Brilliant Earth Group Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
March 5, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Record quarter: Brilliant Earth posted its largest quarter ever with Q4 net sales of $124.4M (+4.1% YoY) and full-year sales of $437.5M (+3.6%).
  • Positive Sentiment: Fine jewelry acceleration: Fine jewelry bookings grew 34% YoY in Q4 (23% of Q4 bookings, 17% FY), lab-grown fine jewelry bookings rose 61% YoY, and management says the category is on a path toward a $100M annual business.
  • Positive Sentiment: Omnichannel expansion and showroom traction: The company ended the year with 42 showrooms (including a new Beverly Hills flagship), retail walk-in orders grew 61% YoY in Q4, and two more showrooms are planned for 2026.
  • Positive Sentiment: Balance sheet and profitability discipline: Q4 adjusted EBITDA was $4.2M (3.3%) and FY adjusted EBITDA $12M (2.7%), the company generated ~$5.8M free cash flow, finished Q4 with $79.1M cash and no debt after paying off its term loan.
  • Negative Sentiment: Material margin headwinds: Q4 gross margin declined to 55.9% (‑370 bps YoY) amid ~67% higher gold and ~144% higher platinum prices; 2026 gross margin is guided to the mid‑50s% and Q1 adjusted EBITDA is expected to be negative mid‑single digits.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Brilliant Earth Group Q4 2025
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections

Skip to Participants
Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Brilliant Earth Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Colin Borland, Vice President of Strategy, Business Development, and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Colin Borland
Colin Borland
VP of Strategy, Business Development, and Investor Relations at Brilliant Earth Group

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Brilliant Earth Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Colin Borland, Vice President of Strategy, Business Development, and Investor Relations. Joining me today are Beth Gerstein, our Chief Executive Officer, and Jeff Kuo, our Chief Financial Officer. During the call today, management will make certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Please refer to our SEC filings for a description of the risks that could cause our actual performance and results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements.

Colin Borland
Colin Borland
VP of Strategy, Business Development, and Investor Relations at Brilliant Earth Group

These forward-looking statements reflect our opinion only as of the date of this call, and we undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the result of any revision to these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events, unless required by law. Also, during this call, management will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of Brilliant Earth's non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAP measures is available in today's earnings release, which can be found on the Brilliant Earth Investor Relations website. I'll now turn the call over to Beth.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

Good morning, everyone, thank you for joining us. I'm pleased to share strong Q4 results today. We delivered our largest quarter ever of net sales in Q4, driving 4% year-over-year growth in net sales, with particularly strong performance in fine jewelry. We also delivered positive adjusted EBITDA above the midpoint of our stated guidance, highlighting the agility of our business model. Our results reflect the success of the investments we've been making across product, brand, and experience. 2025 was a banner year for Brilliant Earth. We celebrated our twentieth anniversary and achieved major accomplishments across each of the strategic priorities that drive our growth. Before we dive into the results, I wanna remind you of that growth strategy and how it guides our execution in this highly competitive and dynamic industry. We believe that these four things are key to realizing the growth opportunity ahead of us.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

First, our aim is to build Brilliant Earth into the most loved and trusted jewelry brand. 2025 was a year of incredible brand momentum and successes. Our brand was at the center of many high-visibility moments this year as stars like Beyoncé, Sabrina Carpenter, and Selena Gomez chose our product for major events in their lives. We expanded our brand reach through unique partnerships ranging from Jane Goodall to Ring Pop. Second, create great product that is distinctive and ownable and builds affinity for the Brilliant Earth brand. We have particular focus on expanding beyond our core bridal business into fine jewelry. 2025 was a breakthrough year in which we grew fine jewelry mix to 17% of bookings with many iconic product releases, including our signature Pacific Green Colored Lab Diamond Collection, our Medallions with Meaning, and our Love, Decoded Collection.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

Our success in fine jewelry has turned what was a nascent portion of sales just five years ago into a business on a path to $100 million annually. Third, deliver joyful and personalized shopping experiences that delight customers, foster lasting relationships, and set new standards for modern luxury retail. Last year, we continued to deliver industry-leading digital experiences and opened two new showrooms, reaching 42 in total. Our physical retail strategy continues to evolve with the opening of our first flagship showroom in Beverly Hills earlier this year, which showcases our new approach to experiential retail. Fourth, continue to develop our industry-leading asset-light business model, utilizing cutting-edge technology and processes to drive long-term profitable growth. The results we share today demonstrate the power of our model and this team's ability to deliver. Now, let me walk you through some performance highlights of Q4.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

For the fourth quarter, net sales were $124.4 million, representing 4.1% growth year-over-year, the highest quarter of net sales in our history. ASPs in Q4 were up year-over-year across the assortment. Much of the growth in ASP was driven by changes in mix to higher priced items within each assortment, as we're seeing particular strength with the higher-end consumer, combined with strong total and repeat order growth. For the full year, net sales reached $437.5 million, up 3.6% year-over-year. We delivered a fantastic holiday performance, including another record-breaking cyber weekend. Throughout the holiday selling period, our seamless omnichannel model drove strong traffic and conversion, both online and in our showrooms.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

From our joyful delight in the details holiday campaign to showroom executions, including new experiences like trunk shows and deeper inventory investments, we saw strong performance during the quarter, especially in the 10 days leading up to Christmas, where we drove 15% year-over-year bookings growth as customers sought Brilliant Earth as their go-to gifting destination. Our gross margin was 55.9% in Q4 and 57.5% for the full year. Approximately in line with what we had communicated during our Q3 earnings call, highlighting our ability to drive strong margins despite significant metal and tariff headwinds. You all know that the challenges presented by record metal prices and fluctuating tariff conditions are unprecedented. Our ability to manage through these conditions has been a testament to the strength of our business model and our team.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

This is an industry-wide impact, but our ability to optimize the performance drivers within our control has allowed us to navigate these challenges and still deliver profitability within our expectations. As we are now into the new year, you can expect that we will continue to focus on optimizing our business in the ways that we can control to mitigate as much of the external cost pressures as possible. Our strong gross margin, another quarter and year of year-over-year marketing leverage and overall operating expense discipline, enabled us to drive a Q4 adjusted EBITDA of $4.2 million or a 3.3% margin, and full year adjusted EBITDA of $12 million or a 2.7% margin, illustrating the agility of our business model and our continued discipline in cost management.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

Turning to some additional highlights for the quarter, fine jewelry was a clear standout. In Q4, for the first time, we had multiple days where we hit $1 million in fine jewelry bookings. We're seeing strong demand for both self-purchase and gifting, with almost half of new customers discovering Brilliant Earth through fine jewelry in Q4, resulting in another record quarter in fine jewelry. Fine jewelry bookings grew 34% year-over-year in Q4, with strong unit and ASP growth reaching 23% of total bookings mix for the quarter and 17% for the full year. As you know, fine jewelry has been one of our top strategic priorities for several years as we diversify beyond our bridal heritage, and we have driven extraordinary results.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

Our full year 2025 fine jewelry bookings are more than 3x bigger than they were just four years ago at the time of our IPO. Our iconic and signature fine jewelry collections like Jane Goodall, Sol, and Love, Decoded, and collaborations like Ring Pop continued to significantly outpace overall fine jewelry bookings growth as customers are increasingly drawn to Brilliant Earth's one-of-a-kind styles through campaigns that capture consumers' imagination. We've also had great success driving growth in lab-grown diamond fine jewelry. As you know, we're early leaders in the lab diamond space, we have immense opportunities as lab diamonds continue to increase in popularity amongst consumers. In Q4, bookings from fine jewelry made with lab diamonds grew 61% year-over-year, we continue to see significant opportunities for lab diamonds to increase the addressable market of consumers looking to buy diamond jewelry for everyday wear.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

In wedding and anniversary bands, we set another record, delivering our largest fourth quarter of bookings ever with double-digit year-over-year growth. We continue to see success across both our men's and women's collections with outperformance in giftable and higher price point diamond rings in Q4. In engagement rings, we continue to drive bookings growth of approximately 1% year-over-year in the second half of the year. Our signature collections, the exclusive designs we are known for, continue to drive strong results, growing double digits year-over-year in Q4. Turning to our seamless omnichannel experience, we continue to innovate across our digital and in-person customer experience. In digital, we made many enhancements from online imagery and merchandising to overall upleveling of our online shopping experience.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

In showrooms, we opened 2 new locations in 2025, 1 in Southlake, Texas and another in Alpharetta, Georgia, ending the year with 42. As our showroom format strategy continues to evolve to more ground floor and mall locations, we've had increasing success with retail customers who walk into the showroom without a prior appointment. In fact, orders from these retail customers grew 61% year-over-year in Q4. In January, we open our first flagship showroom in Beverly Hills. This showroom is a new and evolved concept that celebrates the artistry, craftsmanship, and quality that we are known for while immersing customers in the fullest physical expression of our brand to date.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

In addition to elevating our hallmark appointment experience, we've introduced several new features, including an eternity bar featuring the widest breadth of our engagement and wedding assortment and our unique design your own experience, a fine jewelry personalization station, a dedicated VIP showroom, and an exclusive new date night appointment offering that is an exceptional personalized experience for couples. The date night appointment is a simple idea that takes what can be a stressful process for couples and makes it genuinely fun and celebratory. The Beverly Hills flagship is both an evolution and elevation of our retail strategy. In fact, Forbes called our concept a blueprint for the future of luxury jewelry retail, and we agree. Beyond the opening of our flagship, we expect to open another two showrooms in 2026.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

For Q1 to date, I'm pleased to report that we have seen a continuation of strong performance with strong year-over-year bookings growth, year-over-year new and repeat order growth, as well as an encouraging Valentine's Day start to the year. ASPs are also up year-over-year across engagement rings, wedding and anniversary bands, and fine jewelry, consistent with what we observed in Q4, demonstrating strength among our higher income consumers. We also recognize that the industry is facing historically high metal costs. We believe we are well-positioned to navigate this environment with our agile and sophisticated merchandising, pricing, and sourcing strategies. Before I hand the call over, I also want to share that today we released our 2025 mission report, which marks our 2 decades of impact and charts our progress toward our 4 mission pillars: transparency, sustainability, compassion, and inclusion.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

I invite you to read the report in which we also introduced the next generation of initiatives designed to expand our impact even further. Finally, I want to thank our incredible team for their commitment and tireless efforts this past year. Their passion and execution are the reason we can stand here today, 20 years in, and say with confidence that the best is still ahead for Brilliant Earth. I'll now turn the call over to Jeff.

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

Thanks, Beth. Good morning, everyone. As Beth mentioned, we're pleased to report fourth quarter and full year results where we continue to successfully drive our strategic initiatives, deliver top-line growth, and sustain profitability and positive free cash flow despite a challenging cost environment. Let me take you through the details. Q4 net sales were $124.4 million, up 4.1% year-over-year, which was our biggest quarter ever and near the midpoint of our stated guidance range. Full year 2025 net sales were $437.5 million, up 3.6% year-over-year. Total orders grew 6.5% year-over-year in Q4, and 13% for the full year.

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

Repeat orders grew 15% year-over-year in Q4, and 13% for the full year, demonstrating the effectiveness of our customer acquisition and retention efforts and the continued resonance of our brand and products with consumers. Average order value, or AOV, was $2,001 in Q4, and $2,082 for the full year. This represents a decline of 2.3% year-over-year in Q4, and 8.2% for the full year. Our Q4 AOV reflects the continued success we've had in driving strong fine jewelry performance, which carries a comparatively lower price point, along with year-over-year growth in ASPs across the assortment as we see strong success driving sales of higher price point items. Q4 gross margin was 55.9%, and full year gross margin was 57.5%.

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

This represents a 370 basis point decline year-over-year in Q4, and a 280 basis point decline for the full year. To put the Q4 margin environment in context, gold prices at the end of Q4 were up approximately 67% year-over-year, while platinum was up approximately 144% year-over-year, both at or near what were then all-time highs, and we continue to navigate a challenging tariff environment. We are extraordinarily proud of our ability to deliver strong gross margins in this environment, which speaks to the strength of our premium brand positioning, our data-driven price optimization engine, our globally diversified supply chain, and the agility of our team and business model to adapt quickly to changing market conditions.

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

We delivered Q4 adjusted EBITDA of $4.2 million, or a 3.3% adjusted EBITDA margin. During that time, the gold spot price increased approximately $400 an ounce and platinum over $675 an ounce between the time of our last earnings call and the end of the year, we were still able to deliver adjusted EBITDA above the midpoint of our guidance range and exceeding expectations. Full year 2025 adjusted EBITDA was $12 million or a 2.7% adjusted EBITDA margin. This highlights the sustainability of our business model driven by our strong gross margins, continued marketing leverage and overall operating expense discipline.

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

Q4 operating expense was 55.9% of net sales, compared to 57.6% of net sales in Q4 2024. Representing approximately 170 basis points of leverage year-over-year. Full year 2025 operating expense was 58.7% of net sales compared to 59.5% in 2024, representing approximately 80 basis points of leverage year-over-year. Our disciplined management of expenses while also driving growth and investing in the business is demonstrated in this year-over-year leverage. Q4 adjusted operating expense was 52.7% of net sales, compared to 53.9% in Q4 2024. Full year 2025 adjusted operating expense was 54.9% of net sales, compared to 55.4% in 2024.

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

Adjusted operating expense does not include items such as equity-based compensation, depreciation and amortization, showroom pre-opening expenses, and other non-recurring expenses. Q4 marketing expense was 24.6% of net sales, compared to 26.1% in Q4 2024. This represents approximately 150 basis points of year-over-year leverage. Full year marketing expense was 24.2% of net sales compared to 25.7% in 2024. Approximately 150 basis points of marketing leverage. This is our second year of driving year-over-year leverage in marketing spend, and these results speak to our dynamic management of marketing spend, including use of AI and machine learning to drive efficiencies while still making strategic investments to grow the brand.

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

Employee costs as a percentage of net sales were higher in Q4 by approximately 110 basis points as adjusted year-over-year. For the full year, employee costs were approximately 90 basis points higher as adjusted. This includes growth in showroom employees, including from newly opened showrooms as we continue to strategically invest in our showroom expansion. Other G&A as a percentage of net sales declined year-over-year by approximately 90 basis points as adjusted in Q4 as we continue to drive operating expense efficiencies and amortize expenses over a larger net sales base. For the full year, other G&A as a percentage of net sales was higher by approximately 10 basis points as adjusted as we balance prudent investment with disciplined cost management.

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

Year-over-year inventory grew approximately 39%, principally as a result of strategic procurement opportunities to purchase diamond and jewelry inventory at advantageous prices during the year in light of tariffs. Even with this increase, our 4x inventory turns as of year-end continue to be significantly higher than the industry average of 1x to 2x. We maintain conviction that the agility of our data-driven, capital-efficient, and inventory-light operating model continues to be a compelling competitive advantage. We ended the fourth quarter with approximately $79.1 million in cash. As you know, during Q3, we paid off our term loan, leaving us with no debt on the balance sheet, we completed the one-time dividend and distribution of approximately $25 million.

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

For the full year, we generated approximately $5.8 million in free cash flow, demonstrating our continued ability to generate cash while making strategic investments and driving growth. Turning to our outlook for 2026. As Beth mentioned, we've carried our momentum into the new year. For our annual guidance, we expect net sales to grow in the mid-single-digit percent range year-over-year. We expect continued headwinds in gross margin with metal prices near all-time highs and expect gross margin to be in the mid-50s% range for the year, assuming that metal prices remain at similar levels to where they are today. We expect to continue driving year-over-year leverage in marketing expense as a percentage of net sales for the year. Continuing the success we have had in the past two years, driving increasing efficiency while delivering strong top-line results.

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

We will continue to make selective medium and longer-term investments in 2026, including in employee costs and other G&A, such as investments in technology and in our showrooms. We expect to deliver positive adjusted EBITDA for the year, but slightly lower than last year's adjusted EBITDA dollars, given the challenging metal cost environment. We also expect that most of this year's adjusted EBITDA will come from Q4. For Q1, we expect net sales to grow in the mid-single digit percent range year-over-year. We expect adjusted EBITDA margin to be in the negative mid-single digit range as a percentage of sales, driven in significant part by both the speed and magnitude of recent gold and platinum price increases, with both metals remaining near all-time highs. I also want to address our previously stated medium-term outlook.

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

As many of you know, we laid out a set of medium-term targets, and we have been on our way to delivering on those medium-term targets. You can see this in our improving net sales growth trajectory and our continued leverage of marketing expense as a percentage of net sales, where we have now delivered two consecutive years of full-year leverage. However, the precious metal environment we are operating in today is unlike anything our industry has experienced. Gold and platinum prices have reached levels that were impossible to anticipate when we set those targets, and this has had a meaningful impact on gross margin. Because of this level of uncertainty in metal prices and the magnitude of their impact, we do not believe it is appropriate to speak to targets beyond the current year at this time.

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

We remain confident in the underlying health and trajectory of our business, and we will continue to share our perspective on the path forward as visibility improves. In closing, our data-driven approach, including agile price optimization, disciplined expense management, and our asset-light business model, position us well to outperform the industry while delivering profitable growth. With that, I will turn the call over to the operator for questions.

Operator

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. The first question comes from Oliver Chen with TD Securities. Your line is open.

Julia Shelanski
Julia Shelanski
Equity Research Analyst at TD Securities

Hi, Beth Gerstein and Jeffrey Kuo. Thanks for taking the question. This is Julia Shelanski on for Oliver Chen. I'm curious to hear about your expectations for AOV growth in the context of guidance for the next year, and expectations for gold and platinum hedging and how much of your current inventory that you have secured throughout the year are effectively hedged or price-loaded. Thank you.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

Okay, great. Maybe I can start on AOV. In Q4, it was slightly down. I think that is actually the smallest decrease that we've seen actually for for a bit of a while. Overall, what is driving AOV is we are seeing ASPs actually increase across the assortment. Part of that is due to the price positioning that we have, the strength of our brand, the strong reception we're seeing for our iconic jewelry collections. All of that's and just a great reception from our higher income customers. ASPs are up across the assortment. We're also seeing really strong performance in fine jewelry. As fine jewelry is a lower ASP category, that is, you know, what's driving the overall effect.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

That's what we're seeing from a high level. Jeff, I don't know if you want to comment on anything more on AOV, and then maybe you can lean into the gold and platinum question.

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

I think you covered that well, Beth. I think from the perspective of how we're managing metal costs, I think we have a variety of different tools that we use. You know, hedging is one of those strategies. You know, as you know, we also are able to price optimize and really think dynamically about pricing, think about things like design and product engineering in a way to manage costs while maintaining very high quality standards, as well as things like vendor optimization and negotiations. I think we have a lot of different tools at our disposal, and I think you can see that in the results of how we navigated Q4, and we're able to navigate these very significant changes in metal prices and still deliver an adjusted EBITDA that was within our expected range.

Julia Shelanski
Julia Shelanski
Equity Research Analyst at TD Securities

Great. Thank you both.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question will come from Ashley Owens with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Ashley Owens
Ashley Owens
VP and Senior Equity Research Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets

Hi. Great. Good morning. Thanks for taking our questions. Just to start, as we think about 2026, how would you frame the key bookings growth drivers across the business, whether that's further bridal recovery, continued fine expansion, and how should we think about share gains relative to in-industry growth over the next year?

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

Yeah, we are really encouraged by the growth that we have been seeing, continuation of some of the strong growth that we saw in Q4. The drivers that I mentioned in the remarks with fine jewelry being, you know, very, very strong with our showroom strategy and with the brand awareness, those are continuing to be key growth drivers in 2026. I think it's really a continuation of all of the initiatives that we've been talking about. We're very encouraged by the brand resonance that we're seeing by the some of the breakthrough moments that we're partnering with and driving overall increased awareness. Then on the fine jewelry side, we're gonna continue to see this be a growth driver. There's a lot of opportunity.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

It's a very large market. We're also continuing to outperform the industry as it relates to fine jewelry. Very, very encouraged by the growth signals that we're seeing there and are gonna continue to lean in and continue to be that go-to destination for jewelry. I think one of the stats that I mentioned that half of our new customers discover us now through fine jewelry just shows you the size of the opportunity and how it's gaining momentum.

Ashley Owens
Ashley Owens
VP and Senior Equity Research Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets

Okay. Maybe just a follow-up on the fine jewelry point really quick, because you did call out that $100 million, you know, longer-term opportunity. Within that, do you expect the business to become less dependent on some of the engagement ring cycles and volatility we've seen and driven more by repeat purchases and gifting occasions? Quickly too, I did have a question on gross margin and the mid-fifties outlook for the year, just given the metal environment. As we think about the modeling for 2026, should we assume that persists through the year, or is there potential for a sequential improvement as pricing, sourcing adjustments, or fine jewelry mix growth increases, those things flow through? Thank you.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

Sure. I would say yes. In terms of the, how we're thinking about the business, fine jewelry is just a continuation of the diversification away from our bridal heritage. We're continuing to be bridal leaders and introduce new collections, continue to see that as an important part of our overall growth. Fine jewelry becomes more and more of a driver there. We're continuing to see that diversification. Even wedding and anniversary bands, having double-digit growth. We are seeing, I think, a more an evolution of the business. If you look at a lot of the independents out there, where the mix is more leaning towards fine jewelry, that's the path that we're on as well. Jeff, do you want to talk about gross margin?

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

Sure. In terms of gross margin outlook for the year, as I mentioned, we're looking at gross margin to be in the mid-50s% for the year, given the metal environment. Do think that, you know, as we go through the year, you know, we do have more and more ways to mitigate some of the headwinds, including things like pricing and the operational actions that I mentioned earlier. We do think that we have more tools over time. We don't have a more specific shaping on a quarter-by-quarter basis of how we expect gross margin to look. We think that our agility overall that we've demonstrated in recent quarters continues to serve us well, and we're better positioned than the industry at large to be able to navigate a variety of different conditions.

Ashley Owens
Ashley Owens
VP and Senior Equity Research Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets

Super helpful. I'll pass it along. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. As a reminder to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone. The next question comes from Anna Glaessgen with B. Riley Securities. Your line is open.

Anna Glaessgen
Anna Glaessgen
Senior Research Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I'd like to start on the embedded pricing within the guidance. I think on the 3Q call, we talked about that, you know, 4Q is a particularly challenging time to lift prices as the consumer is generally more price sensitive. Are you assuming that at the turn of the year in 1Q, there's better opportunity to offset some of the headwinds that you've been noting in gross margin? Thanks.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

Yeah. I can start there. I think that we are seeing an improved opportunity in terms of just continuing to optimize and take selective price increases. I think, you know, Jeff mentioned just the speed and the volatility in terms of metal prices overall, which, you know, is especially notable in Q1. You know, I think one of the advantages that we have is a very sophisticated pricing algorithm. We're very much a test and learn and data-driven company, and we also have a premium brand positioning with proprietary designs. All of that enables us to have more pricing power. Q1 is, you know, certainly I think, a better opportunity, you know, than Q4, where we tend to be a little bit more selective.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

You know, I think this is something that we have a lot of experience navigating throughout our history, and we're gonna continue to use those tools available to us. Do see opportunity to be selective in terms of increasing our pricing.

Anna Glaessgen
Anna Glaessgen
Senior Research Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Great. Thanks. Turning to OpEx, you know, with the mid-fifties approximately gross margin assumption, to get to, you know, slightly lower profitability from 2025, it seems to imply an escalation in operating expense leverage in the year. Could you maybe talk to the biggest opportunities there?

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

Yeah, I'd be glad to. Maybe I'd like to just contextualize how we're thinking about overall, you know, guidance for the year. I think you can see that, you know, we've seen strong performance on the top-line side, and we're guiding to a higher growth rate overall for the year than last year. We've been very successful in driving marketing efficiencies and expect to be able to continue to drive year-over-year marketing efficiencies this year. I think the big headwind, you know, that's incorporated is really on the metal pricing side and the impact on gross margin. It's just something that's facing the entire industry. You can see the very large and very fast shifts in terms of metal price recently. That's really the main factor.

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

I think some of the things like marketing leverage help us to offset that. We're going to be disciplined in terms of other OpEx areas such as employee and other G&A costs to balance, as we always have, making medium and longer term investments with driving profitability. I would say that our approach to OpEx is we're gonna be disciplined. We're gonna look to continue to drive efficiency in areas like marketing. What you're seeing in terms of the year-over-year change in profitability, that's really coming from the metal cost that we're seeing in the environment overall.

Anna Glaessgen
Anna Glaessgen
Senior Research Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Got it. Then one more follow-up, if I may. I believe, Jeff, you said in the prepared remarks that something like most of the adjusted EBITDA in 2026 should be from 4Q. That seems to be roughly in line with historical seasonality. Was just wondering if you're implying that we could potentially see a negative EBITDA in Q2 or Q3?

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

I think you're right that, you know, we do expect most of the profitability in Q4, and I think that factors in a number of different things. I think one is that seasonally Q4 is just our biggest quarter, and so you're gonna see that come into play. Also, I think we may have discussed in prior calls how a lot of our operating cost structure isn't highly seasonal, you know. You do have a relatively more stable base of things like employee costs and other G&A over the course of the year. In Q4, you just have the opportunity to amortize that over a much larger revenue base. That's factored in, that's factored into our guidance.

Jeff Kuo
Jeff Kuo
CFO at Brilliant Earth Group

As well as you go over the course of the year, we think that we have more and more opportunities to capture efficiencies and be able to mitigate some of the metal cost headwinds as we go through the year.

Anna Glaessgen
Anna Glaessgen
Senior Research Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Great. Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. I am showing no further questions in the queue at this time. I will now turn the call back over to Beth for closing remarks.

Beth Gerstein
CEO at Brilliant Earth Group

Thank you, everyone, for joining us, and we look forward to talking to you in our next quarterly call.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.

Executives
    • Colin Borland
      Colin Borland
      VP of Strategy, Business Development, and Investor Relations
    • Jeff Kuo
      Jeff Kuo
      CFO
Analysts
Powered by Quartr