MNTN 2026年第三季度业绩电话会：销售受阻致业绩指引下调

Mountain（MNTN）公布的2026年第三季度营收和调整后EBITDA均不及自身指引，并下调了第四季度及全年业绩展望。新任首席执行官托尼·韦斯曼（Tony Weisman）将业绩放缓主要归咎于销售执行问题，而非客户需求疲软或竞争压力。

核心要点

• 2026年第三季度营收同比增长15%至8030万美元，低于公司此前给出的8600万至8900万美元指引区间。
• 调整后EBITDA增长24%至1990万美元，同样低于2200万至2500万美元的指引区间。调整后EBITDA利润率提升200个基点至24.8%。
• 在快速推行销售薪酬、激励机制及组织架构变革后，公司流失了约40%经验丰富的带销售指标业务人员。
• 存量客户支出保持韧性：客户净扩张率保持在115%以上的高位。管理层表示，此次变动主要影响了新客获取。
• 对于2026年第四季度，管理层预计营收在7500万至7800万美元之间，调整后EBITDA在800万至1000万美元之间。
• 托尼·韦斯曼于11月2日正式出任首席执行官。他计划加强运营纪律，重建销售能力，并将在发布第四季度财报时同步提供2027年运营计划。

关键财务数据

营业费用环比下降反映出第二季度裁员后人员成本降低，以及第二季度计入的一笔一次性股权激励费用在本季度不复存在。

业务与运营表现

管理层指出，市场拓展执行不力是该季度业绩疲软的主要原因。销售调整包括匆忙且不妥当推行的行业垂直化架构、将激励机制重点从营收转向活动量，以及调整销售人员的薪酬发放频率。这些措施在第二季度末进行了传达，并在第三季度初正式实施。

由此导致的人员流失削弱了MNTN拓展新业务的能力。管理层表示，约40%经验丰富的带销售指标业务人员离职。此后薪酬方案已得到纠正，MNTN已招聘了16名新销售人员，首批新员工定于11月晚些时候入职。

公司还任命了曾就职于Salesforce的林恩·克纳克（Lynn Knaak）主管面向营销人员的直销业务，以及曾就职于Snap的弗兰克·李（Frank Lee）主管代理商销售业务。此前在The Trade Desk负责营销工作长达七年的安娜·塞耶（Anna Sayre）加入公司担任首席营销官。

存量客户继续增加支出，客户净扩张率保持在115%以上的高位。管理层表示，客户留存率、满意度和业务表现依然强劲，而业绩缺口主要集中在净新增客户方面。

首席执行官托尼·韦斯曼表示，正面竞争中的竞标胜率与此前水平一致，但MNTN获取的新销售商机过少。公司计划继续保留自助服务和销售主导这两种获客渠道。

管理层业绩指引

在剔除剥离Maximum Effort业务的影响后，调整后全年营收指引区间的中点相当于同比增长10%。

管理层对第四季度的展望假设第三季度经历的销售受阻影响将持续存在，因为新聘销售人员需要时间才能完全释放产能。此外，第四季度调整后EBITDA预测还包含与高管人事变动相关的额外非经常性一般及行政费用。

随着公司聘用合格的销售人员，销售与营销费用预计将环比增加约10%。管理层计划在公布第四季度及全年业绩时，同步阐释2027年运营计划、业务展望及进展衡量指标。

风险与关注重点

• 重建销售能力可能需要时间，因为新聘销售人员必须完成入职培训并逐步达到满负荷产能。
• 资深销售人员的流失抑制了新客获取，预计将继续对第四季度业绩产生不利影响。
• 随着公司重建市场拓展团队，计划增加的销售与营销支出可能会给短期盈利能力带来压力。
• 小型企业客户的流失率仍然高于中型企业客户，而中型企业仍是MNTN的核心市场。
• 推进落实新的领导架构、薪酬方案和问责机制，对于重拾增长依然至关重要。

分析师问答精选

分析师的关注点集中在业绩疲软究竟是反映了销售执行问题、客户需求不振还是竞争加剧。韦斯曼表示，MNTN的产品与市场匹配度以及客户价值并未受损，理由是存量客户持续追加支出，且在竞标中的胜率保持不变。他坚称，核心问题在于新销售商机不足，而非正面竞争中的转化率下滑。

管理层表示，销售受阻主要影响了新客户，原因是一线销售人员的人员流失率最高。存量客户则持续留存并扩大了支出规模。

在战略层面，韦斯曼澄清称，直销和代理商销售团队的新领导班子并不意味着公司将脱离效果广告。他明确的首要任务是将MNTN定位为可靠的效果广告合作伙伴，同时推动销售管线增长，提高产品演示到客户签约的转化率、起步预算规模以及客户的持续支出。

业绩电话会议完整实录

完整财报电话会议逐字稿

管理层陈述

Operator

Hello, and welcome to Mountain's Third Quarter 2026 Results Webcast. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the conference over to Brinlea Johnson. Please go ahead.

Brinlea Johnson

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for Mountain's Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. With me today are Joe Kaiser, Mountain's Lead Independent Director; Tony Weisman, CEO; and Patrick Pohlen, CFO. Just to remind everyone, today's call includes forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results could materially differ from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. For the risks and uncertainties that may affect future results, please see our most recently filed periodic report, which is also available on our website. We will also discuss non-GAAP financial measures on today's call. Reconciliations of these measures are available in our earnings materials on our website. With that, I will turn the call over to Joe. Please go ahead.

Joseph Kaiser

Thank you for joining us. I'm Mountain's Lead Independent Director. As you surely saw in the press release we issued a little while ago, Tony Weisman has been appointed Mountain's new CEO effective November 2. The Board determined it was time to bring more operational rigor to the business and asked Tony to step in as CEO. Tony joined Mountain's Board earlier this year, and he has the unwavering support of Mountain's Board to lead the company at this time. As a career marketer, Tony brings the voice of the customer to Mountain. From his time leading Digitas and serving as Chief Marketing Officer of Dunkin', Tony understands the decisions our customers make about where to spend their advertising dollars. With that, please join me in welcoming our new CEO, Tony Weisman.

Tony Weisman

Thanks, Joe. Let's start with the numbers. Third quarter revenue was $80.3 million compared with the company's guidance of $86 million to $89 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $19.9 million compared with guidance of $22 million to $25 million. For the fourth quarter, we expect revenue to be between $75 million and $78 million and adjusted EBITDA to be between $8 million and $10 million. Our Q3 results and outlook are disappointing. We have much higher expectations at Mountain. Before accepting this role, I reviewed the business, including product market fit, customer demand, our technology, and our sales motion. I wanted to understand what had changed and whether we had a practical path to address it. I concluded the issue was exclusively go-to-market execution.

The company recently made significant changes in the sales team that did not work out, most notably a new compensation structure modeled after the biggest platforms in our industry like Google and Meta. They were implemented too quickly, resulting in sales force attrition. We lost about 40% of our experienced quota-carrying sellers, reducing our ability to bring in new business. We've since corrected the compensation plans. We've also since hired 16 new sellers, and our first new hire class starts later this month. Additionally, we've added two proven executives, Lynn Knaak from Salesforce, leading brand sales and Frank Lee from Snap leading agency sales. They both report to me. It will take time for these sellers to fully ramp, and our updated outlook assumes that the disruption we saw in Q3 will continue into Q4.

Our new leaders have instilled more discipline around hiring, training and supervision, resulting in increased new starting budgets. We've changed the leadership behind the decisions that got us here. Chris Innes and Garland Hill are no longer with Mountain. I have spent my career on the advertiser side of the table. Mountain does what marketers have always wanted - reach the right people and measure the return on their advertising spend. In a category full of complexity, I love how Mountain keeps it simple. We provide one frictionless platform that allows customers to invest in CTV channel with clarity, simplicity, and accountability. Our technology, experience and data help them decide which messages to run, how to allocate their budgets, and how to measure results all in one place as easily as they buy on Meta or Google.

And we give them the attribution they've come to expect, tying their TV spend to site visits and sales. I believe our opportunity for growth remains strong. Mountain is a performance channel like search and social. Combined with the power of television, it is the ultimate business-driving platform. What Mountain needs is operational rigor to achieve our goals. I plan to take a three-fold approach. One, identify the opportunities and the weaknesses early and address them quickly. Two, get the right leaders in charge of each team. Three, make sure everyone is aligned on common metrics and working together for measurable results. I'll rigorously review pipeline growth, conversion of demos into paying customers, and starting budgets with the team. I plan to judge our progress by whether those improvements translate into sustained customer spending and revenue.

I plan to move quickly and decisively. I've also begun to make changes to our leadership team. I'm pleased to announce that Anna Sayre, who led marketing at The Trade Desk for seven years, joined us this week as Mountain's Chief Marketing Officer. She'll make our offering salient to generate new customer growth. Finally, I excel at building cultures of accountability where the teams are focused on execution. I've been delighted to learn that some of the best industry talent is already inside our company, and I'm committed to giving them the support and guidance to perform at their best.

Let me wrap up by saying that I know we have to earn back your confidence. While we're hiring and onboarding salespeople now, it will take time for these sellers to fully ramp. Our outlook reflects this. When we report fourth quarter results, I'll lay out our 2027 operating plan and outlook, the measures we use to assess progress, and what our changes have delivered to that point. Patrick, over to you to walk through the numbers and the outlook, and then we will take your questions.

Patrick Pohlen

Thank you, Tony. Our third quarter revenue increased to $80.3 million, up 15% year-over-year. Revenue growth this quarter was impacted by unforeseen execution disruption in our go-to-market organization. Third quarter gross margins remained consistent at 79%, flat with the prior year period. Our expansion rate, which measures the spend of our current customers as compared to those same customer spend a year ago, remains quite healthy and is still well north of 115%. Total operating expenses for the third quarter decreased by $4.7 million sequentially to $54.5 million. This was primarily driven by a decrease in personnel costs as a result of the reduction in force in the second quarter and a one-time stock-based compensation award that also occurred in the second quarter.

For the third quarter, we achieved positive net income of $7.7 million for a GAAP EPS of $0.10 compared to a net income of $6.4 million and GAAP EPS of $0.09 in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter increased to $19.9 million, up from $16 million in Q3 of 2025, an increase of 24%. The company's adjusted EBITDA margin grew to 24.8%, up 200 basis points compared to 22.8% in Q3 of 2025. We plan on continuing to make disciplined investments in sales and marketing, specifically in experienced hires to drive broader customer adoption. We expect sales and marketing expenses to increase approximately 10% sequentially as we add qualified salespeople. Our balance sheet remains strong, and we ended the quarter with $252 million in cash and cash equivalents with no borrowings outstanding.

We ended the quarter with 75.8 million shares outstanding. We are reducing our fourth quarter and full year outlook to reflect ongoing changes to our go-to-market organization. It will take time for sellers to fully ramp, and our guidance assumes that the disruption we saw in Q3 will continue into the fourth quarter. For Q4, we expect revenue to be between $75 million and $78 million. We expect adjusted EBITDA to be between $8 million and $10 million. Our fourth quarter guidance includes additional non-recurring general and administrative expenses related to our executive personnel changes. For the full year 2026, we are lowering our revenue guidance range to $311 million to $314 million, representing 10% year-over-year growth at the midpoint, excluding the impact of the Maximum Effort divestiture.

We expect adjusted EBITDA to be between $66 million and $68 million. We are basing the revised outlook on our expectation for how the business will perform as we realign the go-to-market organization around our priorities. We'll provide more detail on the operating plan and the outlook for 2027 when we announce our fourth quarter and fiscal year results. With that said, we'll open the line for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And your first question comes from the line of Matthew Weber with Canaccord.

分析师问答

Matthew Weber

I guess just to start off, you've seen the business from the Board, so you've had a view from the inside. What gives you the confidence that this is an execution problem rather than a demand or a competitive one? And then I have a follow-up.

Tony Weisman

I've studied this business for quite some time, and I know that it's delivering value to our customers, many of whom have been with us for a very long time. And it has proven to be one of the most effective ROAS channels. And of course, the growth in the market underscores the overall interest in this space. I'm confident that Mountain has terrific product market fit, a terrific team, a great brand, and certainly the heritage of having essentially invented this space. The more I dug, the more I realized that it was decisions that were made in our own sales organization, primarily leading to attrition that caused this slowdown. And those strike me as problems that are and are being fixed and can be addressed quickly so that we can get back to the historical growth we've seen.

Matthew Weber

And then just..., is there any incremental color that you can share with us just in terms of what specifically those changes were to the compensation structure and sort of what the thought process was going into them and sort of how you've corrected today?

Tony Weisman

Sure. I mean when Garland joined the company from TikTok, there was a desire to move the sales organization to models that are underway at bigger platforms like TikTok, Google, Meta. Those had things to do. There was a verticalization that was deployed poorly and too quickly. There was a change in incentives from revenue to activity, and there was a change in the frequency with which sellers were paid. These were told to the team in late Q2, but implemented at the beginning of Q3, and it just didn't work for most of the -- for many of the sellers who felt disaffected and they felt like their opportunity for earning had been diminished, and that's what led to the attrition.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Andrew Marok with Raymond James.

Andrew Marok

Two, if I could. So maybe again on the kind of culture reset and the operational rigor that you were talking about. Is there anything else beyond kind of the sales force compensation structure that you were alluding to that you wanted to kind of put your stamp on the business in a particular way? And then I have a follow-up after that.

Tony Weisman

My analysis has determined that that is the #1 issue and the first thing that needs to get addressed and the thing I'm most focused on most immediate. Across the board, I believe there is an opportunity for the company to operate with greater focus on outcomes, a higher level of accountability, and more transparency across the company on the metrics that matter and they're all going in the same direction. So I started to put some of those in place so that we have common dashboards reporting real-time insights that are relevant to the growth of the business. I think that just sort of falls in general under an approach of accountability, transparency, and holding people responsible.

Andrew Marok

And then one more, if I could. Just kind of on some of these sales force issues, is there any way to kind of disaggregate what you were seeing in terms of new customers versus existing customer spend, and kind of the shortfalls that each of those buckets attributed?

Tony Weisman

The overwhelming impact was on new customers. And that's because the frontline sellers were the ones where the attrition was. By contrast, many of our current customers retained and continue to expand, and we continue to see very high levels of satisfaction and performance in that group. So it was predominantly in the net new.

Operator

And your next question comes from the line of Robert Coolbrith with Evercore ISI.

Robert Coolbrith

So just a couple here. So maybe, Patrick, first, can we just talk about the gross expansion rate versus the net? It sounds like the gross remains quite healthy. But have you seen any changes in the net expansion rate, any uptick in churn that maybe speaks to the issues that we're seeing maybe in the Q4 guide in particular? And then, Tony, in your review, it sounds like you did some diligence maybe before taking on the role. Just wondering if you could maybe give us your assessment of the evolving competitive set? There are a couple of small players in the space who were recently acquired by much larger organizations. And so just wondering if that is at all weighing on the company's results or affects the way that you think Mountain has to grow and respond to sort of market dynamics going forward?

Patrick Pohlen

Robert, so the expansion rate, which, as you recall, measures customers in a 12-month period, so in this case, ending September 30, 2026, going back 12 months, finding a customer in the prior 12-month period and seeing how much they've expanded their spend. That has been well north of 115% and continues to be well north of 115%. We don't really use NRR internally because we went down market to the small businesses, but they continue to churn more than the midsized market, which is the core of our business.

Tony Weisman

Robert, thanks for the question. On the competitive front, I do not believe that that has been a factor. In head-to-head pitches, we are winning at the same rate that we were in the past. The issue is there weren't enough opportunities. There were not enough new opportunities. I think the dynamics in the industry that you referred to, some of our competitors being acquired by larger platforms, is going to play out in such a way that the potential customers are going to wonder about the difference between Mountain (which is a purely independent platform that only cares about the customers' growth) and some of these others and wonder where their data is going and whose interest they're serving. So I believe that's an opportunity for us in the future to even grow greater share.

Operator

And your next question comes from Andrew Boone with Citizens.

Andrew Boone

Tony, what I'm trying to understand here is kind of the direction of the business on the go forward. And so I want to go backwards in terms of some of the things that we understood previously about Mountain and kind of what you're saying today. So one of the key themes was kind of self-sign-up in the past in terms of Mountain, and it sounds like this is really a sales execution. And so it just -- can you help us understand the evolution of what you guys need the sales team to be within a self-sign-up environment or whether just sales was more important there? Just tie kind of the historical messaging to now the sales execution.

Tony Weisman

There's still going to be an opportunity for that motion, obviously, for certain types and sizes of customers. And we want to be best-in-class in providing that level of service and doing it in a seamless, easy-to-use way. Customers still continue to sign up and request demos. And the sales team feels those as inbound. What we did had the best -- had the highest impact on the non-self-serve opportunities where sellers and demos that were brought in from the team themselves fell well below the volumes that we had seen historically in the past. So that's the area that we're focusing on the right hiring and the right training to get those folks on board so that they are quota carrying going forward, and we're going to continue to operate both motions going forward.

Andrew Boone

And then I'd love to ask around just the direction that's implied with the hires. So with Lynn Knaak coming over from Salesforce, who led brand, and then Frank Lee from Snap that led agency sales, it feels like there may be a change in direction where you guys are broadening out the platform from performance. Just -- one, is that right? And then two, can you step back and understood you've kind of been in the role for two days, but do you have any information around where you want to move the boat on a go-forward direction as we think about the broader opportunity for Mountain and where you want to take that ship?

Tony Weisman

You bet. Let me clarify, brand is inside sales. So we're using the term to describe direct sales from our team directly to the marketer for Lynn's team, whereas Frank's team is working with agents. So the brand term there may be misleading because we are not looking to generate what would traditionally be considered as top of funnel or high awareness any differently than we have in the past. It is the distinction between the channel. I hope that clarifies that.

I think the key -- the future for this business lies in being seen as the undisputed leader to deliver performance across every need that a customer might have, giving them a broad array of channels to choose from with the right message, the right time, and the right spend level to optimize the ROAS. This is a growing channel. We have the opportunity to be the premier partner, whether directly to a brand or to a performance agency. And I think my vision is for us to be seen as the most reliable, predictable partner that any of them could possibly have. And our focus, we are customer obsessed. And our focus, our success, our growth is a function of theirs. I think the opportunity lies right ahead of us.

Operator

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to management for closing remarks.

Tony Weisman

Thank you all for the welcome today, and thank you for joining us. I'm looking forward to getting to know each of you better and learning from you, from your perspective, and having an ongoing dialogue as we pursue the plans that we've outlined. I really appreciate your time and attention today, and thank you for joining us.

Operator

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