Earnings Labs

Alphatec Holdings, Inc. (ATEC)

Q3 2022 Earnings Call· Sun, Nov 6, 2022

$9.16

-11.58%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon, everyone and welcome to the webcast of ATEC’s Third Quarter Financial Results. We would like to remind everyone that participants on the call will make forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and are subject to uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These uncertainties are detailed in documents filed regularly with the SEC. During this call, you may hear the company refer to reported amounts, which are in accordance with U.S. GAAP as well as non-GAAP or pro forma measures. Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to U.S. GAAP can be found in the supplemental financial tables included in the press release, which identify and quantify all excluded items and provide management’s view of why this information is useful to investors. Leading today’s call will be ATEC’s Chairman and CEO, Pat Miles and CFO, Todd Koning. Now, I will turn the call over to Pat Miles.

Pat Miles

Management

Thanks very much, Michelle and thanks everybody for joining the Q3 2022 financial results call. As you would expect, there will be some forward-looking statements. So if you would review the small print at your leisure that would be great. So celebrating my fifth year here and recollecting back to the first full year of 2018, we finished with U.S. revenue that approximated $84 million. It’s nice 5 years later to be generating $90 million for the quarter, which is a 43% year-over-year growth rate. And the thesis clearly is working. So what we are doing is scaling top line growth toward positive adjusted EBITDA in 2023, advancing lateral sophistication with innovation, improving the predictability and reproducibility of core elements of spine surgery, reflecting our information-based competitive advantage and extending EOS’ influence while leveraging new hospital access. So taking a quick look at the Q3 2022 scorecard, I do believe it to be a validation of what we’re doing. So 43% year-over-year growth as stated. It’s really 53% in terms of surgical revenue growth. And so the growth is very strong. It’s our 14th consecutive quarter of greater than 20% U.S. revenue growth, excluding the 11% in the pandemic-ridden Q2 2020, 32% year-over-year growth in procedure volume, 15% year-over-year growth in average revenue per case, $11 million in EOS revenue, with a significant opportunity pipeline up 45% year-over-year, and we’ll get into the blended average of product categories per case with that and the 2.3 and continues to grow. And so what I want to do is just give a little bit of a strategic view with regard to our commitments and kind of why we’re doing what we’re doing. And these are the things that create value in the company. And I want to make sure that we’re providing…

Todd Koning

Management

Alright. Well, thanks, Pat. Appreciate it and good afternoon, everybody. We appreciate you joining us on the call today. So I’ll begin with revenue. Third quarter total revenue was $90 million, reflecting 43% growth over the prior year and a 7% increase compared to the second quarter. The $90 million in revenue is comprised of $79 million in surgical revenue and $11 million of EOS revenue. Now, that we have fully anniversaried the close of the EOS transaction, what we used to refer to as organic revenue will now be referred to as surgical revenue. The third quarter surgical revenue of $79 million increased 53% compared to the prior year period. Procedural volume grew 32% year-over-year as surgeon adoption continued to expand. The number of surgeon users increased 22% compared to last year, reflecting the strong level of training activity we have consistently seen over the last year. Additionally, much of our growth is coming from established sales agencies with at least 1 year of tenure, and that cohort achieved 46% growth in the quarter, demonstrating durable sales growth from our most tenured agents. Average revenue per case expanded 15% year-over-year as revenue mix continues to shift toward procedures with more products per case and procedures with greater complexity. As a reminder, the average revenue per lateral procedure is about 2x our overall average, and lateral-related revenue continues to grow meaningfully faster than surgical revenue overall. While lateral-related revenue again contributed the most to our growth, revenue related to biologics, CLIF and ALIF also grew significantly in the quarter. EOS revenue in the third quarter was $11 million, flat compared to Q3 of 2021 on a reported basis and up 7% in constant currency. Results reflect the timing of capital deliveries and installations in the period. Experience is increasingly helping…

Pat Miles

Management

Thanks much, Todd. I think that we have gone deep in this before, but literally, our focus is how do we continue to earn market share through lateral sophistication, how do we garner more by earning the respect and confidence of the surgeons to garner more of their practice, and that’s the halo effect and nice to have new products launched within that category. We will continue to focus on the sales channel and continue to improve from now until as far as the eye can see. We are in the process of getting international off the ground, in a small way. And I would tell you that we haven’t even begun to see the influence of EOS in the meaningful way that we expect it in the years to come. And so we love the acquisition and love the long view associated with our opportunity in that space. So as we talked about at our Investor Day, our focus is $555 million in 2025, which would be an adjusted EBITDA of $80 million and really focused on just the disciplined investment on the walk. And so our opportunity to address the need for predictability and reproducibility is massive. The spine market is massive, and it’s ours for the taking. So we believe that spine needs ATEC. And with that, we will turn it back to the operator. Michelle, are you there?

Operator

Operator

Yes, okay. [Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Matthew O’Brien with Piper Sandler.

Phillip Dantoin

Analyst

Hey, this is Phil on for Matt. Thank you for taking my questions and Pat, congrats on 5 years. Another impressive quarter in terms of procedural volumes and this is despite longer vacation cycles that some of your competition pointed out. I was wondering if you could provide color as to why you were a bit more insulated from that dynamic compared to your peers. And I guess the real question I am getting at here is, could you have grown quicker in a more normalized environment? Thank you.

Pat Miles

Management

Yes. One, appreciate the whole 5-year congrats. We love what we are building here. And hopefully, we will do another Investor Day at some point and get people here. I think the enthusiasm for the spine space is palpable and we love what we are doing. I don’t think that we are insulated from the dynamics of what is going on. We are also still what I would consider a smaller player in this space. And so some of the macro demographics – like, we are earning share. And so we are earning share at a great rate. And what’s earning share is doing and making investments in some of the foundational technology that I was talking about earlier, like patient positioners and retractors and things that are super meaningful to surgeons. And so I think the adoption is still very early, and I think that we have great momentum and I see great momentum moving forward. And so I know that doesn’t give you any hard data, but I guess that’s the way I see it.

Phillip Dantoin

Analyst

Great. Thanks.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from Young Li with Jefferies.

Young Li

Analyst · Jefferies.

Alright. Great. Thanks guys for taking the question. I also want to extend my congrats to Pat for 5 years here. It’s certainly been a fun ride. So, I guess good to see the continued momentum in the business. You have a nice cadence of new product launches this year and more to come next year. You are on track for record surgeon training this year, with a pretty strong track record of contribution from the previously trained cohorts. And it seems like this momentum should carry over in the forward period. Maybe there are some tough comps. But any early comments you can make on the sustainability of your growth momentum in the upcoming period?

Todd Koning

Management

Thank you, Li. This is Todd. And we appreciate the question. And I guess, as I kind of think about the metrics you shared, I think one of the things that we talked about on our Investor Day was how surgeon training is a great leading indicator for surgeon adoption. And the level of interest that we are seeing coming through the facility is incredibly strong, as you mentioned. I think just approximately 150 surgeons came through again in the quarter. And I think we also know that as surgeons adopt our technology, and as we see it in particular in PTP, they not only begin to use the approach in more complex surgeries, but ultimately, as we earn their trust and confidence, we gain a greater share of their overall business. And so that continues, and I think that’s ultimately why you see volume up north of 30% and surgeon users up greater than 20% and so you will also see implied there a meaningful growth in kind of procedures per surgeon. And so that’s what’s implied there. And so I think all of that actually reflects what we know to be true, which is when you do something clinically distinct, you ultimately compel surgeons to adopt it. And I think that’s what we are seeing. And so our belief is that we will continue to see that into the future because we are continuing to deliver clinically distinct solutions. And I think PTP is a great example of that we showcased in the quarter.

Young Li

Analyst · Jefferies.

Alright. Great. Appreciate it. Looking forward to seeing you guys.

Todd Koning

Management

Yes. Thanks Young.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Brooks O’Neil with Lake Street Capital Markets. Brooks O’Neil: Thank you. It was nice to see you at NASS. And I am just curious if you could talk just a little bit about the response you got from surgeons to the stuff you were presenting and talking about at the Spine Show.

Pat Miles

Management

Yes. Brooks thanks. It’s good to hear you. I think it’s one of the things where I think people have great expectation with regard to our continued transformation of the lateral space. I think when your CMO is Luiz Pimenta and the other surgeons who are around this that have the level of technical aptitude in the lateral space, I think that there is a big expectation and a lot of enthusiasm around what we are doing laterally. And I think that that was very, very well received. I think the other thing that was exciting was just the volume of surgeons who see the vision on the EOS front. And just when you start to think through all of the opportunities that present themselves with regard to the information that comes out of that machine, it is significant. The other huge validation becomes when the SRS, the Scoliosis Research Society, has such a predominance of users and, again, is a forward view of what’s to come from a mainstream spine practice dynamic. And so I would say kind of the things that really jumped out at me is just the momentum of the company is palpable, and I believe we are making investments in the right places. Brooks O’Neil: Got it. Thank you, Pat.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Drew Ranieri with Morgan Stanley.

Drew Ranieri

Analyst · Morgan Stanley.

Hi. Thanks for taking the question and Pat, congratulations on 5 years, and I hope more to come. But my question, I am going to pick on Todd, and I have a follow-up for you, Pat. But Todd, just on – I think I heard you with leverage comments that you improved leverage about 200 basis points. But I was hoping you might be able to drill in a bit more on really what the cash burn was, your operating cash burn was, in the quarter. I might have missed it, but it would be great if you can make any comments about that and really kind of remind us about your confidence for improving leverage into next year and becoming EBITDA profitable, or breakeven, for ‘23.

Todd Koning

Management

Thanks Drew. Happy to do that and appreciate the opportunity. Our operating cash burn, our free cash burn, was $24 million in the quarter. So, if you kind of remember what our commitment has been is to do tens of millions of dollars better than we did last year. We did $142 million of cash burn last year, free cash burn. And really, the commentary implies about $122 million of free cash burn as kind of a ceiling for us. And so the $24 million free cash burn here in the quarter, I think is very much in line with being able to deliver on that commitment. And so I think we feel good about where that landed. I think it’s certainly within our expectations and sets us up for a good Q4 on the free cash burn standpoint there. I think sequentially, Q2, our free cash burn was $40 million. Really, half the improvement was a reduction in sets and inventory in PP&E. We saw a reduction in litigation spend sequentially. And then the balance is really an improvement in adjusted EBITDA and net working capital. So, I think on the free cash burn perspective, we are right where we expected to be and set us up nice for a good finish. On the adjusted EBITDA line, we had a negative $6 million of adjusted EBITDA in the period and ultimately feel good about that. I think ultimately, the commitment again is to deliver flat adjusted EBITDA from 2021. So, that implies a $28 million number here in the full year. And so ultimately, as you kind of look at what we delivered in Q1, which was $10 million in Q2, $8 million – and now, $6 million here in Q3. I think what’s notable there is that really implies a $3 million improvement in Q4, a $3 million adjusted EBITDA loss in Q4. And again, I think that kind of trajectory sets us up very nicely going into next year and achieving our commitment of being adjusted EBITDA breakeven into next year. And I guess, finally, I would just kind of say we saw a $6 million step-up Q2 to Q3 in revenue and dropped through about $2 million of that in adjusted EBITDA improvement. And again, I think that kind of all feels good and makes sense. So, at the end of the day, year-over-year adjusted EBITDA of negative $6 million is about 7% of sales and improved 870 basis points over the prior year Q3. And really, this is a good quarter from a comparison standpoint year-over-year because it’s really the first quarter we have fully comped out the EOS acquisition. So, it gives you a good sense for where we are at and where we are heading.

Drew Ranieri

Analyst · Morgan Stanley.

Got it. Thanks. I appreciate the detail, Todd. And just actually on EOS, and this is probably a question a bit for you and for Pat, but with the guidance coming in a little bit because of installations, can you just talk about, like, what you can do to improve that? I know we are still kind of in a choppy capital environment, but would love to hear how you are maybe even thinking about EOS for 2023. I think consensus is about $60 million. And really, when you are looking at the pipeline for EOS, taking a look at kind of your quarterly slide here, how should we think about your ability to monetize some of those applications and features that are coming down the road? Thank you for taking the questions.

Pat Miles

Management

Yes. I will go ahead and start out and then I will let Todd clean up where I screw up. As it relates to the installations, our view is we are taking a long view on this. And we will sell one to somebody who doesn’t have the infrastructure yet, and the installation will be less predictable due to all the goings-on with regard to building out the space, which this is kind of an unpredictable time in that realm with regard to what’s going on in the economy. And so we are a little bit beholden of that. Our view is that our enthusiasm for the integration of these technologies is massive. And we haven’t really begun to see them. We have done a couple of UBRs, whereby guys are, in essence, utilizing a rebate to buy the system. But once you start to see the integration of the tools, I think you are going to start to see massive momentum with regard to both businesses complementing each other. I think candidly, a unique proxy is how did we use information with regard to SafeOp and how did we translate it. I think it’s going to be not dissimilar here with regard to taking things like automated measurements, being able to plan surgery, being able to plan surgery with ATEC goods, being able to do all the preoperative rod-bending elements, integrating the information that we are generating from the imaging into the operating room, understanding what happened post-op, aggregating the data. Like, there are so many opportunities for us to reflect the value of that data. Also didn’t even mention the bone quality element parts of this thing, where not only does it give us an opportunity to rethink the way we do stabilization or fixation in the spine, but it also provides the user another tool to understand the underlying bone quality of the patient with whom they are going to intervene. And they are doing it on a much more sophisticated level, which is by individual spine level, not just a general value that a DEXA scan would provide you. So, my enthusiasm for us to integrate these technologies is exceedingly high. And you are going to see this over the coming, really the coming years, bits at a time. But our view is one of a long walk.

Todd Koning

Management

And I think I would kind of add to that, Drew, if you think about next year, I think the Street is around $400 million in total, representing about a 23% growth over our previous guidance, and presumably that will get updated here post the call. But if you look at where EOS is at today and the $46 million on a constant currency basis is growing north of 20% on a full year pro forma basis, I think it gives us great confidence in our ability to continue to grow that business and to do it in line with what we have talked about in the past. And so I think we are managing through some of the near-term really installation complexities, but that doesn’t really reflect the level of interest in the pipeline and truly the value that EOS is bringing to us. So, I think to Pat’s point, we remain steadfastly confident. And frankly, if the year since we bought it has told us anything, we are more confident that it was the right move than ever.

Drew Ranieri

Analyst · Morgan Stanley.

Thank you for taking the questions.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Josh Jennings with Cowen.

Eric Anderson

Analyst · Cowen.

Hi. This is Eric on for Josh. Thanks for taking the questions. Just thinking about LTP, with the launch kind of just around the corner, could you talk about the learnings that you will be able to take from you experienced launching and finding commercial success with PTP that you will be applying to the launch of LTP? Thank you.

Pat Miles

Management

Yes. Thanks Eric for the question. I have to get comfortable because it’s a subject that I absolutely adore, is the whole lateral surgery one. And I would tell you probably the first kind of undeniable truth that we have learned is just the ability to manage the patient within a patient positioner and to put the surgeon in a position to ultimately effectuate surgery in a much more elegant and efficient manner. And so you think about you are trying to do orthogonal surgery. The ability to utilize a patient positioner to make sure that you are truly in an orthogonal position, the patient is in an orthogonal position, compared to taking them to the bed, I would tell you that is diametrically different. And I think that we have been awarded by our investment with PTP into a patient positioner, because now what we can do is apply that learning to LTP. The other element is designing for the respective procedure. And so from a retractor perspective and then the integration of neurophysiology, there is really kind of a significant experience with SafeOp that the sales force has enjoyed that will absolutely integrate directly into what we are doing with LTP. And so I think that the sales force is used to what we are doing with regard to patient positioners and kind of the integrated components. And so I think where we will have a tailwind is within the sales force that has already been successful with people in terms of transforming them into PTP users and then picking up surgeons who want to continue to evolve into more predictability around what we are doing from an LTP perspective. The other place is, at L5-S1, a lot of – most surgeons still require an access surgeon. And so one way that will evolve is we will do general or vascular surgeon access courses at the company. And so again, a benefit of the patient positioner is that it puts you in a position to get more of a midline type of an ALIF at 5-1. And so just the ability to launch our whole ALIF retractor system with our LTP patient positioner avails really the opportunity to train both the vascular general surgeon with the spine surgeon, such that if you want to stay in the lateral position and go L3 to S1, your ability to do that through a lateral approach at 4-5 and 3-4 and then do a 5-1 ALIF and let the general surgeon do the exposure would be something that we would expect to be a common application of this position and procedure. So, probably more than you care to hear, but at least hopefully a little color.

Eric Anderson

Analyst · Cowen.

That makes a lot of sense. Thank you for the question.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Caitlin Cronin with Canaccord Genuity.

Caitlin Cronin

Analyst · Canaccord Genuity.

Hi. This is Caitlin on for Kyle Rose. Just a couple of quick ones for me. On EOS, can you provide the U.S.-OUS split? And also just on Via [ph], when do you expect to launch the app? Thanks.

Todd Koning

Management

On the EOS component, we haven’t been explicit about the revenue split. I mean what we have, Caitlin, said is, as we continue to grow the EOS business, it’s going to become more U.S.-centric. We are walking away from kind of non-strategic countries outside the U.S. and really kind of focusing our efforts. So, you will see more of a U.S. footprint as we grow this business over the coming years.

Pat Miles

Management

Yes. I was just going to draft off of that comment. It will also further the predictability associated with our performance, I think year-over-year. There is a lot of economies around the world that EOS would previously sell into that, candidly, didn’t facilitate our collective interest. And so again, I think we are a different company now, meaning EOS, and our ability to be more focused, as Todd said, into the States as well as into the strategic countries of our interest is going to be reflective of where the density of the business is. As it relates to Via, it is rolling out now, and it’s rolling out and being used, again, to quantify parameters, corrective parameters, in deformity. But the great thing is it’s the beginnings of another conduit into the operating room that we will utilize for a multitude of different reasons, be it tracking inventory, be it tracking doing charge sheets from an operational perspective, all the way through pulling down EOS images and preoperative planning elements and some of the rod-bending parameters that ultimately will integrate into new experience. So, our thrill for these tools is significant.

Caitlin Cronin

Analyst · Canaccord Genuity.

Great. Thanks.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from David Saxon with Needham & Company.

David Saxon

Analyst · Needham & Company.

Hi good afternoon guys and thanks for taking the questions. My question, I guess you have talked in the past about how Alphatec is underexposed from a geographic perspective in the U.S. So, just wondering with the competitor going through a merger and ATEC clearly outperforming the rest of spine, are you seeing opportunities to bring on new sales partners to build out your footprint, or maybe that comes later in the LRP or perhaps in the next LRP? Thanks so much.

Pat Miles

Management

I would say that we are always in the hunt. And I think a big part of the hunt for us is the shared interest in a long-term commitment. The last thing we want is transactional people. And with all of the money that we have invested in the technological advancement under the auspices of clinical distinction, we expect a heck of a lot out of the people who ultimately carry the lines, and they have got to be people who are committed to the long term and committed to us. And so it’s one of those things where it’s, like, I know that there’s a number of companies that aren’t as dogmatic with regard to the march toward exclusivity, where we are the only player in the bag, so to speak. But there is always good people in these things and good people that are looking for opportunities, and we will be opportunistic and perpetually hunt.

David Saxon

Analyst · Needham & Company.

Great. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Jason Wittes with Loop Capital.

Jason Wittes

Analyst · Loop Capital.

Hi. Thanks for taking the question. Appreciate the detail you gave and especially on the underlying drivers of guidance. And if I look at kind of what you have introduced most recently, quite a bit again, but it seems like the expandable cage in biologics should be an easy layup in terms of just improving revenue per case. Is that the right way of thinking? Whereas LTP, it sounds like, I don’t know what type of trajectory we should be anticipating for that, but I would love to get a little more understanding if you could.

Pat Miles

Management

Yes. Jason, I will start and then I will let Todd fix my mistakes. There is no such thing as a layup in this business. You know the fact of the matter is – your point is a really good one in that what we found is guys would use our TLIF retractor and our screw system, and then because we didn’t have expandable technology they would use somebody else’s expandable device. And so those types of things get rectified immediately, and those are the things that we are super excited about. And as I noted in my commentary, it’s really the first of many expandable devices. And so we will have other expandable devices this year that we are enthusiastic about walking through what we call the alpha or the verification cycle of the performance of the devices. But you will see many more. And one of the great values of an expandable device is really the control alignment, or lordosis. And so again, things that you don’t care about, but are hugely meaningful, is when you put something in a device and you want to control the spine, you have to release the spine. And one of the great things about PTP is you release the back of the spine and the front of the spine, and it provides you the ability to really be very sophisticated with regard to how you drive alignment. And so we think the relevance of the expandable device is going to be significant based upon not only the fact that, gosh, we have an expandable device, but we have techniques that ultimately accommodate maximizing their meaning. And so those are some of the things I think that we are most excited about.

Todd Koning

Management

And Jason, I think you are spot-on in terms of how that plays out in our financials. Both the expandable interbody and biologics end up being a tailwind to revenue per procedure. Because in the biologics case, especially as we are getting a lot of growth and, in particular, from our synthetic biologics that we recently launched, we are getting more attach rate. And ultimately, that biologics attach rate is happening in procedures that we kind of have had in the past. And so we are seeing another product category being added to an existing procedure run rate. The same on expandables, and that may come through in the fact that expandable has a higher ASP. And so maybe it’s replacing a static cage that we get today or in the case that Pat mentioned, maybe we are getting the expandable today where we weren’t in the past and so both of those are certainly revenue tailwinds to the revenue per procedure and additions to products per case.

Jason Wittes

Analyst · Loop Capital.

And just really quick on LTP, can we assume first kind of – obviously, it’s too early to see how big this is going to be. But in terms of adoption and even types of surgeons, does it look like PTP, or does it look different, or how are you thinking about it?

Pat Miles

Management

That’s a good question. It’s one of the things where it’s like we have been so focused on kind of the verification that everything is functioning like it’s supposed to. We look at lateral as such a growth center of our business. We see this as really kind of a long walk. Like, what we are going to do is – it’s interesting. We have a lot of the degenerative elements built and ready to plug in. And so my expectation is this is going to be a bit of a walk with regard to we are going to do degenerative cases, as I said. I think it’s most applicable in L3 to S1, where somebody wants to do ALIF at 5-1. And so that’s why I think about it as such a degenerative tool. But there is also going to be, as we continue – like, next year we will come out with a corpectomy device. And so you will start to see again expanding dollars and expanding complexity in our LTP portfolio. But I see it a bit like you said, I think in terms of just the slow walk on the LTP front out of the gate. And we are going to have some training courses with some luminaries in the field of lateral surgery. And so that will, I think create some momentum. But it’s like all of these things. They just take time to get the people around them and get the people trained and comfortable to make for momentum. But you love doing it while you have momentum.

Jason Wittes

Analyst · Loop Capital.

Very helpful and also congratulations on 5 years. Look forward to congratulating you at a $1 billion revenue, which I think comes before 10 years, so anyway thank you very much.

Pat Miles

Management

That will be the real celebration. I didn’t intend to speak about me. I was more excited just about the fact that 5 years ago, we were at an $83 million run rate, or $84 million, for the year, and now we are doing it quarterly. And you just love the continued momentum. Well, thanks very much for your interest in ATEC and very much appreciate the questions and look forward to talking to everybody next quarter. Thanks much.