Teleconferência de Resultados do 3T 2026 da Brilliant Earth (BRLT): Margem Bruta se Expande para 59,7%

A Brilliant Earth (NASDAQ: BRLT) registrou avanço nas vendas e no volume de pedidos no terceiro trimestre de 2026, enquanto a expansão da margem bruta e a disciplina de despesas impulsionaram o EBITDA ajustado acima da faixa de projeções da companhia. A administração manteve sua perspectiva de EBITDA ajustado para o ano completo, mas adotou uma postura mais comedida em relação às vendas de fim de ano, diante da pressão sobre o orçamento dos consumidores para anéis de noivado.

Principais Destaques

• As vendas líquidas do 3T aumentaram cerca de 2% na comparação anual, para US$ 112,8 milhões, representando um crescimento de aproximadamente 13% em base acumulada de dois anos.
• O total de pedidos avançou cerca de 6%, enquanto o tíquete médio recuou aproximadamente 3%, para US$ 2.140, reflexo da ampliação de joias finas de menor preço no mix de produtos da empresa.
• A margem bruta atingiu 59,7%, uma expansão de cerca de 210 pontos-base na comparação anual e de 180 pontos-base em relação ao trimestre anterior, apesar dos preços elevados dos metais.
• O EBITDA ajustado somou US$ 5,1 milhões, ou 4,5% das vendas líquidas, superando o teto da faixa de projeções da administração para o 3T.
• As joias finas representaram aproximadamente 16% do total de bookings do 3T. Os bookings de alianças de casamento e bodas atingiram um recorde histórico para a empresa, enquanto os de anéis de noivado recuaram diante de uma base de comparação forte do ano anterior.
• A administração espera agora que as vendas líquidas para o ano inteiro cresçam aproximadamente de 2,75% a 4% e manteve a projeção de EBITDA ajustado entre US$ 13 milhões e US$ 15 milhões.

Principais Dados Financeiros

A melhora na margem bruta foi atribuída principalmente ao mecanismo de otimização de preços da Brilliant Earth, a iniciativas de design voltadas a custos e a ganhos de eficiência na cadeia de suprimentos. As despesas de marketing proporcionaram cerca de 40 pontos-base de alavancagem na comparação anual, embora os custos com pessoal ajustados e outras despesas gerais e administrativas (G&A) ajustadas tenham aumentado como porcentagem das vendas.

Desempenho Comercial e Operacional

As joias finas continuaram sendo um importante vetor de diversificação, respondendo por aproximadamente 16% do total de bookings. A administração afirmou que a demanda se manteve sólida pelas peças exclusivas da empresa, incluindo a colaboração com o espólio de Elizabeth Taylor e a coleção Jane Goodall.

As alianças de casamento e bodas registraram o melhor trimestre de bookings da história da empresa, com crescimento tanto nas linhas masculinas quanto femininas. Os preços médios de venda também subiram na comparação anual em joias finas e em alianças de casamento e bodas.

Os bookings de anéis de noivado recuaram na comparação anual em relação ao 3T 2025, período que havia se beneficiado da antecipação de compras antes de possíveis tarifas. Os anéis de noivado da linha exclusiva superaram o desempenho da categoria em geral, enquanto a administração destacou a solidez em produtos selecionados de maior valor, como anéis 'fancy' de três pedras e determinados modelos com quilatagem mais alta.

Os bookings em showrooms de clientes sem agendamento aumentaram cerca de 50% na comparação anual. Já os bookings de joias finas de clientes presenciais sem agendamento cresceram aproximadamente 37%. O novo showroom de San Antonio gerou o maior volume de bookings de clientes sem agendamento entre todas as unidades da empresa em suas primeiras 13 semanas, e a Brilliant Earth planeja abrir um showroom no Westfield Valley Fair, em San Jose, para a temporada de festas.

O giro de estoque permaneceu em aproximadamente 4x. A administração apontou o modelo operacional da empresa — leve em estoques e orientado por dados — como uma vantagem competitiva que apoia a geração de caixa e a flexibilidade operacional.

Projeções da Administração

A administração espera que as vendas líquidas para todo o ano de 2026 cresçam entre aproximadamente 2,75% e 4% na comparação anual, refletindo uma visão mais cautelosa sobre o período de festas. No ponto médio, a projeção implica crescimento das vendas no 4T tanto na comparação anual quanto no acumulado de dois anos.

A empresa manteve sua projeção de EBITDA ajustado para o ano completo de US$ 13 milhões a US$ 15 milhões. A administração espera que a margem bruta permaneça na faixa superior dos 50% no 4T, acima da projeção anterior, sustentada por iniciativas de precificação, eficiência de custos e cadeia de suprimentos.

A Brilliant Earth também espera que as joias finas tenham um desempenho superior durante a temporada de festas e continua planejando obter alavancagem anual nas despesas com marketing como porcentagem das vendas do ano completo. Devem continuar os investimentos seletivos em despesas com pessoal, tecnologia e outras despesas gerais e administrativas (G&A).

Riscos e Pontos de Atenção

A administração destacou a crescente pressão sobre o orçamento dos consumidores, principalmente no segmento de anéis de noivado, no qual os preços médios de venda estão sendo afetados. A empresa também se compara a preços médios de venda relativamente fortes no 4T 2025.

Os preços elevados dos metais continuam sendo um vento contrário para a margem bruta, embora iniciativas operacionais tenham compensado essa pressão no 3T. A maior parte da temporada de vendas de fim de ano ainda estava por vir no momento da teleconferência, deixando as perspectivas de vendas dependentes da demanda sazonal, que inclui o trimestre mais forte da empresa para joias finas.

Transcrição Completa da Teleconferência de Resultados

Transcrição completa da teleconferência de resultados

Comentários da administração

Operator

Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call is about to begin. Welcome. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the call over to Allison Malkin with ICR.

Allison Malkin

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Brilliant Earth's Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Allison Malkin with ICR. Joining me today are Beth Gerstein, Brilliant Earth's Chief Executive Officer, and Jeff Kuo, Brilliant Earth's Chief Financial Officer. During this call, 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. 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 results 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 non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP 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

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. We're pleased to report a strong third quarter with results that once again reflect the disciplined execution and success of our growth strategy. Q3 net sales grew approximately 2% year-over-year to $113 million, above our guidance and representing 13% growth on a two-year stack as we lapped a very strong third quarter in 2025. Total orders grew approximately 6% year-over-year in Q3. We are particularly pleased with this performance given that Q3 last year was a strong comp, especially for engagement rings, as customers pulled forward purchases in anticipation of potential tariffs. Average order value, or AOV, was down year-over-year by 3% in the third quarter as we continue to diversify the business in areas such as fine jewelry. Average selling prices were up year-over-year in both fine jewelry and wedding and anniversary bands, which we believe reflects consumers' enduring desire for premium, design-forward jewelry, along with our strength with the higher-income consumer.

Fine jewelry and wedding and anniversary bands were again highlights of the quarter. Fine jewelry continued its standout performance with Q3 bookings making up about 16% of total bookings in Q3 as we continue our diversification beyond bridal. We continue to see strength and outsize demand for our iconic fine jewelry pieces. In Q3, we also had our biggest quarter of wedding and anniversary band bookings in company history, with year-over-year growth in both men's and women's bands. Against the strong Q3 2025 comp, our engagement ring bookings were down year-over-year, but our signature engagement rings outperformed, underscoring the enduring appeal of our proprietary designs. We delivered a strong gross margin this quarter, even in the face of ongoing metal price headwinds. Q3 gross margin expanded approximately 210 basis points year-over-year.

As we mentioned during our last call, we expected Q3 gross margin to be in a similar range as Q2, and I'm proud that our team delivered ahead of our expectations through the operational levers that Jeff will discuss. And we continue to manage OpEx in a disciplined manner. We once again delivered year-over-year marketing leverage in Q3, and over the past three years, we've taken marketing from 27% of sales in Q3 2023 to 23.3% today, about 370 basis points of leverage. We also continue to manage other operating expenses efficiently, balancing driving growth with delivering profitability ahead of our expectations. The combination of our top-line performance, gross margin expansion, and sustained expense discipline enabled us to deliver Q3 adjusted EBITDA of $5.1 million, above the high end of our guidance range.

These results underscore our ability to execute with discipline while investing in the growth drivers that continue to make Brilliant Earth a leading jewelry brand in the $350 billion jewelry industry. Let me take you through some additional highlights of the quarter. As you know, one of the clearest ways we differentiate Brilliant Earth is through the artistry and craftsmanship behind our proprietary designs and collections. Our newest collections extend those same principles and continue to resonate deeply with customers. Our recent collaboration with the Elizabeth Taylor estate was one of our strongest fine jewelry launches ever, anchored by an exclusive pre-launch event that generated tremendous media reach. The launch has driven very strong engagement for this new collection and has translated into demand that has exceeded our expectations, and we are proud that a portion of net proceeds benefits the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, continuing her life's work.

We also introduced the third chapter of our Jane Goodall collection, crafted with repurposed gold and carbon capture lab diamonds, continuing our multi-year support of the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation. The broader Jane Goodall collection continues to be one of our top-selling fine jewelry collections, underscoring the staying power of storytelling-led collaborations like this one. And we saw strong reception for our new charms launch, which we celebrated with a launch event in the Hamptons alongside Camille Kostek, bringing together nearly 40 creators, several stars from across the Bravoverse, and other fans of the brand for an evening that generated over 10 million in estimated reach across social media. Our brand also continued to resonate culturally this quarter. We were honored to be part of the celebrity weddings of Hunter King and Emma Roberts, among other high-profile moments. We also crossed a major brand milestone this quarter, surpassing 1 million Instagram followers, with engagement rates more than doubling year-over-year.

We continue to drive strong showroom performance with outsized retail and walk-in interest in our showrooms. Showroom bookings from customers without an appointment grew approximately 50% year-over-year in Q3, highlighting how our showrooms are engines of driving awareness and conversion. Our showrooms are also increasingly a destination for fine jewelry, and fine jewelry bookings from walk-in customers were up approximately 37% year-over-year. Our newly opened San Antonio showroom is off to an excellent start. It delivered our highest walk-in bookings of any showroom in its first 13 weeks after opening, and we look forward to opening our next showroom at Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose, California for the holiday season.

As we head into the holiday season, we feel as prepared as we have ever been with exciting upcoming product and partnership announcements, including the launch today of our latest Ring Pop collaboration. We're also executing better than ever through more integrated planning across our creative, merchandising, and retail teams, resulting in an ever-improving merchandise assortment, marketing campaigns, and thoughtful inventory planning that will lay the foundation for a successful holiday season. Quarter to date, we are seeing strong resonance of our brand and product offerings with year-over-year order growth and strong wedding and anniversary band and fine jewelry performance. Engagement ring budgets are somewhat tighter as these considered purchases are increasingly affected by cost pressures. The bulk of the holiday season is still ahead of us, including our seasonally biggest fine jewelry quarter. And in any environment, our approach remains sharply focused on investing in and building our brand, optimizing our unique business model, and ensuring that we deliver exceptional product and experiences. Before I hand it over to Jeff to take you through more of the results and our outlook, I want to close by thanking our incredible team. Their passion and commitment are the reason our momentum keeps building quarter after quarter, and what fuels my confidence that Brilliant Earth's future is very bright. Now, I'll hand it over to Jeff.

Chuenhong Kuo

Thanks, Beth, and good morning, everyone. As Beth mentioned, we're pleased to report a strong third quarter in which we continue to successfully drive our strategic initiatives, delivering net sales above our guidance, year-over-year and sequential gross margin expansion, and adjusted EBITDA above the high end of our guidance range. Let me take you through the details for Q3. Net sales were $112.8 million, up approximately 2% year-over-year and above our guidance. As a reminder, we were comping a very strong third quarter last year when many consumers accelerated purchases in anticipation of potential tariffs. On a two-year stacked basis, Q3 net sales grew approximately 13%. As Beth noted, total orders grew approximately 6% year-over-year, demonstrating the effectiveness of our customer acquisition and retention efforts and the resonance of our brand and products with consumers.

Q3 average order value, or AOV, was $2,140, down approximately 3% year-over-year as we continue to broaden and diversify our overall assortment, including our fine jewelry collection, which, as you know, has lower price points than engagement rings. Year-over-year ASP growth continued in fine jewelry and in wedding and anniversary bands, reflecting our strength with the higher-income consumer. The engagement ring ASP, while down year-over-year, saw varying ASP performance across the assortment, with ASP strength in portions of the assortment such as fancy three-stone rings and certain higher carat weight rings. Gross margin for Q3 was 59.7%. As Beth noted, that was up approximately 210 basis points year-over-year, and it was up approximately 180 basis points sequentially versus Q2 2026. As we said last quarter, we expected Q3 gross margin to be in a similar range as Q2, and we came in ahead of that expectation.

The outperformance in gross margin was principally driven by the strength of our operational efforts, including our price optimization engine, designed for cost efficiency and other supply chain efficiencies. Our team's agility in leveraging our data-driven business model to drive these strong gross margins in the face of elevated year-over-year metal prices continues to be a key differentiator for Brilliant Earth. We delivered adjusted EBITDA of $5.1 million, or a 4.5% adjusted EBITDA margin, above the high end of our guidance range. This reflects the combination of our top-line performance, strong gross margin, and focused discipline in managing operating expenses. Q3 operating expense was 58% of net sales compared to 58.1% of net sales in Q3 2025, representing approximately 10 basis points of leverage year-over-year. Q3 adjusted operating expense was 55.3% of net sales compared to 54.5% in Q3 2025, representing approximately 80 basis points of deleverage year-over-year. Adjusted operating expense does not include items such as equity-based compensation, depreciation and amortization, showroom pre-opening expenses, and other non-recurring expenses.

Q3 marketing expense was 23.3% of net sales compared to 23.7% in Q3 2025, approximately 40 basis points of year-over-year leverage and again highlighting the resonance of our brand and seamless omnichannel model, the effectiveness of our data-driven approach, and the technology capabilities that our team has developed. Adjusted employee costs as a percentage of net sales were higher year-over-year by approximately 40 basis points in Q3, and we continue to manage these expenses in a disciplined and responsible manner. Adjusted other G&A as a percentage of net sales was higher year-over-year by approximately 80 basis points in Q3 as we continue to prudently invest in our business, including in technology to drive growth and efficiency. Our inventory was approximately $50.3 million at the end of Q3, down approximately 6% from the end of Q2. Our inventory turns of approximately 4x continue to be significantly higher than the industry average, and we maintain conviction that the agility of our data-driven, efficient, and inventory-light operating model is a compelling competitive advantage. We ended the third quarter with approximately $76 million in cash, up 4% year-over-year, and no debt. Our ability to generate cash further differentiates us from many others in the industry and highlights the benefits of our asset-light business model.

Turning to our outlook, we are planning prudently. We are seeing increased budget pressures, particularly affecting engagement ring ASPs, and we're lapping reasonably strong ASP comps from Q4 last year. For the full year, we now expect net sales up approximately 2.75% to 4% year-over-year, which reflects this more measured view of the holiday season. At the midpoint, this implies Q4 net sales growth on a year-over-year and two-year stack basis. This outlook includes expected outperformance in fine jewelry during the holidays. Even with this environment in mind, we are maintaining our previous adjusted EBITDA guidance of $13 million to $15 million for the year. We are able to maintain our profitability outlook with gross margin performing ahead of prior expectations given the success of our initiatives to drive strong gross margins and our disciplined management of operating expenses.

We expect to drive a high 50s gross margin in Q4, an increase from our previous guidance. We also continue to plan for year-over-year leverage in marketing expense as a percentage of net sales for the full year, and making selective investments in employee costs and other G&A to drive the medium- and long-term growth of our business. In closing, our data-driven approach, including our agile price optimization management and our asset-light business model, position us well to deliver long-term profitable growth. This quarter's strong execution reinforces our capability to identify and capture opportunities to drive sustainable, profitable growth and create value for our shareholders. With that, I will turn the call over to the operator for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And since I see no questions, I'm going to turn it back over to Jeff Kuo for closing remarks.

Beth Gerstein

Thank you guys for your interest in Brilliant Earth, and we look forward to discussing our holiday results next quarter.

Operator

This concludes the program for today's conference. You may now disconnect.

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