Cuộc họp công bố kết quả kinh doanh Quý 1 năm tài chính 2027 của Kestra Medical Technologies (KMTS): Doanh thu tăng 60%, nâng dự báo

Kestra Medical Technologies (NASDAQ: KMTS) đã báo cáo doanh thu quý tài chính đầu tiên năm 2027 tăng trưởng mạnh mẽ và biên lợi nhuận gộp tiếp tục mở rộng. Ban lãnh đạo đã nâng dự báo doanh thu cả năm, đưa ra lý do là sự tăng trưởng đơn thuốc, cải thiện khả năng tiếp cận bên thanh toán và quản lý chu kỳ doanh thu hiệu quả hơn.

Điểm tin chính

• Doanh thu quý 1 năm tài chính 2027 tăng 60% so với cùng kỳ năm ngoái lên 31 triệu USD, nhờ sự mở rộng của thị trường WCD, giành thêm thị phần từ các đối thủ cạnh tranh và tỷ lệ bệnh nhân trong mạng lưới bảo hiểm cao hơn.
• Biên lợi nhuận gộp đạt 56,5%, tăng từ mức 45,7% của một năm trước đó và tăng 175 điểm cơ bản so với quý trước. Điều này đánh dấu quý thứ 11 liên tiếp biên lợi nhuận gộp mở rộng so với quý liền trước.
• Ban lãnh đạo đã nâng dự báo doanh thu năm tài chính 2027 từ 137 triệu USD lên 141 triệu USD, tương ứng mức tăng trưởng 48% so với năm tài chính 2026.
• Kestra đã tăng mục tiêu biên lợi nhuận gộp dài hạn từ 70% lên khoảng giữa 70%, điều mà ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng sẽ đạt được trong 2 đến 3 năm tới.
• Lỗ ròng GAAP mở rộng lên 44,1 triệu USD từ mức 25,8 triệu USD, trong khi lỗ EBITDA điều chỉnh tăng lên 24 triệu USD từ mức 19,4 triệu USD.
• Ban lãnh đạo ước tính Kestra nắm giữ khoảng 15% thị trường WCD tại Mỹ trong quý gần nhất và kỳ vọng sẽ tiếp tục gia tăng thị phần khi đội ngũ thương mại mở rộng.

Dữ liệu tài chính cốt lõi

Tình hình kinh doanh và hoạt động

Doanh thu hưởng lợi từ sự cải thiện trên cả ba động lực chính của mô hình cho thuê của Kestra: tỷ lệ thực hiện đơn thuốc, tỷ lệ tính phí và việc thu hồi nợ. Ban lãnh đạo cho biết trong lịch sử, tăng trưởng đơn thuốc thường thấp hơn tăng trưởng doanh thu vài điểm phần trăm và kỳ vọng mối quan hệ này sẽ tiếp tục trong năm tài chính 2027.

Tỷ lệ lắp đặt thiết bị cho bệnh nhân có quyền lợi trong mạng lưới bảo hiểm đã tăng từ khoảng 70% vào thời điểm Kestra IPO lên vùng thấp của khoảng 80%. Công ty kỳ vọng sẽ tiếp tục cải thiện khi ký thêm hợp đồng với các bên thanh toán. Tỷ lệ tham gia trong mạng lưới cao hơn giúp hỗ trợ doanh thu trên mỗi bệnh nhân, tỷ lệ chuyển đổi yêu cầu bồi thường, việc thu hồi nợ và biên lợi nhuận gộp.

Kestra cũng báo cáo sản lượng gia tăng trong mạng lưới của Bộ Cựu chiến binh Mỹ (VA) sau khi tham gia Danh mục Cung ứng Liên bang khoảng 6 tháng trước. VA chi trả cho 9 triệu thành viên, trong đó gần một nửa trên 65 tuổi.

Một bên thanh toán lớn toàn quốc đã mở rộng phạm vi chi trả WCD cho các bệnh nhân không bị thiếu máu cục bộ đang điều trị bằng y khoa theo hướng dẫn. Ban lãnh đạo cho biết hơn 60% nhóm bệnh nhân WCD điển hình là không bị thiếu máu cục bộ và mô tả sự thay đổi chính sách này là minh chứng cho thấy các dữ liệu lâm sàng gần đây đang ảnh hưởng đến các quyết định chi trả.

Tăng trưởng thương mại đến từ cả việc thâm nhập sâu hơn vào các khách hàng hiện có và mở rộng sang các địa bàn mới. Kestra đang chia nhỏ các địa bàn có sản lượng cao được chọn lọc và bổ sung các chuyên gia tài khoản lâm sàng. Ban lãnh đạo cho biết đại diện kinh doanh mới đang nâng cao hiệu suất nhanh hơn nhờ các khoản đầu tư vào tuyển dụng và đào tạo.

Dựa trên kết quả của Kestra và của nhà cung cấp hiện hữu, ban lãnh đạo ước tính thị trường WCD đã tăng trưởng khoảng 14% tính theo giá trị USD trong 12 tháng tính đến tháng 7 năm 2026. Công ty ước tính thị phần mới nhất của mình tại Mỹ đạt khoảng 15%.

Kestra cũng đang đầu tư vào AI và tự động hóa trong các khâu hỗ trợ bệnh nhân, ủy quyền trước, hoàn phí, thu hồi nợ và năng suất bán hàng. Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng lợi ích ban đầu về chi phí sẽ xuất hiện trong năm tài chính 2027, với tác động rõ rệt hơn trong năm tài chính 2028 và năm tài chính 2029.

Phát triển sản phẩm bao gồm sự hợp tác với Biobeat Technologies để tích hợp tính năng theo dõi huyết áp không xâm lấn vào nền tảng Assure. Kestra cũng đang hoàn tất một dự án R&D giai đoạn cuối được thiết kế để bổ sung một tính năng hiện chưa có trong danh mục WCD. Ban lãnh đạo dự kiến sẽ cung cấp thêm chi tiết trong quý tới.

Dự báo của ban lãnh đạo

Kestra đã nâng dự báo doanh thu năm tài chính 2027 lên 141 triệu USD từ mức 137 triệu USD. Triển vọng mới tương ứng với mức tăng trưởng 48% so với cùng kỳ năm ngoái.

Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng nửa sau năm tài chính 2027 sẽ tăng trưởng nhanh hơn nửa đầu năm. Tốc độ tăng tốc dự kiến này phụ thuộc một phần vào việc gia tăng năng suất từ các đại diện kinh doanh được tuyển dụng vào cuối năm tài chính 2026 và đầu năm tài chính 2027, cùng với việc thâm nhập sâu hơn vào các tài khoản và kích hoạt tài khoản mới.

Công ty dự kiến chi phí hoạt động GAAP năm tài chính 2027 là khoảng 220 triệu USD, tương ứng mức tăng khoảng 20%. Ban lãnh đạo cho biết chi tiêu R&D sẽ quay trở lại mức lịch sử sau khi tăng cao trong quý 1 do các khoản đầu tư liên quan đến Biobeat và chương trình phát triển giai đoạn cuối.

Biên lợi nhuận gộp dự kiến sẽ tăng đều đặn và ổn định trong các quý tới. Ban lãnh đạo duy trì kỳ vọng biên lợi nhuận gộp mở rộng khoảng 700 điểm cơ bản trong năm tài chính 2027 và cho biết biên lợi nhuận gộp cả năm tài chính 2029 có thể đạt 70%, với nửa sau năm vượt mức 70%. Mục tiêu rộng hơn của công ty là biên lợi nhuận gộp ở khoảng giữa 70% trong vòng 2 đến 3 năm.

Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng mức tiêu tốn tiền mặt sẽ giảm dần qua từng quý trong năm tài chính 2027. Hạn mức tín dụng vay có kỳ hạn 200 triệu USD được công bố gần đây cung cấp thêm thanh khoản cho đầu tư thương mại và mở rộng danh mục thiết bị của công ty.

Rủi ro và các điểm cần theo dõi

• Kestra vẫn tiếp tục chịu lỗ, với khoản lỗ ròng GAAP 44,1 triệu USD và 32,3 triệu USD dòng tiền sử dụng cho hoạt động kinh doanh trong quý.
• Triển vọng doanh thu năm tài chính 2027 phụ thuộc nhiều hơn vào sự tăng trưởng nhanh hơn trong nửa sau năm, làm tăng tầm quan trọng của việc nâng cao năng suất đại diện kinh doanh và hiệu quả địa bàn.
• Mặc dù phạm vi bảo hiểm trong mạng lưới đã được cải thiện, ban lãnh đạo lưu ý rằng Mỹ có hơn 3.000 bên thanh toán, để lại một lượng lớn các hợp đồng khu vực và địa phương cần phải hoàn tất.
• Thời điểm và tác động của AI, tự động hóa và các chương trình R&D giai đoạn cuối vẫn phụ thuộc vào năng lực thực thi. Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng các lợi ích lớn hơn từ tự động hóa chủ yếu sẽ đến trong năm tài chính 2028 và năm tài chính 2029.
• Ban lãnh đạo cho biết tốc độ tăng trưởng của thị trường WCD trong tương lai rất khó dự báo, mặc dù gần đây đã có sự tăng tốc.

Điểm nổi bật trong phiên Hỏi & Đáp với chuyên gia phân tích

Các chuyên gia phân tích tập trung nhiều vào dự báo doanh thu nâng lên và tiến độ theo quý. Ban lãnh đạo cho biết sự tự tin của mình đến từ các xu hướng thuận lợi về đơn thuốc, phạm vi chi trả của bên thanh toán, doanh thu trên mỗi ca lắp đặt và năng suất của đội ngũ bán hàng. Ban lãnh đạo nhắc lại rằng nửa sau năm sẽ mạnh mẽ hơn nửa đầu năm.

Về biên lợi nhuận gộp, ban lãnh đạo đã chỉ ra ba động lực chính đằng sau mục tiêu nâng lên khoảng giữa 70%: chi phí trên mỗi ca lắp đặt thấp hơn, tiết kiệm chi phí nhà cung cấp nhờ quy mô và doanh thu trên mỗi ca lắp đặt cao hơn khi tỷ lệ trong mạng lưới bảo hiểm tăng.

Liên quan đến thị phần, ban lãnh đạo cho biết Kestra đang vượt so với các giả định dài hạn nội bộ. Sự gia tăng liên tục dự kiến sẽ đến từ việc mở rộng thương mại, thâm nhập tài khoản và cải tiến sản phẩm bổ sung.

Ban lãnh đạo từ chối định lượng mức doanh thu quý 1 đến từ các đơn thuốc của kỳ trước hoặc tách riêng đóng góp doanh thu từ sản lượng và doanh thu trên mỗi ca lắp đặt. Ban lãnh đạo cho biết dữ liệu hàng năm về đơn thuốc và ca lắp đặt sẽ được cung cấp vào cuối năm tài chính.

Về việc đầu tư vào AI, ban lãnh đạo nhấn mạnh năng suất bán hàng là con đường then chốt dẫn đến lợi nhuận. Các công cụ dự kiến nhằm cải thiện việc ưu tiên địa bàn, giảm bớt công việc hành chính và tăng số ca lắp đặt cho bệnh nhân trên mỗi đại diện kinh doanh mà không làm tăng nhân sự tương ứng.

Toàn văn bản ghi cuộc họp báo cáo kết quả kinh doanh

Toàn văn cuộc gọi công bố kết quả kinh doanh

Phần trình bày của ban lãnh đạo

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to Kestra Medical Technologies First Quarter Fiscal 2027 Earnings Conference Call. This conference call is being recorded for replay purposes. We will be facilitating a question-and-answer session following prepared remarks from management. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to turn the call over to Neil Bhalodkar, Vice President of Investor Relations, for introductory comments.

Neil Bhalodkar

Thank you, Latif. Good afternoon. Thank you for joining Kestra's First Quarter Fiscal 2027 Earnings Call. With me today are Brian Webster, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Vaseem Mahboob, Chief Financial Officer.

This call includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements made on this call that do not relate to matters of historical facts should be considered forward-looking statements. These statements are based on Kestra's current expectations, forecasts and assumptions which are subject to current uncertainties, risks and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Actual outcomes and results could differ materially from any results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements due to various factors.

Please review Kestra's most recent filings with the SEC, particularly the risk factors described in our Form 10-K for additional information. Any forward-looking statements provided during this call, including projections of future performance, are based on management's expectations as of today. Kestra undertakes no obligation to update these statements, except as required by applicable law. During today's call, we will also discuss non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures are in addition to and are not a substitute for or superior to measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. Please refer to our earnings release for a reconciliation of these measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.

With that, I will turn the call over to Brian.

Brian Webster

Thanks, Neil. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us on today's conference call. We're excited to discuss the strong financial performance we had in the first quarter and the continued progress we are making on our key operational objectives.

I'd like to begin though with a reminder of the purpose behind our work that is providing innovative, intuitive medical technologies that protect and support at-risk patients. That mission guides both the technology we create and the experience we deliver, helping patients remain engaged, connected and protected throughout their care.

One patient's experience this quarter demonstrates how those forms of protection work together. The patient was prescribed the Assure WCD for protection during the high-risk period between removal of his implanted defibrillator and a scheduled lead extraction. Shortly after fitting, the Assure System recorded more than 120 diverted therapies in 1 night, prompting immediate outreach from our heart alert services team.

The team learned the patient was driving alone through rural Utah with his 2 dogs. He initially resisted seeking care. Heart alert services remained in close contact until he agreed to go to the nearest emergency department. The team sent his clinical reports ahead to the support team at the emergency department. Upon arrival, clinicians determined he needed to be airlifted to a Las Vegas hospital for a specialized electrophysiology care.

After 8 days in hospital, he underwent a successful lead extraction and received a replacement device. This case demonstrates the differentiated value of our integrated care model. Assure provided continuous protection and clinical insight while heart alert services turned that insight into action, moving a patient from unseen risk to urgent specialized care, in this case, across state lines. This is the cardiac recovery system platform in action, therapeutic protection, clinical insight and responsive support working together when it matters most.

I would now like to turn to our recent financial performance. In the first quarter, we continued to reach more patients at risk of dangerous cardiac arrhythmias, while delivering another quarter of strong financial performance. Revenue advanced sequentially off a strong fourth quarter and grew 60% year-over-year to $31 million. Gross margin of 56.5% increased over 10 points year-over-year and 175 basis points sequentially. This was the 11th quarter in a row of sequential gross margin expansion, demonstrating the attractive unit economics and volume leverage of our business model.

Based on the progress to date, we are increasingly confident that Kestra can achieve mid-70s gross margin percentage in the next few years. This represents a meaningful increase from our previously communicated target of 70%. Importantly though, Kestra is not simply a gross margin story. With strong revenue growth and gross margin expansion, we are enhancing the operating leverage in our business. This leverage supports investments we are making in key growth drivers that we believe will yield significant earnings power and long-term value for Kestra and its stakeholders in the years ahead.

We have been deliberately building towards this point. For example, we have invested in building the foundational technology stack needed to scale the business, including cloud platforms, enterprise data capabilities, workflow automation and system iteration layers. Those investments are now enabling the next phase of value creation through AI and automation. Our AI road map is highly disciplined in firmly grounded and measurable business outcomes. Every initiative is linked to a specific operating KPI and evaluated based on its ability to improve growth, efficiency or enhance scalability.

We are initially prioritizing 3 areas where we believe AI and automation can create significant value. First, patient support and adherence, where AI-powered patient support agents and automated outreach can help maintain patient engagement and wear compliance while increasing the productivity of the Kestra team supporting a rapidly growing patient base. Second, revenue access and collections, we're automating intake, prior authorization and reimbursement workflows can improve our fittings to claim conversion and collections, while materially reducing administrative effort.

And third, commercial demand acceleration, where AI assist our sales representatives with call preparation, follow-up, account prioritization and clinical documentation. The objective here is straightforward: increased rep productivity as measured by patient fittings per rep without requiring a proportional increase in headcount. Together, these initiatives demonstrate the leverage in the technology foundation we have built and how AI and automation can improve key operating metrics while meeting the operating expense curve as transaction volumes continue to grow.

Turning to our commercial organization. Our territory managers are continuing to win share in competitive accounts, while simultaneously expanding the WCD market as prescribers increasingly recognize the benefits of protecting more patients than they have historically. Our newest reps are ramping faster than prior cohorts, while our legacy reps continue to generate strong growth and same-store sales. In some of our largest markets, we have been deliberate and strategic about splitting high-volume platinum territories to go deeper and reach more prescribers in existing accounts.

We are finding that when we split a territory and add a clinical account specialists, more feet on the ground closer to the customer compound growth. It's how we ultimately turn a foothold into a fully penetrated account and put both territories on a path to becoming high-volume platinum territories. This is a powerful model for growth and operating leverage. Higher territory manager productivity is a meaningful driver of operating leverage and also positions us to effectively capitalize on a significant growth opportunity ahead of us, given how underpenetrated the WCD category remains.

As we have previously noted, despite the overwhelming evidence of external defibrillation shock is effective at terminating dangerous cardiac rhythms, WCD therapy remains underutilized. In 2025, 6 out of 7 patients that were indicated for WCD were not protected by one. This statistic speaks to the enormous potential in front of us. The innovation and clinical evidence we have brought to the category is beginning to change this. Based on our financials and those of the incumbent, the WCD market grew approximately 14% on a dollar basis in the 12 months ended July of 2026. We believe we are still in the early innings of market expansion and we see this category growing into a multibillion dollar market in the years ahead.

Turning to market access. We continue to bring more payers in network while also making progress on improving our RCM capabilities. At the time of our IPO 18 months ago, approximately 70% of our fittings were for patients with in-network benefits. This figure is down in the low 80s, and we expect this to increment higher in our FY '27 as we signed new contracts in target markets. Higher in-network mix meaningfully increases our team's efficiency and positively impacts all of our RCM metrics, including revenue per patient.

About 6 months ago, we announced that Kestra had been added to the Federal Supply Schedule for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. As a reminder, the VA is the largest integrated health care network in the U.S. and covers 9 million members. Nearly 50% of whom are over the age of 65. Over the last 6 months, we have seen a steady increase in volumes at the VA and still have a significant multiyear opportunity to grow our share within these facilities. It is important to note that there are over 3,000 payers in the U.S. So there is still a long tail of regional and local payers we are working to bring under contract.

Of note, this month, a significant national payer has expanded their coverage to non-ischemic patients undergoing guideline-directed medical therapy. This is the first time this large payer has covered both the ischemic and non-ischemic patients. This is significant since over 60% of the typical WCD populations are non-ischemic. We believe this is a strong signal that the recent clinical evidence is having an impact on payer policies or WCDs. Innovation also continues to be a central area of focus and investment for Kestra. We are progressing as planned with our Biobeat Technologies partnership to integrate noninvasive blood pressure monitoring into the Assure platform.

In addition, our team is completing an exciting late-stage R&D project intended to further extend our clinical advantage with the performance of the Assure System and also bring new first-in-category capabilities to the market. We expect to discuss those further in the next quarter. Over time, we believe innovation will help us accelerate market growth and win additional market share by further differentiating our product from the incumbent. And more importantly, by providing additional clinical value and diagnostic insights to physicians, we believe it will result in them prescribing WCDs to more of their patients that heretofore have gone unprotected.

In conclusion, the fundamentals of Kestra's story have never been stronger. Our product differentiation is clear and compelling. The WCD market is expanding rapidly with tremendous room for further penetration. Kestra continues to deliver top-tier medtech revenue growth. Gross margin has expanded consistently and meaningful opportunity remains. We have a strong balance sheet and our execution continues to be crisp and the valuation we have built positions Kestra for strong and durable growth for years to come. I'd like to thank our incredible team in the field and also here at the home office in Kirkland for their passion and commitment to the customer mission.

I will now turn it over to Vaseem who will discuss first quarter financial results in more detail and provide our updated fiscal year 2027 revenue guidance. Vaseem?

Vaseem Mahboob

Thank you, Brian, and good afternoon, everyone. We had a strong financial performance across the board in the first quarter. Total revenue was $31 million, an increase of 60% compared to the prior year period. Revenue growth was driven by continued WCD market expansion, competitive share gains, a higher mix of in-network patients and ongoing improvements in our revenue cycle management capabilities.

We continue to see improvements in all 3 key drivers of our revenue model, our prescription fill rate, our bill rate and our collections performance. As we continue to bring more players in network, we expect to see benefits in revenue growth, gross margin and our profitability profile. As Brian noted in his prepared remarks, we are investing in rev cycle AI tools and other automation projects that we believe will drive significant operating leverage as we scale the business.

Turning to gross margin. Our gross margin increased to 56.5% in the first quarter versus 45.7% in the prior year period. This continued expansion in our gross margin was driven by attractive unit economics inherent in Kestra's business model, an increase in revenue per fit from more in-network patients and a decline in cost per fit driven by the volume leverage and execution of cost-improvement projects. In the quarters ahead, we expect to see steady and consistent increases in our gross margin as our rental model benefits from higher fits. We are confident in our ability to achieve a mid-70% margin in the next few years, which is higher than our prior outlook of 70% gross margins.

GAAP operating expenses were $55.2 million in the first quarter compared to $37.7 million in the prior year period. Included in GAAP operating expense are $1.4 million of nonrecurring items related to a Biobeat milestone payment and onetime professional fees related to a key R&D project that Brian noted, we will be discussing in detail in the next quarter. Excluding nonrecurring costs and stock-based compensation, operating expenses were $44.2 million in the first quarter compared to $30.3 million in the prior year period. The increase was primarily attributable to growth in expenses related to the company's commercial expansion and accelerated investment in our late-stage R&D programs.

GAAP net loss was $44.1 million in the first quarter compared to a GAAP net loss of $25.8 million in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA loss was $24 million in the first quarter compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of $19.4 million in the prior year period. Our cash used from operating activities in the first quarter was $32.3 million. As expected, our Q1 cash burn was higher on a sequential basis driven by payout of our company-wide bonus and timing of payments to suppliers. We expect to burn -- we expect our burn to decline sequentially throughout fiscal year 2027, as it did in fiscal year 2026.

In July, we announced a new $200 million term loan facility. This nondilutive financing was a great outcome from Kestra. It fortifies our balance sheet, reduces our cost of capital and provides a significant financial flexibility to invest in our commercial strategies and expand our fleet to drive durable best-in-class growth for years to come. Cash, cash equivalents and investments totaling $245 million as of July 31. Including unused committed availability under our term loan agreement, Kestra has a liquidity of approximately $320 million.

In summary, we continue to deliver top-tier medtech revenue growth while significantly expanding our gross margins and refining our balance sheet. Our investments in the field team, RCM capabilities and R&D initiatives position Kestra to capitalize on the large and growing WCD market opportunity and drive durable revenue for years to come. And while we are continuing to invest in our growth strategy in fiscal year 2027, you will see Kestra drive increasing levels of operating leverage each year going forward. For these reasons, we have high visibility and confidence in our path to profitability over the next few years.

I will now provide updated fiscal year 2027 revenue guidance. We expect revenue of $141 million, representing growth of 48% compared to fiscal year 2026. This compares to prior fiscal year 2027 revenue guidance of $137 million. We expect fittings growth to be driven by deeper penetration within existing accounts and the activation of new accounts as we invest in the regional coverage. We expect growth in revenue per fit to be driven by a higher mix of in-network patients and continued investments in our revenue cycle management capabilities.

With that, operator, we have concluded our prepared remarks and are ready to proceed to the Q&A portion of the call. Operator?

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Larry Biegelsen of Wells Fargo.

Phần hỏi đáp

Larry Biegelsen

Congrats on the nice start to the year here. Brian or Vaseem, I wanted to ask about the guidance and the cadence. So you beat by about $2 million, raised by about $4 million. So my question is what gave you the confidence to raise by more than the beat this quarter? And how should we think about the cadence for the rest of the year? I think you said on the last call, you expect an acceleration in the second half due to some of the reps you hired last year. And I had one follow-up.

Vaseem Mahboob

Yes. Larry, thanks for the question. Our fiscal year 2027 guidance of $141 million implies a 48% growth, which is among the highest in small-cap med tech. Our revenue growth has historically been driven by prescription volume growth, in-network mix and RCM improvements and the growth of our field team. These KPIs are all tracking in the right direction and give us a lot of confidence in increasing our guidance to 48% growth in fiscal year 2027. Higher prescriptions will be driven by winning new accounts, going deeper in existing accounts and market expansion. We expect revenue per fit to benefit from higher in-network mix as we continue to make progress on payer coverage. And as we said last year, same time, we do expect those reps to ramp up here in the second half of the year. So we expect the second half to be faster than the first half.

Larry Biegelsen

That's helpful. And just for my follow-up, Brian, on the pipeline, I guess, update on Biobeat and any milestones. And I guess I've got to try to ask about this new pipeline product. Just any color on kind of where your focus? Is it the patient experience, the algorithm, new features? And how far away from market? Is this anything you could share?

Brian Webster

Yes. I appreciate the question. We will -- we do expect to be able to talk about it in more depth over the next quarter. We're not quite ready to do that yet. But I will say that what we expect to do with the new technology is leverage the platform that we've developed and to extend that platform give us additional capability, as I mentioned in my comments, a capability that doesn't exist in WCD today. And so we're excited about that. That's part of why we're investing into that. And excited to discuss that with you all over the next few months.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Matthew O'Brien of Piper Sandler.

Matthew O'Brien

Something maybe around 400 to 500 basis points from what we were expecting before. And is the time frame the same versus the 70% you expected to get to? Or is it just a little further out? And then I have a follow-up.

Vaseem Mahboob

Yes. So just on gross margins -- Matt, thanks for the question. We have now expanded gross margins 11 quarters in a row with margin increasing over 10 points year-over-year in this quarter. We continue to benefit from higher revenue per fit based on improvements on our in-network mix and also all of the CIP programs are delivering results. As we have said previously, you should see steady and consistent sequential increases in gross margin going forward. We have good line of sight to achieving gross margins of the mid-70% that we talked about over the next few years, driven by the attractive unit economics inherent in the business model that we have talked about in the past.

But this is up from our prior view of 70% and the confidence where it comes from 3 things. One, is the reduction in cost per fit driven by the progress of the programs, the volume-based reductions that we're seeing from our suppliers, improvements in revenue per fit, mostly driven by this in-network mix continue to move higher. And we feel really confident that the unit economics plus the volume growth that we expect over the years will help us get to that mid-70% gross margin.

Matthew O'Brien

Okay. Appreciate that. And then I guess to follow up on Larry's question on the guide. If I look at the cadence here, expecting more in the back half of the year in terms of the acceleration would lead you to some pretty big numbers in Q3 and Q4, especially Q4 sequentially versus what you've done -- which you did in fiscal '26. So what are you seeing from a rep productivity perspective? Just putting these territories and seeing improved productivity from those regions, et cetera, that gives you the confidence that you're going to be able to get to these levels throughout the course of the year?

Brian Webster

Yes. Thanks, Matt. Just -- first of all, I appreciate you pointing out that that's a big quarter to that last line of the year, we agreed. But I think what we're seeing, we get a couple of hints in the prepared commentary, what we're seeing is we're having success as we split some of the larger territories, and we doubled down into those territories. So we're seeing the rep productivity opportunity to be significant as we further penetrate some of these accounts. And then the natural leverage that we will get from the cohort of reps that we hired late in FY '26 and here in the early stages of FY '27 we'll start to see productivity in the back half of the year.

So it's a combination of those things that really gives us the confidence plus a lot of the benefit we will see from some of our ongoing marketing programs, that support the commercial team, and we expect the combination of all those things to lead to that kind of growth.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Michael Polark of Wolfe Research.

Michael Polark

I know the disclosure is changing, but I'm going to take a crack at it anyways. In the quarter, you beat the Street by 7% on revenue. I'm wondering if you'd help us frame the portion of that beat from volume versus the portion of that beat from revenue per fit relative to what you think the consensus model was. I'm just working to keep the model build as high quality as it can be as we enter this new era.

Vaseem Mahboob

Yes. So great question. We obviously not commenting on the different elements of our previous claim conversion rate, Mike. But we can tell you that we saw continued improvement in all of the KPIs that drive the rent model, which is the fill rate, the bill rate and obviously, the in-period collections. So we feel really good about where we are. And as we have said, the best way to kind of think about the growth relative to prescription is to look at the historicals. And in the past, the prescription performance has lagged the revenue number by a couple of points. And that progression will hold for this year as it has in the past.

And we feel really confident about looking at the data that way. So -- and we will be providing you those details at the end of the year as we have promised. So overall, like I said, the KPIs are tracking all in the right direction, and we really feel great about the rest of the year as we head into the second quarter.

Michael Polark

Helpful, Vaseem. For the follow-up, Brian, I'm curious for more color on one of your mentions. So you mentioned a large commercial payer is now covering the non-ischemic population, and that's the first time that's happened. Clinical evidence side is the reason I think we can understand that. My question is how many commercial payers don't cover the non-ischemic population? Is this the last holdover? Or is this a first mover or one in the middle, I'd be curious where we are on that side.

Brian Webster

Yes. Yes. That's a good question, Mike. Along the large payers, I would say this was the outlier. Most of the large payers already cover that patient population. This one has been one that had sort of held out on that for a long time and just recently came back with a new coverage decisions. So there are other regional and smaller payers that have put similar positions to that large payer. And so we're optimistic that we'll also see some movement with some of them.

But it's a good signal. It's a good indicator that some of the evidence around the actual risk for some of these patients. It is starting to make a difference as we've been able to communicate it better. And I think that -- you're seeing that in the 14% market growth, and you're seeing that in payer coverage decisions like those.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Marie Thibault of BTIG.

Marie Thibault

I wanted to sort of understand a little bit more about the accelerated investment that you called out in some of these key R&D programs. Should we expect R&D spend to be a little bit higher than we've previously been thinking about for the rest of the year? How would you have us think about the cadence of some of those investments? And then as part of that, you mentioned with the AI efforts you're going to hopefully curve the operating expense costs over time. Wondering if you have a time line on those impacts. I know it's probably fairly early, but any details on the time lines around that?

Brian Webster

Yes. Thanks, Marie. This is Brian. I'll take the R&D question and then Vaseem, you can grab the AR question. So on the R&D question, we do believe that those expenses were onetime in nature, we believe that the R&D expense line will go back down. In my period, when you have a multiyear R&D program that is coming close to the end of its schedule and you have an opportunity to apply and financial resources to accelerate and protect that schedule. And that's a bet that we'll make every day of the week. And that's what we get. And we feel good about that investment. We think that's going to net the results that we are looking for. But we do see that the R&D line when it comes to the spend will come back down in the forward quarters.

Vaseem Mahboob

Brian, just to kind of add to that very overall commentary on kind of OpEx. We didn't see the OpEx came in slightly higher at $55 million and our previously communicated number. And that was really driven by the Biobeat milestone payment. But I think more importantly, you'll see our overall R&D spend was up about 70%, which is significantly higher than what it has been historically. And this really to kind of ramp up or almost finalize the investment in the R&D program. So -- and that's why we're ready to kind of talk about in the details here over the next 90 days.

We expect the GAAP OpEx for the year to be at $220 million in 2027, which reflects continued investment on the commercial side. And then I think to Brian's point, we already spend returning back to historical levels, which is somewhat in the 5% to 7% range in the second half of the year. But that $220 million would still mean an OpEx growth of 20% in fiscal year '27 versus a guidance of 48%. So we will continue to drive significant operating leverage on OpEx overall. But I think the -- a lot of that operating leverage in outer years, not this year is predicated on some of these AI programs, but we are making investments this year that will help us bend the cost curve for revenue cycle management and improving reproductivity and things like that, that Brian talked about in the prepared remarks.

Marie Thibault

All right. That's very helpful. And then just my follow-up, just a curiosity really. I recall last quarter, you flagged that a meaningful proportion of your prescription volumes had not yet converted to revenue and would show up in this fiscal quarter. Are you able to quantify at all how many millions came in as a result of the strong volume last quarter?

Vaseem Mahboob

I mean, we haven't -- historically, we have not provided the detail, like I said, to Mike's question. I think historically, the relationship between the revenue growth and prescription has been -- the prescriptions has lagged by a couple of points, and I think that will continue for this year.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of [ Rick Wise ] of Stifel.

Unknown Analyst

Maybe, Vaseem, you could help us think through thoughtfully the quarterly cadence as we proceed through the year. You've been very clear about the second half being higher, larger, bigger than the first half. But that was the pattern last year as well, of course. But last year as well, the dollars each quarter had a nice step-up walking through to make that stronger half as well. Back to Marie's excellent question, was there anything unusually strong or onetime in nature in the first quarter that might make us think anything other than we'll see whatever it is, a solid $1 million or $2 million sequential step-up quarterly into the second quarter and then sort of more of the same as you get into the second half and that, as you note, the rep productivity accelerates, et cetera.

Vaseem Mahboob

So yes, so again, great question, great try. I think I'm going to say it one more time slightly differently. I think if you think about last year, this is Q1, we were just coming off of the IPO. And if you remember, at that time, we had just started to ramp up the hiring of the sales team, and that was the track last year, which was that we know there's a ramp. We know what that ramp looks like. And as we have said in the past and we'll say it today, our rep productivity continues to ramp to that model that we have discussed with you guys in the past. So yes, the 60% revenue growth in Q1 is a favorable comp off of that $19 million and change number from Q1 last year. But then at the same time, when you look at the guidance that we are providing here for the remainder of the year, the first half versus the second half is consistent with last year. So there's no difference. And that's also predicated again this year based on the significant hiring that we did in the last 6 months, and those reps ramp up in both points on the board. So there's nothing different this year than last year.

Unknown Analyst

Okay. As you can tell, we're all obsessed. Just as a follow-up question. I wanted to -- I'm not quite sure how to ask that question, but I wanted to follow up, Brian, and your extended commentary and not the same as every quarter commentary on AI and automation initiatives bending, I think you said the operating margin growth curve. It was -- you broke up a little bit. I couldn't quite get your exact language. But given that focus and your intensity about this and all the points you made, the different points, when does this -- is there 1 or 2 of these in particular that are going to be meaningful? And when do we see the impact? Is this happening right now? Are we going to see it more in fiscal '28? Just help us better understand the implications of all this work you're doing.

Brian Webster

Yes. Thank you, Rick. I appreciate that question. I would say a couple of things. First of all, we -- when we look at the cost per dollar of revenue that comes from the volume-based G&A functions, that's where we see that curve starting to occur on the expense side. We've started to see that gradually here in FY '27. We expect that to accelerate in FY '28 and '29 as we implement more of the technologies. We think there's a really nice opportunity. And in this business, when you've got this many transactions and this volume impact of additional market share, then if you don't implement the automation, then you are committing yourself to human volume-based G&A investment. And so what we're trying to do is get ahead of that with the investments in the technology stack that I talked about, and the AI and automation. And we're starting to see a little bit of that benefit now, and we'll see that curve accelerate as we move into next year and the year beyond.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Travis Steed of BofA.

Unknown Analyst

This is [ Stephanie Algazi ] on for Travis. Congrats on a good quarter. With the guide update, I was curious if there's any updates to how you're thinking about market expansion and market share. You noted market growth of around 14% this past quarter. Any expectations for where that can go this year? And then on market share, you had expected incremental share gains this year versus the 4 points you gained last year. So any updates in terms of market share as well?

Brian Webster

Yes. Thanks for the question, Stephanie. I think in terms of market growth, the market is definitely accelerating. We've seen that market growth is essentially doubled since the IPO. And so we don't have any reason to believe that it's going to decelerate at this point, especially when we see that our competitor is taking a significant amount of energy on pushing the market in the category. So -- and obviously, we are doing that as well. So we expect that to continue to grow. How fast that grows or not is difficult to call at this point.

We think in this most recent quarter, we're somewhere around 15% market share in the U.S. market. And certainly, when we're growing at 60% and our competitors growing at a fraction of that, and that means that we're going to continue to capture share. And I think we get our long-range planning. We have fairly modest assumptions around market share and where that goes, and we're ahead of schedule when it comes to that, and we expect to continue to see really nice gains as we feel a larger team and we build some of this additional capability and innovation that we talked about.

Unknown Analyst

That's helpful. And then you talked about new reps ramping faster than prior cohorts. Just curious what you're seeing now versus before? And is there a way to frame how much revenue growth is driven by account expansion versus deeper penetration into existing accounts?

Brian Webster

Well, the new cohorts ramping more rapidly, I think, has to do with some of the investments we've made in our -- both our recruiting capabilities and our training capabilities. We really made a big investment in how rigorous our training is for our new territory managers as they come into the company, and we're seeing the benefits of that. I think we've got a mix between going deeper in some of the accounts and splitting some of the territories, as I mentioned, but we're also expanding into new territories where we haven't had a presence at all. And some of the exciting growth that we're seeing is definitely coming from those expansion territories. So it will be a mix. I don't know the exact ratio right now, but I think we'll continue to see a mix between going deeper in certain territories versus expanding into brand-new territories.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Robbie Marcus of JPMorgan.

Unknown Analyst

This is [ Alan ] on for Robbie. Just one quick one. You previously talked to gross margin expansion of around 700 basis points. It sounds very bullish on gross margin progression and outperformed expectations so far in the first quarter. So just curious if you have an update on that similar to how you updated operating expense expectations.

Vaseem Mahboob

Yes. So yes, we did comment on the 70% now kind of heading north to kind of the mid-70s. We do expect that based on the current gross margin guidance, the 700-point expansion for next year, I think, is pretty solid. But as you think about the gross margin number for fiscal year 2029, we expect to -- for the year to deliver 70% gross margin, and that would basically give you a pretty clear line of sight on the second half of that year is going to be gross margin that's going to be north of 70%. So again, we are not talking about mid-70s in 5 years. We're talking about mid-70s in the next 2 to 3 years. So -- and we're very optimistic and have a lot of confidence in our ability to get there.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Suraj Kalia of Oppenheimer & Company.

Suraj Kalia

Congrats on a nice quarter. Gentlemen, 2 questions, one for Brian and one for Vaseem. Vaseem, 14% nominal growth. Can you characterize it by unit growth and where you stood in terms of share? And Brian, my second question, I'll ask that upfront. One of your comments caught my attention about AI, and I'm just paraphrasing your endeavor for AI to help improve fittings per rep. I guess I'm curious what kind of a data you're going to have your AI models to improve this metric because it could have pretty interesting implications for improving on patient acquisition costs over time.

Vaseem Mahboob

Yes. So let me take the volume piece first. So as I said in my previous commentary to the questions, since we are not commenting on prescriptions and fittings, and we committed to providing that on an annual basis. I'll just kind of close and provide more clarity. We do -- the conversion rate as we used to talk about was up and all of the elements that drive the conversion rate were all trading better than expected. So the 60% growth that we delivered this quarter and was a direct consequence of that. And again, as we have said, when we give you that annual number at the end of this year on prescriptions and fittings like we did last year, you will see that the relationship between revenue and the prescriptions will hold that prescriptions being a couple of points lower than the top line. And that's predicated on us continuing to make improvements in our revenue cycle management capabilities and the ability to fit those patients and convert those prescriptions into revenue.

Brian Webster

Yes. Thanks, Suraj. On the revenue -- on the fittings per sales rep, that's really a measure of sales rep productivity. So it's really about using some of those AI tools to free up time to make the rep give them more data to be able to decide how they spend their day, where they spend their day, where the insights are that allow them to better manage their territories. And ultimately, as we make them more efficient, then that means they can spend more time penetrating the accounts that they get into, and that then leads to the higher fittings per sales rep. And yes, you're spot on when you say that that's a pretty meaningful metric. I think it's very clear to us that when we think about the path to profitability, that path to profitability, that road runs right through rep productivity. And that's why we're investing in some of those tools, why we're investing in all the training capability and recruiting capability and all those things with regards to our commercial team. So I appreciate that question.

Operator

Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference back to Brian Webster for closing remarks. Sir?

Brian Webster

Thank you, and thank you all for your great questions and for attending the call. We're obviously excited by the start to the year. We're certainly bullish on our story. And when it comes down to when you have a product that is clearly superior, you have a category where there's an unmet need of a significant number of patients, you have the ability to expand your commercial team to cover the market. We have clinical evidence that is compelling. And you get into those new innovation, that all leads to market growth and it leads to rapid share capture. And that's what we're seeing, and we expect to continue to see.

We're very proud of the execution that the team has had over the prior quarters, including this Q1 that we're reporting on now. And we're just getting the year started. It's a new year. It's a good business plan. We have new priorities this year. And as we fold those in, and we're excited about executing against the plan for FY '27. So thank you very much, and we look forward to updating you again in a few months.

Operator

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