JBSS 2027财年第一季度业绩电话会议: 合同制造业务增长致利润率收窄

核心要点

• 2027财年第一季度净销售额同比下降3.5%至2.881亿美元，主要是由于每磅加权平均售价下降3.6%。总体销量基本持平。
• 毛利润下降9.6%至4890万美元，毛利率从18.1%收窄至17.0%，原因在于竞争性定价压力、调价举措延迟、制造成本上升以及不利的产品组合。
• 净利润从1870万美元降至1320万美元。摊薄后每股收益为1.11美元，而2026财年第一季度为1.59美元，但较2026财年第四季度增长了50%以上。
• 消费者渠道销量下降6.7%，其中自有品牌销量下降6.3%。合同制造销量增长41.3%，商业原料销量增长3.7%。
• 管理层预计新增的合同制造业务将填补流失的消费者渠道销量，但未必能弥补相应的毛利润，因为渠道转移导致销售组合盈利能力有所下降。
• JBSS计划在1月初或2月初根据具体客户实施调价举措。由于部分大宗原材料的采购成本仍存在不确定性，管理层尚未量化对毛利率的潜在收益。

核心财务数据

业务与运营表现

消费者渠道销量下降6.7%，主要反映出自有品牌销量下降6.3%。受品类表现疲软、某大型综合零售商减少货架空间以及某全国性食品杂货商创新表现较弱的影响，自有品牌坚果和混合坚果干果的出货量下降了8%。

自有品牌能量棒出货量下降4%。主流能量棒需求维持疲软，消费者转向较小包装和蛋白棒产品，而国家品牌在这些领域拥有更高份额。新推出的健康型（better-for-you）产品以及与现有客户合作业务的扩大，抵消了部分降幅。

烹饪坚果表现相对亮眼。随着在食品杂货和综合零售渠道的分销拓展，JBSS自有品牌烹饪坚果出货量增长29%，表现优于该品类9%的整体销量增幅。

商业原料销量增长3.7%，主要受向花生油加工商出售的花生压榨原料增加所带动。餐饮服务销售额也小幅增长，但部分被按计划退出业务、需求疲软及订单时机不利导致的工业销售额下滑所抵消。

合同制造销量增长41.3%，主要得益于对某现有客户的休闲坚果销售额增加。本季度新客户贡献了约790万磅销量，管理层预计该客户的业务量将在本财年剩余时间内继续爬坡。

管理层展望

管理层预计将通过新增的合同制造业务填补流失的大部分消费者渠道销量。然而，由此形成的渠道结构预计盈利能力将相对较低。

JBSS正在投产新的高速能量棒产能。管理层预计，高速水果谷物棒、软糖/软棒和蛋白棒生产线带来的效益将于2027财年第四季度开始显现，并计划在第四财季和第一财季推出多款新产品。

目前正在商业化的能量棒生产线预计将在三到六个月内得到大幅优化。水果谷物棒生产线计划于第三财季上线，预计将在第四财季末左右实现全面优化。预计向客户出货蛋白棒将在第四财季末附近开始，并延续至第一财季。

管理层还计划调整价格-包装结构，以提供更低的绝对购买价格，同时强调坚果和混合坚果干果的营养与健康属性。

风险与关注点

竞争性定价压力、大宗原材料成本波动以及客户调价时机拖累了毛利率。运费、设备维修保养、租金和薪酬成本也有所增加。

管理层将竞争环境描述为比往常更为严峻，原因在于品类疲软以及坚果和混合坚果干果产能过剩。不过，已有两家竞争对手已经关闭或正在关闭生产设施，管理层认为这可能会减少行业过剩产能并创造新的业务机遇。

自有品牌坚果和混合坚果干果销量下滑中，约有50%至60%与此前失去的两家客户业务相关。JBSS预计某大型综合零售商转向双重供货源举措所带来的影响还将持续两到三个季度。

消费者需求对通胀依然敏感，购物者正转向注重性价比的零售商以及更小的包装规格。随着购买行为和大宗商品市场的变化，业务预测也变得更加困难。

分析师问答亮点

• 流失的消费者业务：在一家在线零售商整合供应商后，JBSS已赢回了部分流失的业务。管理层预计出货量将在第四财季或第一财季早期恢复。
• 合同制造效益：管理层表示，新增的合同制造业务应该能填补流失的消费者渠道销量，但并未表明能够弥补流失的毛利润。
• 调价举措：新价格预计将于1月初或2月初生效，具体取决于客户。由于花生、碧根果和核桃的采购成本尚未完全确定，对利润率的影响仍未量化。
• 蛋白棒发展机遇：一项战略咨询评估支持JBSS的五年增长计划及其对自有品牌高蛋白能量棒的重视，前提是具备竞争力的定价、质量和产品一致性。
• 资本投资提速：新的能量棒生产线规模更大、速度更快且更复杂，带来了暂时的投产初期效率不足。管理层预计现有生产线将在三到六个月内实现大幅优化。

业绩电话会议完整文字记录

完整财报电话会议逐字稿

管理层陈述

Jasper Sanfilippo

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our 2027 first quarter earnings conference call. Thank you for joining us. On the call with me today is Frank Pellegrino, our CFO and President; and Jeffrey Sanfilippo, our Executive Chairman.

We may make some forward-looking statements today. These statements are based on our current expectations and they involve certain risks and uncertainties. The factors that could negatively impact results are explained in various SEC filings that we have made, including Forms 10-K and 10-Q. We encourage you to refer to the filings to learn more about these risks and uncertainties that are inherent in our business.

First, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my brother, Jeff, for his exceptional leadership, guidance and vision. Through Jeff's 20-plus years as CEO, he has well positioned the business for great success. Frank, the management team and myself are looking forward to working with Jeff as he moves into his new role as Executive Chairman. I am honored to serve as Chief Executive Officer and build upon the strong foundation of our company. We remain committed to profitable growth, operational excellence, disciplined capital allocation and maintaining our financial strength while continuing to deliver exceptional service to our customers.

We delivered a solid start to our fiscal 2027 in a difficult economic environment. Sales volume was unchanged from the prior year period, marking our third consecutive quarter of stable or improving volume performance. While last year's exceptionally strong first quarter diluted EPS provided a difficult comparison, we improved diluted EPS by more than 50% compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, demonstrating a meaningful improvement in profitability and positive momentum during the 2026 calendar year. Looking ahead, we remain focused on executing our strategic priorities and believe we are well positioned to build on this momentum throughout fiscal 2027.

Our long-range plan defines our future growth priorities, focused on accelerating our private brand business with key customers in high-growth snacking categories, most notably private brand bars, while expanding branded distribution behind Orchard Valley Harvest and Fisher through insight-driven products and packaging innovation. Execution of our long-range plan is anchored in delivering value-added solutions and high-quality innovative products based on our extensive industry and consumer expertise.

Growth in private brand bars will be supported by capacity expansion and a robust innovation pipeline aligned with consumer trends such as protein bars. For our branded nut and trail mix business, we are focused on attracting new consumers through product innovation, broader distribution across traditional and alternative channels and expanded purchasing occasions. Promotion and advertising investments are focused on driving branded growth, supported by an omnichannel strategy across recipe nuts, snack nuts and trail mix.

Our long-range plan also includes growth through product and packaging innovation. To support these initiatives, we made significant capital investments in equipment and infrastructure, improvements to expand our production capabilities, improve efficiency and enhance product offerings for our customers. Price inflation and consumer sentiment continue to be a challenge for the snack category across many food segments. We faced significant supply chain cost increases over the past year, and our teams have worked hard to mitigate margin compression through pricing adjustments and efficiency gains. Our team also worked hard to drive additional costs out of our operations and supply chain and manage our inventory levels. Demand planning becomes challenging when consumer behavior changes and markets become volatile. So we are prioritizing resources to work with our key retail partners on better forecasting and order planning.

This is the busy season for our nut and trail business. Our sales, marketing and operations team have done a great job building our business for the upcoming holiday season, and we are in full swing with shipments to customers. As we have shared in our previous call, the inflationary environment has changed consumer behavior and have seen them shift to more value-focused retailers such as club stores. Our teams have worked hard to expand our retail distribution in clubs and alternative channels with innovative product and pack sizes. Our OVH brand has gained a new rotation at a key club retailer and the rollout of our OVH Go-Go Protein snack item is gaining traction, and we gained new distribution at a major grocery retailer.

I am proud of our R&D team for creating amazing innovative snack products and building a pipeline for future growth. And a call-out to our sales team who provided value in building collaborative partnerships with major retailers across the country.

I will now turn the call over to Frank Pellegrino to provide additional information on our financial performance for our first quarter.

Frank Pellegrino

Thanks, Jasper. Starting with the income statement. Net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2027 decreased by 3.5% to $288.1 million compared to net sales of $298.7 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2026. The decrease in net sales was due to a 3.6% decrease in the weighted average sales price per pound, which is primarily attributable to a shift in product mix toward lower-priced items and lower selling prices for walnuts, trail and snack mix products and peanuts resulting from lower commodity acquisition costs. These decreases were partially offset by higher selling prices for pecans and almonds due to higher commodity acquisition costs. Sales volume decreased for all major product types, except for peanuts, walnuts and pecans, all of which experienced volume growth in the quarter.

Sales volume decreased 6.7% in the consumer distribution channel, primarily due to a 6.3% reduction in private brand sales volume. The decline was driven mainly by lower nut and trail mix volume and, to a lesser extent, lower bar volume. Bar sales were impacted by softness in mainstream bars and consumer migration to smaller pack sizes, partially offset by a successful launch of a new better-for-you bar offering and expanded bar business with an existing customer.

Nut and trail mix sales volume was negatively impacted by lower sales to several existing customers, driven by category softness in snack and trail mix products and peanuts, reduced promotional activity, and the impact of previously lost business. These declines were partially offset by new business to a grocery retailer and additional recipe nut volume to 3 existing customers.

Sales volume increased 3.7% in the commercial ingredients distribution channel, mainly driven by increased sales of peanut crushing stock to peanut oil processors. In addition, Foodservice sales increased modestly due to new business, customer growth and favorable order timing. These increases were partially offset by lower industrial sales resulting from planned business exits, lower customer demand and unfavorable order timing.

Sales volume increased 41.3% in the contract manufacturing distribution channel, primarily due to increased snack nut sales to existing customer, which was partially offset by non-repeat of a prior year granola sales opportunity. Gross profit decreased $5.2 million or 9.6% to $48.9 million compared to last year's first quarter, driven by competitive pricing pressures and the timing of pricing actions for peanuts, bars, snack and trail mix. Additionally, manufacturing expenses increased due to higher freight, equipment repairs and maintenance and rent costs.

Gross profit declined to 17% of net sales compared to 18.1% for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 due to the reasons previously mentioned and an unfavorable shift in product mix. Total operating expenses increased $2.5 million year-over-year, primarily driven by increases in professional fees, freight costs, rent expense and compensation expense. These increases were partially offset by lower incentive compensation expense. Total operating expenses as a percentage of net sales increased to 10.3% from 9.1% in the prior comparable quarter due to the reasons previously mentioned and a lower net sales base. Interest expense was $700,000 for the first quarter of fiscal 2027 compared to $1 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 due to lower borrowings under our credit agreement.

Net income for the first quarter of fiscal 2027 was $13.2 million or $1.11 per diluted share compared to $18.7 million or $1.59 per diluted share for the first quarter of fiscal 2026.

Now taking a look at inventory. Total value of inventories on hand at the end of this year's first quarter remained substantially consistent with last year's first quarter. However, weighted average cost per pound of raw nut and dry fruit input stock on hand decreased 20.6% year-over-year, primarily due to higher on-hand quantities of peanuts, both in-shell and meats purchased at lower costs, partially offset by higher acquisition costs of pecans and almonds. Please refer to our Form 10-Q for additional details regarding our financial performance for the first quarter of fiscal 2027.

Now I'll turn the call back over to Jasper to provide additional comments.

Jasper Sanfilippo

Thanks, Frank, for the financial updates. Success requires smart, strategic and the right business model for sustainable growth. It also requires a talented and committed group of leaders across the organization. We have all of those elements of success at JBSS.

Turning over to category data. I will review first quarter category trends and then discuss the shipment performance of businesses. Unless otherwise noted, market volume and dollar trends are based on Circana panel data for the 13 weeks ended September 27, 2026, compared with the same period last year. Pricing trends reflect Circana MULO+ average price per pound. Category references use Circana nut, trail mix and bar syndicated definitions.

We will start with the broader snack aisle as defined by Circana. The first quarter, category volume was essentially flat, declining just 0.3%. Our dollar sales increased 4.5%, driven by higher prices. This represented a modest deceleration in volume compared with the fourth quarter. Within snack nuts and trail mix, category volume declined 6% and dollar sales declined 3%, consistent with the volume softness we saw last quarter.

Average prices per pound increased 4% in snack nuts with increases across all nut types and 6% in trail mixes. Our private label consumer snack and trail shipments underperformed the category with first quarter pound shipments down 8% versus last year. The decline reflected category softness, reduced shelf space at a mass merchandiser and weaker performance from innovation at a national grocer.

Turning now to the recipe nuts category. In the first quarter, the recipe nut category continued its positive momentum with category volume up 9% and dollar sales up 10%. Growth was driven by private label as a discount retailer expanded its store count. Average price per pound was flat overall, although results varied by nut type. Almond and walnut prices declined while pecan prices increased. Our private label recipe nut shipments outperformed the category with first quarter pound shipments up 29% versus last year. The robust performance reflects significant distribution gains across both grocery and mass merchandising channels.

Moving next to the bars category. In the first quarter, bars category volume was essentially flat, down 0.3%, while dollar sales increased 6%. This represented a moderation in volume compared with the last quarter. Dollar growth continued to be led by national brands in the protein bar segment. Private label volume declined 10% and dollar sales declined 5%, reflecting the consumer shift towards protein bars, where national brands are more heavily represented, as well as reduced private label distribution in the mass and club channels. Our private label bar shipments declined 4% versus the prior year, reflecting an unfavorable mix shift and continued softness in mainstream bars.

In closing, as we look ahead to the remainder of fiscal 2027, we are confident in our ability to navigate the near-term challenges in our consumer channel. While we expect to replace a significant portion of the lost consumer volume with incremental contract manufacturing volume, the shift will result in a less favorable sales mix. However, we continue to identify opportunities to grow the consumer business. Our brands and many of our products remain well aligned with consumer demand for nutritious better-for-you snacks, and we are actively responding to current category trends while focusing on initiatives to improve category performance and drive category growth.

We are also encouraged by new business opportunities we are pursuing in our nut and trail mix category. In addition, we continue to see significant opportunities to expand our protein-forward bar offerings where consumer demand and category growth remain strong. We recently completed a strategic consulting engagement that reinforced our long-term growth plan and identified further opportunities to accelerate long-term growth. In addition, we are currently evaluating our cost structure to maximize efficiency, prioritize resources and ensure we proactively respond to evolving market conditions. We are excited about the future of the company and grateful to our employees for their hard work, dedication and commitment to executing our strategy.

All of us have a steadfast commitment to develop plans to create shareholder value and provide relevant, profitable, value-added products and services to our customers and consumers. Our mission is to provide great-tasting, innovative products that brings joy, nourishes people and protects the planet. We appreciate your participation in the call, and thank you for your interest in our company.

We will now open the call to questions. Angelina, please queue up the first question.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Balzhan Tleuzhanova of Freedom Broker.

分析师问答

Balzhan Tleuzhanova

Could you please help us understand how much of the consumer volume decline reflected previously lost business versus weaker demand at existing customers?

Frank Pellegrino

Sure. This is Frank. I'll take that answer. Approximately 50% to 60% of the decline in the private label nuts and trail was due to lost business, and they were focused on 2 main customers. First, an online retailer who consolidated suppliers last year. We saw the impact starting in Q4 of last year. However, we were able to win back some of that business, and we expect to start shipping in Q4 or early Q1. And the second customer is a mass merchandiser, and this was due to that customer dual-sourcing several nut types where we were the sole supplier. So we will see that impact for the next 2 or 3 quarters.

Balzhan Tleuzhanova

My next question, do you expect additional contract manufacturing business to replace gross profit lost in the consumer channel as well as volume?

Frank Pellegrino

The additional business in the contract manufacturing channel will replace the lost volume in the consumer channel.

Balzhan Tleuzhanova

Okay. When do you expect your pricing actions to take full effect? And how much margin improvement could they support from the first quarter level?

Jasper Sanfilippo

We are currently working on our pricing actions that go into effect either early January or early February, depending on the customer. We have not yet calculated what the gross margin impact will be going forward as we still do not know all of the acquisition costs that were vertically integrated, such as peanuts, pecans and walnuts.

Balzhan Tleuzhanova

How much of the contract manufacturing growth came from the new customer? And when do you expect that business to reach its full run rate?

Frank Pellegrino

Sure. We're still on-ramping that new customer, and we will continue on ramping for the rest of the year. So it's hard to give you the exact number. But for instance, Q1, that new customer had approximately I believe, 7.9 million pounds of volume in Q1. So we expect that number to maintain and grow in the next several quarters.

Balzhan Tleuzhanova

When do you expect your recent capital investments to begin making a meaningful contribution to earnings?

Jasper Sanfilippo

We are currently starting up the high-speed bar lines as we speak. We would expect in Q4, you would start seeing the benefit of both high-speed fruit and grain as well as high-speed chewy as well as our protein line as well. We have several launches planned for Q4 and Q1 across those 3 channels.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Hamed Khorsand of BWS Financial.

Hamed Khorsand

So first off, just on the bar lines that you're launching now, how long before you fully absorb the cost inefficiencies?

Jasper Sanfilippo

Current projection, as we stated before, is about 3 to 5 years.

Hamed Khorsand

No, I was talking about the inefficiencies like more on the gross margin side because you're ramping...

Jasper Sanfilippo

Yes. So we're commercializing one of the bar lines now. Obviously, they're much bigger, faster and a bit more complicated. So I would say within 3 to 6 months, that bar line should be fairly well optimized. And then fruit and grain is coming online in Q3. So I would expect sometime late Q4 for that line to also be fully optimized.

Hamed Khorsand

Okay. And then can you just talk about the competitive environment? It seems like you lost the online merchant. Now the online merchant is back. Consumers are more gravitating more towards the lower end of the market. How are you guys transitioning with all this? It seems like there's a lot going on for you.

Jasper Sanfilippo

Yes. I would say the competitive environment is tougher than what we have normally seen. Obviously, as the category has softness, other competitors are also looking for ways to continue to maintain or grow their business. So it is challenging in that environment. That being said, however, there are certain competitors that have decided to exit the business, which also gives us additional opportunity.

Jeffrey Sanfilippo

Yes, it's Jeffrey. I would just add that -- so there's a lot of excess capacity in nut and trail manufacturing, which has caused -- obviously, you see the declines in the category. But as Jasper mentioned, there's 2 competitors that are closing down or have closed down their manufacturing sites, which will take some of that excess capacity out of the industry. Thus, we are gaining back some of the market business that we lost over the last 6 months or so. So we're bullish as far as kind of manufacturing and what the opportunities are there with less capacity -- excess capacity in the industry.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of [Ronald Miterko] of MCM.

Unknown Analyst

Can you hear me all right, guys? Welcome, Jasper, and nice to hear from you, Jeff and Frank. My questions have mostly been answered, but I just wanted to double-check on the protein bar line, we mean Q4 as in calendar Q4, so as we speak.

Jasper Sanfilippo

I'm sorry, our fiscal Q4.

Unknown Analyst

And at that point in fiscal Q4, some of the efficiencies will be absorbed and it will be -- what you're hoping is up to speed in terms of operational?

Jasper Sanfilippo

Correct. We will actually be shipping protein bars at the end of Q4. So that work is done now. We'll be commercializing and fine-tuning that line throughout Q3 and early Q4 with customer shipments beginning at the end of Q4 and Q1.

Unknown Analyst

Okay. And then just on the -- so I know things are changing so dramatically as some of the questioners have pointed out. But could you just give a little bit of clarity on the nature of the consulting effort and what you found in terms of cost reduction possibilities and so forth, just the usual things. It seems like you guys are probably getting into a little bit more in the weeds on this stuff.

Jeffrey Sanfilippo

Yes. So the consulting engagement was to really validate our 5-year growth plan. As you know, part of our thesis is expanding the protein bar category into private brands since there's very little distribution today. And so the consulting agreement validated that. They validated that consumers will buy protein-forward bars, private label versions as long as there's competitive pricing and the quality and consistency is there. So we validated that. They also looked at the nut and trail category, as we've talked about on previous calls, there's been declines in consumption. A lot of that was driven by price inflation across every nut type, packaging, distribution, fuel, surcharges, packaging materials. And so they validated that.

There's still opportunities in the nut and trail category. We've got to educate consumers on the value of nuts and the health benefits of nuts, especially those that are on GLP-1s that are looking for satiating protein-forward healthy snacks. And so the result of that is we've got to do a better job educating consumers on why nuts are still a great snack item. We've got to work on price pack architecture to get lower price points because of inflation and because of the economy today.

So they've given us a lot of good validations on our growth thesis. Now it's a matter of executing some of the things that they recommended. So we're very excited about the results of their study and validates a lot of what we've talked about and what our plans are. Now it's a matter of executing some of the key findings that they provided.

Unknown Analyst

Okay. And what -- if that's it on that one. Then the last question is, could you just give a little bit of almost like standing on one foot explanation of what's going on with pricing? I know in the past, sometimes when it's been difficult as costs come down with certain nuts and then -- almost better when you get a little bit of like pricing flexibility either from some more advantageous procurement techniques -- what's going on?

Jasper Sanfilippo

Yes. As you can imagine, as pricing going up, it is always a challenge for us to execute that with our retail partners, particularly in a category that's showing the softness that it is. Certain attributes of the price increase like fuel-related or anything oil-related as part of our cost are pretty easy. And I think our customers understand what is driving that. It gets more challenging when we have to describe why some of the underlying commodities or ingredients are going up. But in addition to that and being sensitive to the category trends and the macroeconomic environment, as Jeff mentioned, price pack architecture is key.

Great thing is nuts are healthy and nutritious, and we need to do a better job at making those claims. So as consumers go down the aisle, they can see the health benefits of nuts. And so I think what we're going to see going forward is a modification to our price pack architecture to get lower absolute purchase cost at retailers as well as being able to put those claims on the packages so the consumers can see how healthy nuts and trail mix can be for you.

Operator

I am showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to Jasper for closing remarks.

Jasper Sanfilippo

Thank you, Angelina. If there are no more questions, I want to thank you again for your interest in JBSS. This concludes the call for our first quarter of fiscal 2027 operating results. Have a great rest of your day.

Operator

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.