유사나(USNA) 2026년 3분기 실적 발표 콘퍼런스콜: 하이야 성장, EBITDA 전망치 하향

유사나 헬스사이언스(USNA)가 코어 뉴트리션의 수익성 개선과 하이야의 성장 모멘텀 재개에도 불구하고, 코어 뉴트리션의 고객 수 감소와 라이즈 웰니스의 매출 부진으로 인해 2026 회계연도 3분기 엇갈린 실적 흐름을 발표했다. 경영진은 이제 2026 회계연도 순매출이 9억 달러에 근접하고 조정 EBITDA는 약 7,700만 달러에 이를 것으로 예상하고 있다.

핵심 요약

• 2026 회계연도 순매출은 9억 달러에 근접할 것으로 예상되는 한편, 조정 EBITDA 가이던스는 기존 8,050만 달러에서 약 7,700만 달러로 하향 조정되었다.
• 코어 뉴트리션의 활성 고객 수는 전년 동기 대비 8% 감소했다. 경영진은 해당 부문 매출을 직전 전망치보다 1,000만 달러 낮은 약 7억 4,000만 달러로 예상하고 있다.
• 동남아시아·태평양 지역 순매출은 전 분기 13% 감소한 이후 전년 동기 대비 2% 증가했다. 활성 고객 수는 전 분기 대비 3% 늘었다.
• 하이야의 월간 활성 구독자 수는 순증 약 2만 9,500명을 기록하며 전 분기 대비 18% 증가했다. 경영진은 하이야의 2026년 순매출 전망치를 1억 3,000만 달러로 상향 조정했다.
• 연간 누적 영업활동현금흐름은 2,600만 달러에서 4,500만 달러로 증가했으며, 잉여현금흐름은 3,600만 달러에 달했다. 유사나는 분기 말을 기준으로 부채 없이 1억 7,900만 달러의 현금을 보유했다.
• 창고형 할인점 채널 주문이 기대치를 밑돌고 주문 시점에 따른 매출 영향이 지속되면서 라이즈 웰니스 가이던스가 재차 하향 조정되었다.

주요 재무 데이터

사업 및 영업 실적

코어 뉴트리션

코어 뉴트리션은 행사 비용 및 보상 비용 감소에 힘입어 영업 수익성이 개선되었다. 이러한 개선의 일부는 전년 동기에 발생했으나 이번 분기에는 재발하지 않은 보상 플랜 비용과의 유리한 기저 효과를 반영한 것이다.

고객 지표는 여전히 부진했다. 활성 고객 수는 전년 동기 대비 8% 감소했으며, 중화권이 전 분기 대비 매출 및 활성 고객 수 감소의 대부분을 차지했다. 동남아시아·태평양을 제외한 전 지역에서 불변통화 기준 매출이 감소했다.

동남아시아·태평양 지역이 주요 개선 부문이었다. 전 분기 13% 감소했던 매출은 전년 동기 대비 2% 증가했고, 활성 고객 수는 전 분기 대비 3% 늘었다. 경영진은 이러한 개선의 요인으로 현장 리더와의 적극적인 참여 확대, 일부 시장의 리더십 교체, 성공적인 인센티브 프로그램 운영을 꼽았다.

유사나는 브랜드 투자, 신제품 출시, 인센티브 플랜 조정을 통해 신규 고객 유치 및 유지를 지원할 계획이다. 신제품 이니셔티브는 여성 및 어린이에 일부 집중될 예정이며, 출시는 2027년 중으로 예상된다.

하이야

하이야는 고객 유치 비용이 상반기 수준에서 낮아짐에 따라 전년 동기 대비 매출 성장세로 돌아섰다. 유사나가 디지털 마케팅 투자를 늘리면서 월간 활성 구독자 수가 전 분기 대비 18% 증가했고, 순증 구독자 수는 약 2만 9,500명을 기록했다.

타깃과 아마존의 합산 매출은 2분기 대비 2배 이상 늘어났으나, 경영진은 낮은 기저 효과에 기인한 것이라고 언급했다. 하이야는 크리에이터 및 제휴 프로그램, 틱톡 숍을 통해서도 고객 확보를 확대하고 있다.

신규 고객에게 첫 주문 할인과 프리미엄 초기 패키징이 제공됨에 따라, 유치 비용 증가는 단기 마진을 압박했다. 경영진은 하이야의 고객 유지율과 고객 생애 가치가 여전히 견고하며, 최근 확보한 구독자들이 향후 수개 분기에 걸쳐 기여함에 따라 수익성이 개선될 것으로 예상한다고 밝혔다. 회사에 따르면 소매 채널 매출은 소비자 직접 판매(D2C) 채널보다 마진율이 높다.

라이즈 웰니스

라이즈 웰니스는 변동성이 큰 창고형 할인점 채널 주문으로 인해 계속 압박을 받았다. 전년 동기에는 대규모 라이즈 바 창고형 할인점 주문이 포함되어 있었으나 이번 분기에는 반복되지 않았으며, 현재 창고형 할인점 주문 역시 회사의 기대치를 밑돌았다.

유사나는 창고형 할인점 채널을 넘어 라이즈의 유통망을 확장하고 있다. 경영진은 2026년 말까지 타깃 및 식료품점을 포함한 4,100개 소매 매장에 프로틴 팝이 입점할 것으로 예상하고 있다. 단백질과 프리바이오틱 식이섬유를 결합한 프로틴 팝 밸런스는 지난 9월 타깃에 출시되었으며, 2027년 브랜드의 핵심 주력 상품이 될 전망이다.

경영진 가이던스

경영진은 2026 회계연도 순매출이 9억 달러에 근접하고 조정 EBITDA는 약 7,700만 달러에 이를 것으로 예상하고 있다. EBITDA 전망치가 기존 8,050만 달러에서 낮아진 것은 코어 뉴트리션의 수익성 개선으로 일부 상쇄되었으나, 라이즈의 매출 부진과 하이야에 대한 투자 확대가 반영된 결과다.

하이야의 경우 경영진은 4분기 동안 순매출과 조정 EBITDA 모두 전 분기 대비 성장할 것으로 전망하고 있다. 이 전망은 3분기에 추가된 신규 구독자가 한 분기 전체에 걸쳐 기여하고 타깃과 아마존에서의 모멘텀이 지속될 것이라는 가정을 전제로 한다.

코어 뉴트리션의 연간 매출은 약 7억 4,000만 달러로 예상되며, 이는 2026년 초에 제시된 범위 내에 있으나 활성 고객 수 감소로 인해 회사의 직전 전망치는 밑도는 수준이다.

라이즈의 전망은 4분기에 예정된 소매 주문이 계획대로 출하된다는 가정을 바탕으로 한다. 경영진은 해당 주문이 2027년 1분기로 이월될 경우, 2026 회계연도 매출과 이익이 수정된 전망치를 소폭 밑돌 수 있으며 해당 기여분은 2027년으로 이전될 것이라고 밝혔다.

리스크 및 주요 점검 사항

• 코어 뉴트리션의 활성 고객 기반은 특히 중화권을 중심으로 여전히 압박을 받고 있다.
• 하이야의 높은 고객 유치 투자는 분기별 EBITDA 및 마진 변동성을 초래할 수 있다.
• 라이즈 웰니스는 창고형 할인점 채널 주문에 부분적으로 의존하고 있는데, 경영진은 이러한 주문이 본질적으로 불규칙하며 시점 측면에서 회사가 통제할 수 없다고 설명했다.
• 라이즈는 소매 유통망을 더 광범위하게 구축해 나감에 따라 매출총이익률 개선을 지속적으로 우선시하고 있다.
• 하이야의 무형자산 상각과 유사나의 벤처 사업 부문 실적은 여전히 실효세율 측면의 부담 요인으로 작용하고 있다.
• 인센티브 플랜 변경 및 신제품 출시를 통한 개선 효과는 즉각적이기보다는 점진적으로 나타날 것으로 예상된다.

애널리스트 Q&A 주요 내용

경영진은 코어 뉴트리션의 초기 인센티브 플랜 변경을 통해 보상을 플랜 초기 단계로 집중시켜 신규 고객 유치를 장려하고 신규 브랜드 파트너가 더 빨리 성공할 수 있도록 지원했다고 밝혔다. 추가적인 조정은 자격 기준과 인센티브 지급 시점에 초점을 맞춰 고객 유지율, 충성도 및 고객 생애 가치를 향상시킬 계획이다. 이러한 변화는 2027년 중 단계적으로 시행될 예정이다.

하이야와 관련해 경영진은 고객 유치 비용의 감소가 3분기 구독자 성장을 가속화할 기회를 마련했다고 설명했다. 이러한 지출은 초기 마진에 부담을 주지만, 회사는 구독자가 활성 상태를 유지하고 매출 구성에서 소매 비중이 확대됨에 따라 수익성이 개선될 것으로 기대하고 있다. 하이야는 또한 2027년 1분기 초 창고형 할인점 채널 진출을 계획하고 있다.

라이즈 웰니스의 경우 경영진은 변동성이 큰 창고형 할인점 주문에 대한 의존도를 낮추기 위해 타깃 및 식료품점을 중심으로 보다 안정적인 소매 기반을 구축하는 데 주력하고 있음을 강조했다. 추가 제품 출시가 계획되어 있으나 당분간은 프로틴 팝 밸런스가 핵심 주력 제품이 될 예정이다.

세금 문제와 관련하여 경영진은 하이야, 라이즈 및 기타 벤처 사업의 실행력 제고가 장기적으로 실효세율 부담을 낮출 수 있는 주요 기회라고 밝혔다. 또한 이러한 변화가 사업 운영에 도움이 된다면 개별 시장에서 소비자 접점에 더 많은 지출을 배치하는 방안도 검토 중이다.

실적 발표 컨퍼런스콜 전문

전체 실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 녹취록

경영진 발표

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the USANA Health Sciences Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce speaker, Andrew Masuda, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Andrew Masuda

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us to review our third quarter results. Today's conference call is being broadcast live via webcast and can be accessed directly from our website at ir.usana.com.

Shortly following the call, a replay will be available on our website. As a reminder, during the course of this conference call, management will make forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of our company. Those statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ perhaps materially from the results projected in such forward-looking statements.

Examples of these statements include those regarding our strategies and outlook for fiscal year 2026, uncertainty related to the economic and operating environment around the world and our operations and financial results. We caution you that these statements should be considered in conjunction with disclosures, including specific risk factors and financial data contained in our most recent filings with the SEC.

During today's call, we will also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. Reconciliations of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in our earnings release. I'm joined by our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Guest; our Chief Financial Officer, Doug Hekking; our Chief Commercial Officer, Brent Neidig; our Chief Operating Officer, Walter Noot; our Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Kathryn Armstrong; and other executives.

Yesterday, after the market closed, we announced our third quarter results and posted our management commentary document on the company's website. We'll now hear brief remarks from Kevin and Doug before opening the call for questions.

Kevin Guest

Thank you, Andrew, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to speak to the strategy we're executing, where we're seeing progress and where we still have work to do. Our earnings release and management commentary present the numbers for the business. So I'll focus on providing context for the numbers and then ask Doug to add more color on how our strategy is coming to fruition.

Overall, this was a mixed quarter, but one where I'm encouraged by the progress we're seeing with our strategy. Our strategy is to evolve USANA from a single channel direct selling company into a diversified omnichannel health and wellness company built on consumer acquisition and loyalty.

In Core Nutrition, we're working to increase customer acquisition and customer loyalty by investing in the USANA brand, bringing new products to market and further refining our incentive structure. Through Hiya and Rise Wellness, we're expanding our business to reach consumers at more venues where they already shop, including retail and Amazon. Our debt-free balance sheet lets us fund this expansion with discipline.

Let me start with what's working. In our Core Nutritional business, we generated improved operating profitability through lower event and compensation expenses. Part of that is favorable -- is a favorable comparison against compensation plan in the last year's quarter that did not repeat, but the cost base is in better shape, and that gives us a stronger foundation to invest from.

We also saw real improvement in Southeast Asia Pacific regions. Net sales grew 2% year-over-year after declining 13% last quarter. Active customers grew 3% sequentially and engagement among our field leaders has increased. It's one region and still early, but it's the improvement we're working on to generate elsewhere.

At Hiya, after a difficult year for digital advertising, results began to improve. The team has been diversifying how it reaches customers beyond a single advertising platform, building creator and affiliate programs and more recently, launching TikTok Shop.

As customer acquisition costs came down from the first half of the year, we intentionally invested in digital marketing to drive customer acquisition. Active monthly subscribers grew 18% sequentially, adding about 29,500 net subscribers and net sales returned to year-over-year growth. Target and Amazon net sales combined more than doubled from the second quarter, albeit from a small base.

Back-to-school seasonality helped and the added marketing investment pressured near-term margins. So we're staying measured, but the early results are encouraging. Hiya has historically seen strong retention and lifetime value. So the customers we add today should contribute for many quarters to come, which is why our focus is now on engaging and retaining them.

Reflecting this progress, we raised our Hiya net sales outlook to $130 million. There's still plenty of work ahead, and I'll take a few more minutes to share my thoughts on where we need to do better. First, Core Nutrition. We're tracking inside the range we expected for the year, but it isn't where we want to be. And the clearest example is active customers, which are down 8% year-over-year.

Greater China, our largest market, accounted for most of the sequential decline in net sales and active customers. On lighter incentive and promotional activity during the third quarter and outside of Southeast Asia Pacific, every region declined in constant currency.

Growing our active customer base remains our top priority. Our brand investment, product innovation that we plan to begin introducing in 2027 and the incentive plan refinements are all aimed at growth in active customers, and we expect the benefits to build gradually.

Second, we're not satisfied with Rise Wellness' results, and we're lowering our outlook again. Last year's third quarter included a large club order for Rise Bar that did not repeat, and club orders again came in below our expectations. Club channel sales are inherently lumpy and reflect in part order timing that we do not control.

Improving gross margin remains a priority. Protein Pop is still a young brand. We launched Protein Pop Balance in Target in September. As we said, we would and our goal is to broaden distribution beyond the club channel and turn this effort into more consistent results.

Third, Hiya. The work ahead is retention, building retail and improving profitability. So while there are -- there's plenty of opportunity for improvement in all our brands, we're making progress, and I'm encouraged by what we're seeing come to fruition. These early results reinforce my confidence in our strategy and in the actions we're taking. With that, I'll ask Doug to walk through the correction to our second quarter non-GAAP figures and add some color on the outlook.

G. Hekking

Thanks, Kevin. I'll briefly cover our updated outlook and our cash position and then turn it back to Kevin. With the third quarter in the books, we now expect net sales approaching $900 million and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $77 million compared with our prior outlook of $80.5 million.

The change reflects softer sales at Rise, our decision to invest at Hiya, which is partially offset by stronger profitability in the Core Nutritional segment. With about 2 months left in the year, we anticipate Hiya will build on momentum for the third quarter with sequential growth in net sales and adjusted EBITDA as the subscribers we add in the third quarter contribute for a full quarter and retail and Amazon keep building.

For Core Nutritional, we're assuming net sales of roughly $740 million within the range we provided at the beginning of the year and $10 million below our most recent outlook, reflecting fewer active customers. For Rise, our outlook assumes certain retail orders currently scheduled for the fourth quarter to ship as planned. If the timing of those orders shift into the first quarter, our 2026 results could be modestly below the outlook, though we would expect any changes in net sales and earnings to be realized in 2027.

Finally, cash. Cash from operations totaled $45 million year-to-date, up from $26 million last year, and free cash flow was $36 million, more than double last year. Inventory being down 13% from the end of the year was also a positive. We ended the quarter with $179 million in cash and no debt, which gives us the flexibility to continue investing in our strategy and drive future growth. With that, I'll turn it back to Kevin.

Kevin Guest

Thanks, Doug. To close, we still have plenty of opportunity for improvement, but I repeat, we're making progress. Our priorities are clear: grow customer acquisition and loyalty in Core Nutrition, engage and retain Hiya's new subscribers and improve margins at Rise. We have a strategy we believe in and the teams who are executing it. Thank you for joining us. Operator, please open the line for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question we will hear from Anthony Lebiedzinski with Sidoti.

질의응답

Anthony Lebiedzinski

So first, on the Core Nutritional side, it was good to see some pockets of growth, as you called out, the Southeast Asia Pacific. I guess it's a multipart question here. Are you doing anything meaningfully different there versus the other regions?

And I guess the second part of that question, as you look to evolve your brand partner incentive plan, can you give more specifics as far as what changes do you expect to achieve from this? What's the time frame as to when we could see some improvements in the customer count and also the segment revenue as well?

Kevin Guest

Those are excellent questions. We have some really strong leadership around the world, and we are seeing some things work in Southeast Asia that we are expanding in other markets around the world. I'd love to have Brent Neidig, our Chief Commercial Officer, who deals directly with those markets, also respond to that question.

Brent Neidig

Thanks, Kevin. Anthony, thank you for the question. Yes, it was great to see the results from Southeast Asia. I think it's a combination of many things. Southeast Asia has been in a rebuild for the last many quarters and a couple of years actually.

We've changed leadership in several markets, and that's producing fruit. In the quarter specifically, we had an incentive program that ran, which was quite successful. We are going to build on that into the fourth quarter. But I think where the real magic came together was that we have seen a great deal of reengagement from our top brand partner leaders in many of those core markets, specifically in Australia, Malaysia, even in Korea, the Philippines.

And that combination of reengagement from our brand partners who are driving the growth, combined with the incentive program that we ran is really delivering the results that we're seeing. I wouldn't necessarily call it a new trend line, but we're very optimistic to see those results continue to build in some of those core markets. Remind me the second part of that question, Anthony?

Anthony Lebiedzinski

Sure. Yes. So as far as the comment about evolving your brand partner incentive plan, so if you could just comment on what types of changes you expect to achieve from these incentive plan changes and kind of the time frame as to when we could see some tangible results from that?

Brent Neidig

Yes, sure. We've talked about this many times. Our major evolution to the plan took place last year in July is when the first parts of that rolled out. What that was designed to do was to bring some more money from the back end of the plan to the front end to encourage increased acquisition and help people see success as they -- as soon as they come in the door. That's been successful.

We have seen increased brand partner engagement. And when you look at the numbers, our brand partner decline is less than our preferred customer decline. So we think that the acquisition engine is still intact and still working. Where we really see an opportunity going forward is in consumer loyalty. And Kevin addressed that in his prepared remarks.

But the consumer loyalty piece, that's where we see an opportunity to make some slight adjustments to the current plan, nothing major, but some adjustments to qualification criteria and timing of payout of certain incentives, which we believe will drive increased retention and loyalty, ultimately driving LTV. So that's the program that we've got queued up, and we expect that to roll out throughout 2027. So it's going to be a phased-in approach.

Anthony Lebiedzinski

Got it. Yes. And then as far as the comment on the -- as far as new product introduction, can you speak to the pipeline of new products that you have for next year? And also, it looks like you're going to be a bit more aggressive with digital marketing. How do we think about the impact that may have on your costs?

Kevin Guest

Well, those are great questions. Meeting people where they're at is a key part of our strategy and also speaking to them effectively where they're at and relevant communications is a big part of that as we think about our product launch and expansion and growth. And we've actually done a couple of test markets here in the U.S. that are reaping positive results that we're very optimistic around the consumer-driven product-based offerings. And so -- but I would like to ask Kathryn Armstrong. Dr. Armstrong is our Chief Science Officer. And would you comment on his question?

Kathryn Armstrong

Anthony, this is Kathryn. Thanks, Kevin. When we talk about our new product launches, to Kevin's point, it's really about the holistic approach of how do we bring these to market. And so we're focusing a lot on women's and kids initiatives.

To Kevin's point, we have a lot of experience in those areas, and we've been testing out new ideas, both through our core brand as well as through our extended set of brands in terms of how we can leverage product execution to drive customer loyalty. And you can expect to see those coming to fruition in 2027 with launches.

Anthony Lebiedzinski

Okay. And then with respect to Hiya, how do we think about the balance between marketing spending and profitability for the brand? And I guess as you look to scale Hiya across the core subscription business and add more retail, kind of as you look at building this brand over the course of the next few years, how do we think about gross margins, operating margins for Hiya, where they could be?

Kevin Guest

When we first acquired Hiya, the thing that got me really excited -- most excited about Hiya was the competency of their team and how proactive and how effective they were at building a national brand and how focused they were.

And it's great to see them expand and grow inside their channel and their product base. But I'd like to ask Walter, who's coordinating from our home office with the Hiya leadership team on the go-forward and execution.

Walter Noot

Yes. Think about it this way, Anthony. So when the customer first buys from Hiya, first order is half price. And the first order comes with a nice bottle and it's got a really nice box, and it's an expensive presentation that gets sent to that customer. Hiya invests in that new customer. And we have a really high LTV and it's very predictable.

It's been predictable since the beginning, we've actually seen it gone up over the last year. And so with Hiya, you'll see months like September, especially September, but even this last quarter, where CAC went down a little bit. And so it gave us an opportunity to go out and acquire more customers. And you saw a net gain of about 30,000 new customers that came in. And those customers are going to stay for a long time.

And so what happens in first month is you'll see lower EBITDA, lower margins, and then you'll start seeing us reap that just like Doug said. So in Q4, you'll start seeing margins going up quite substantially. Same thing that will probably happen in Q1 of next year, you'll see a lot more acquisition because beginning of the year, we'll acquire a whole bunch more customers.

And then throughout the year, we'll start benefiting from that. And then on the retail space, we have a much higher margin on the retail space. So we're in Target right now. That's getting us good margins, and that's growing fairly quickly. And then we're going into club at the beginning of next year and early Q1. And so you'll see -- as time goes on, I think we'll build a nice base. With DTC, especially with Hiya's business, the kind of the way it's set up with that first order being half price, that creates some inconsistency in EBITDA. But over time, as we start adding retail, that will start to change.

Anthony Lebiedzinski

Okay. That's very helpful context. And then kind of, I guess, a similar question on Rise Wellness. So it does appear that it's a bit more lumpy than expected. However, as you look to diversify your retail distribution, how do we think about sales and profitability for the brand and whether that includes any new additional products that you're thinking of as far as potentially announcing next year? Just how do we think about the trajectory for Rise Wellness?

Walter Noot

So with Rise, like you said, it has been lumpy, especially because of club stores. And even though we still are -- it's very promising. Club stores are still very interested in the brand and what we're doing with them. It's just that they do a lot of testing with us and they'll order on a regional basis rather than a national basis at times. So we're going kind of back and forth.

But we have, not just conversations, but we've got orders coming in, and we think it's going to be positive long term. But in the meantime, we've had to start building a base because if you think about it, Protein Pop was a brand-new brand last year. I mean, this is September last year, we launched at Target. So it's a new brand we have to build up.

We have gone -- by the end of this year, we'll have in the retail space, not club, but this is grocery and Target and grocery. We'll have 4,100 stores that we'll be in, which is a huge amount of growth that's all happened this year. That will build a base for us and allow us to -- especially in grocery, there's a better profitability margin for us.

And so I think that you'll see, obviously, we didn't do well this year because -- especially because of club and because of some of the lumpiness of that business. This year -- this next year and the rest of this year, we'll start having more business going through those retail channels.

Protein Pop is -- the units per store and dollars per store is the #1 clear protein product in the U.S. So it's -- and that's a product that started in September last year. So there's -- and there's a huge opportunity for us still in the grocery space and in the club space. We are -- we have just launched a new product in Protein Pop, that's called Protein Pop Balance. It's a prebiotic fiber and a protein. And it's a lower amount of protein. So it competes in the grocery aisle -- or sorry, in the soda aisle.

So because of that, we think we'll get more units per user, per customer. We think it will consume more. And we also think that being in the soda aisle, we'll get a lot more sales per store per week. And that's really been our focus. I think for the next year, I mean, we definitely have new products we'll be launching. But I think Protein Pop Balance is probably our focus for the next year.

Anthony Lebiedzinski

And I guess my last question is probably for Doug. So the tax rate has been a headwind. Just wondering if there are any things that you can try to do to minimize the tax impact, anything structurally that you could perhaps do differently or as far as the tax impact? And how do we think about the tax rate beyond 2026?

G. Hekking

Yes. I think everything that we just talked about with Hiya, Rise and even Kevin's strategic comments on the Core, all feed into that. I think we've had a little bit of a drag on our venture companies, which I think are -- there's so much positive information there. But as you see that, you just don't get the benefit from a tax standpoint, I think particularly with the amortization of intangibles at Hiya.

And so that really is a headwind. And so one of the things we look at is the absolute tax amount. And the rate is not something, believe me, we sit through Board meetings. And it's a comment every Board meeting, and it's an interesting navigation. I think there's opportunities to shift some of the spend closer to the consumers in different markets, and there's some opportunity there. I think any of those considerations, we want to be very thoughtful and very intentional about something that's going to be additive to the business. But I think just generally getting traction in the businesses and executing on the plans that we have with our venture companies are the best opportunity.

Operator

There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the floor back to Andrew Masuda for closing remarks.

Andrew Masuda

Thank you, Rochelle, and thanks for your questions and participation on today's conference call. If you have any remaining questions, please feel free to contact Investor Relations at (801) 954-7210.

Operator

Thank you. This does conclude today's teleconference. We thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time.