, we recently extended our rotation at Costco in the San Diego region, maintaining our momentum with a key club partner.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

We launched a number of on-trend innovations in 2025, which have resonated with our customers and their evolving tastes. Our probiotic smoothies with collagen continue to perform well, attracting shoppers in a growing global market for collagen. Muscle Mates will soon roll out in grocery stores, fitness centers, and select retailers nationwide, and it is meeting growing demand, consumer demand for performance-driven functional beverages while attracting shoppers from the growing U.S. creatine market. Most recently, drawing on our decades of cultured dairy expertise, we launched Lifeway Kefir Butter, a probiotic cultured butter that pairs indulgent flavors with functional nutrition, answering consumer demand for a premium butter that excels in taste, texture, and versatility. Butter is experiencing renewed momentum across retail, food service, and culture, both in the U.S. and globally. Consumers today feel more comfortable enjoying high-quality dairy fat again, and retailers are responding.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

These shifts have opened meaningful white space, and the Lifeway Kefir Butter is perfectly positioned to capitalize on this trend. A couple weeks ago at Expo West, we showcased both Muscle Mates and Kefir Butter and received extremely enthusiastic consumer and retail reactions. I'm also pleased to announce a new supply agreement and our first-ever licensing deal and royalty agreement with Open Farm, which will source ingredients from Lifeway for a new premium pet food product called GoodGut. This partnership introduces Lifeway to an entirely new category where we can bring our decades of expertise in cultured dairy and probiotics to pet nutrition.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

For years, pet owners have trusted Lifeway as part of their own wellness routines and have even shared our kefir with their pets while we've continued supporting the pet community through conventions, animal welfare initiatives, and relationships with leading pet nutrition experts, including certified canine nutritionist Kyla Kowalski. GoodGut is a natural extension of that relationship, created in response to consumers asking for a probiotic specifically formulated for their pets. We see this as a strong start to our expansion into new categories that can help grow awareness and revenue with no extra cost to Lifeway. Throughout 2025, we also continued to build brand awareness and drive trial through strategic partnership and experiential marketing that introduces Lifeway to new consumers. Following successful partnerships with Joe & the Juice and Erewhon, we launched a limited edition Lifeway Probiotic Sunrise Smoothie with Drugstore in November.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

We also partnered with Barry's to launch their Lifeway Power Play Shake at Barry's Fuel Bar locations nationwide in conjunction with their Find Your Strength challenge. The shake, which featured organic plain whole milk kefir, delivers a protein and probiotic-packed boost to energize workouts and support recovery. This partnership ran through Barry's Find Your Strength challenge and will continue this summer with the kefir smoothie bowl bar at Barry's Hamptons Studios. These experiential retail partnerships introduce Lifeway to new consumers in innovative settings and reinforce our position as a lifestyle brand, not just a product in the dairy case, and brings influencers to create exciting content for social media. In stores, we continue to be strategic with our marketing dollars, successfully accelerating sales with prominent in-store programs that capture consumer attention at interruptive moments throughout their shopping journey. Digitally, we are propelling Lifeway into the center of viral moments.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

Across social platforms, millions of users engage with Lifeway, and many share authentic customer stories about their daily wellness benefits they gain from our products. We continue to expand our influencer partnerships through 2025 to drive awareness of our product offerings and expand consumer knowledge of Lifeway's health benefits and showcase recipes with Lifeway Kefir and Farmer Cheese. We'll continue to push forward with our marketing strategy in 2026 to sustain the outstanding momentum we have achieved in the past number of years. You can see that in our latest advertising campaign with Chicago Bears stars Colston Loveland and D'Andre Swift. This campaign debuted in early February ahead of the big game and was designed to highlight our market-leading protein-forward kefir, generating significant buzz across all social channels.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

In addition to our category-defining performance, 2025 was also a year of tremendous industry recognition for Lifeway, validating our significant growth trajectory. We were recognized by Time as one of America's growth leaders for 2026, specifically number tqo in the food and beverage space. We were named to Inc.'s 2025 Best in Business list in the Best Challenger Brands category. We were honored as Processor of the Year by Dairy Foods. These accolades reflect the hard work and dedication of our entire team. Looking ahead to 2026, we have a lot to be excited about, and we're already off to a great start. Our Waukesha facility expansion continues to progress as planned, and we recently celebrated the ribbon cutting for phase II of our $45 million Waukesha expansion.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

We're on track to double our manufacturing capacity, increase operational efficiencies, expand production hours and staffing, and solidify the Midwest position as the global hub of kefir production. Phase UU, which is on target for completion by the end of 2026, focuses on installing a state-of-the-art cooling system to support our fermentation and bottling operations. We also have recently strengthened our operations and supply chain teams with new talent that bring deep expertise in dairy industry and will help us continue scaling efficiency as the business grows. Our momentum continues to build as we drive sustainable, profitable growth across the business. We have laid a foundation for durable long-term value creation, and the investments we're making today in capacity, marketing, and innovation positions us exceptionally well to capitalize on the tremendous opportunities ahead.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

With our improving production capabilities and accelerating tailwinds behind consumer health and wellness, we're perfectly situated to sustain the remarkable momentum we have generated. We are reiterating our long-term target of $45-$50 million in Adjusted EBITDA for fiscal year 2027, and we are once again poised to deliver record-breaking sales in fiscal year 2026. Before closing, I'd like to take a moment to proudly celebrate Lifeway's 40th anniversary. For 40 years, Lifeway has been driven by a passion for cultured dairy and the powerful role it plays in modern wellness. We've grown a dream my father had when we immigrated to America into the category leader we are today. Lifeway truly symbolizes the American dream, and our authenticity and heritage are priceless. To wrap up, 2025 was truly a phenomenal year for Lifeway.

[Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President at Lifeway Foods]

We delivered record-breaking sales, significant growth margin expansion, and exceptional net income growth. We have built incredible momentum that is only accelerating as we progress through this new year. We have the right team in place, are executing at the highest level, and I'm confident in our ability to sustain these outstanding results. We remain committed to our mission of bringing best-in-class, bioavailable probiotic and nutritious foods to our loyal and growing customer base and look forward to updating you on our continued progress when we report our first quarter 2026 results. Have a wonderful day. Thank you.

Participants

Executives

• Julie Smolyansky, CEO and President

Analysts

• John Mills, Managing Director of Investor Relations at ICR