Brilliant Earth Group, Inc. (BRLT) Q1 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Brilliant Earth First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Colin Bourland. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the Brilliant Earth First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Colin Bourland, Vice President of Strategy, Business Development and Investor Relations. Joining me today are Beth Gerstein, our Chief Executive Officer; and Jeff Kuo, our Chief Financial Officer. During the call today, management will make certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Please refer to our SEC filings for a description of the risks that could cause our actual performance and results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect our opinion only as of the date of this call, and we undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events unless required by law. Also, during this call, management will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of Brilliant Earth's non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP measures is available in today's earnings release, which can be found on the Brilliant Earth Investor Relations website. I'll now turn the call over to Beth.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. We're pleased to report a strong start to 2026 with first quarter results that reflect the disciplined execution of our growth strategy. Net sales grew approximately 6% year-over-year to $99.5 million at the high end of our guidance range. The quarter's strong performance was driven by total orders growing 3% year-over-year with outperformance in repeat orders and year-over-year growth in average selling prices across the assortment. Fine jewelry was a clear standout with bookings growing 33% year-over-year and making up 17% of total bookings. In addition, we're particularly pleased with the impressive year-over-year bookings growth in wedding and anniversary band in Q1. We delivered gross margin within our mid-50s target year-over-year marketing leverage and prudent OpEx management, resulting in our adjusted EBITDA landing in the upper half of our guidance range. These results underscore our ability to execute with discipline while investing in the growth drivers that are building Brilliant Earth into a leading jewelry brand in the $350 billion jewelry industry. Let me take you through some of the highlights of the quarter. What I am most proud of this quarter is the ongoing strength and resonance of our brand. Valentine's Day was a record with bookings up 9% year-over-year during the 2-week peak shopping period. Our Perfect Timing campaign celebrated how chance encounters become the unexpected beginnings of lasting love stories. This campaign drove triple-digit year-over-year growth in organic social engagement, reflecting the power of compelling storytelling to drive both engagement and sales throughout this traditional gifting period. Valentine's Day is yet another demonstration of our team's ability to execute with excellence around key gifting moments, and we head into Mother's Day and other gifting occasions with that same momentum. In January, we also introduced a new concept we call Bridal Collective, creator-hosted events in our New York and Beverly Hills locations, showcasing our position as bridal leaders and the experiential aspects of our showrooms. The Bridal Collective series turned our showrooms into a social media destination for fine jewelry discovery and live styling, reaching a style-savvy bridal audience and generating over 150 pieces of organic content across 41 creators. We believe this proves that as desire for more physical retail experiences grows among consumers, Brilliant Earth is uniquely positioned to lead the next chapter of luxury jewelry retail. Our omnichannel experience also continues to set us apart. We ended the quarter with 42 showrooms and are planning for two more in San Antonio, Texas and San Jose, California by the end of the year as we continue to thoughtfully expand our footprint. Growing our physical presence and creating joyful personalized shopping experiences has been a key strategic priority since we began. One of the opportunities that excites me most though is how well this strategy amplifies our fine jewelry growth. As our retail execution has evolved, we've been intentional about building our showrooms into a true destination for fine jewelry, and that strategy is working. This quarter, fine jewelry bookings in showrooms grew 48% year-over-year, outpacing the total assortment growth. While that is impressive on its own, I'm even more encouraged by the long-term performance. In Q3 2024, we introduced our first fine jewelry try-on bar. And soon after, we began adding them in new and existing showrooms. In the 18 months following, fine jewelry bookings from showrooms have nearly doubled compared to the preceding 18-month period. These are the kinds of results and learnings that guided our most recent opening, our Beverly Hills flagship location, which we opened in January. So far, the flagship is delivering very strong retail orders and foot traffic with exceptional customer sentiment. We've introduced a number of new elements to our customer experience in Beverly Hills, including our Date Night experience, a fun hospitality-infused adaptation of our personalized bridal shopping appointment. Date Night has proven to be incredibly popular and is typically booked multiple weeks in advance. We continue to see our Beverly Hills flagship concept as a blueprint for the future of modern luxury jewelry retail. We're also encouraged by what we see in our product assortment. Average selling prices are up meaningfully across the assortment, reflecting a growing customer appetite for quality, thoughtfully designed jewelry at elevated price points. This is a consistent trend we're seeing in the industry, and we are well positioned with a premium brand, a design forward assortment, and long-term customer relationships we've cultivated for over two decades. As I mentioned, fine jewelry is driving increased diversification, outperforming the business and is well on a path toward becoming a $100 million business. Further, we've been intentional about elevating our product assortment and strategically focusing on attracting new customers at higher price points. As a matter of fact, in Q1, we acquired nearly 40% more new fine jewelry customers whose first purchase was $500 or more compared to Q1 last year. And we're pleased with the broad demand we're seeing for both our Diamond Essentials and our signature and iconic collections, which continue to outpace total fine jewelry bookings growth. For example, bookings from our proprietary Sol collection, which first launched in Q4 2023, grew an impressive 90% year-over-year. We're very pleased that our strategy to expand our reach with fine jewelry is paying off. While bridal remains important to our business, this diversification allows us to mitigate the varying dynamics of bridal and stay focused on quality growth. We have a lot to look forward to for the remainder of the year. We kicked off spring in Q2 with the launch of our Butterfly collection, a new collection that includes a pendant necklace featuring a single brilliant lab diamond custom cut to form the wings of a Butterfly. Heading into Mother's Day, we've introduced our Keepsake Collection, a modern Celestial inspired take on the classic locket. And we have a number of new and innovative design collections in the pipeline for the year ahead that I believe will further demonstrate the artistry, craftsmanship and resonance of our brand. I look forward to sharing more as the year goes on. We are watching the consumer environment carefully and are observing a similar bifurcation that has been widely reported across our industry and the consumer sector. Specifically, while we are seeing some signs of softness at lower price points, demand at higher price points is holding up well in Q2 to date. Our ASP strength and fine jewelry growth reflect this dynamic. And more than that, they demonstrate the growing power of our brand with the higher-income consumer. The deliberate work we have done to build Brilliant Earth into a brand that stands for quality, craftsmanship, and meaning is exactly what positions us well as the industry landscape shifts. Quarter-to-date, we have seen year-over-year bookings growth driven by strong performance at higher price points and fine jewelry outperformance, and we're encouraged by sequential gross margin improvement. As we said last quarter, with more time, we have more levers to pull to increase gross margin in this volatile metal environment, including selective price optimization, design and production engineering and supply chain efficiencies to name a few. We are executing diligently on what we can control in gross margin and believe Q1 marks the low point for our gross margin this year, and we are well positioned as we move through the balance of 2026. Jeff will share more detail on our guidance and outlook. I want to close by thanking our incredible team for their continued dedication and execution. Their passion and commitment are the reason, momentum keeps building quarter after quarter, and the best is still ahead for Brilliant Earth. Now I'll hand it over to Jeff, who will walk through the financials in detail and discuss our outlook.

Thanks, Beth, and good afternoon, everyone. As Beth mentioned, we're pleased to report a solid first quarter, where we continue to successfully drive our strategic initiatives, delivering year-over-year net sales growth at the high end of our guidance range, gross margin within our expectations, year-over-year marketing leverage and profitability in the upper half of our stated guidance. Let me take you through the details for Q1. Net sales were $99.5 million, up approximately 6% year-over-year and at the high end of our guidance for mid-single-digit year-over-year growth. Total orders grew approximately 3% year-over-year. Repeat orders outperformed overall order growth, demonstrating the effectiveness of our customer acquisition and retention efforts and the resonance of our brand and products with consumers. Average Order Value, or AOV, was approximately $2,131, up approximately 3% year-over-year, with ASP growth across the assortment, including engagement rings, wedding and anniversary bands and fine jewelry. This was driven largely by two things. Customers are mixing into higher-priced items, reflecting our strength with the higher-income consumer, and we have made selective price increases as a result of rising precious metal costs. Gross margin was 54.3%, within our expectations of mid-50s gross margins. This reflects the impact of historically high metal prices on our cost of goods, partially offset by our ability to nimbly adapt to market conditions, including our price optimization engine, thoughtful product design and specifications, vendor procurement efficiencies and hedging. We expect gross margin in the remainder of 2026 to be higher than Q1 as we continue to execute on these initiatives. We delivered adjusted EBITDA of negative $4.7 million or a negative 4.7% adjusted EBITDA margin, landing in the upper half of our guidance range. Q1 is typically our seasonally lowest quarter for net sales, and we expect higher profitability in upcoming quarters this year. Q1 operating expense was 63.3% of net sales compared to 62.4% of net sales in Q1 2025, representing approximately 90 basis points of deleverage year-over-year. Q1 adjusted operating expense was 59.2% of net sales compared to 57.6% in Q1 2025, representing approximately 160 basis points of deleverage year-over-year. Adjusted operating expense does not include items such as depreciation and amortization, equity-based compensation, showroom preopening expenses and other nonrecurring expenses. Q1 marketing expense was 23.6% of net sales compared to 24.5% in Q1 2025. This represents approximately 90 basis points of year-over-year leverage. We are pleased to drive year-over-year leverage in marketing expense as a percentage of net sales in Q1, extending the success that we have had in the past 2 years, driving increasing efficiency while delivering strong top line results. Employee costs as a percentage of net sales were higher year-over-year by approximately 190 basis points as adjusted. This includes growth in showroom employees, including from newly opened showrooms as we strategically invest in our showroom expansion. We continue to manage these expenses in a disciplined and responsible manner. Other G&A as a percentage of net sales was higher year-over-year by approximately 60 basis points as adjusted in Q1, reflecting our balanced approach to disciplined cost management as we invest thoughtfully in the business for the medium and long term. As I've noted in the past, we don't have significant seasonal fluctuations in costs such as employee costs and most of our other G&A costs. Since Q1 is historically our seasonally lowest net sales quarter, we expect that adjusted employee and other G&A costs will be lower than Q1 as a percentage of sales in each of the remaining quarters this year. Year-over-year inventory grew principally as a result of strategic procurement opportunities to purchase diamond and jewelry inventory at advantageous prices last year as well as growth in our fine jewelry assortment. Even with this increase, our inventory turns at over 4x remains significantly above the industry average. We maintain conviction that the agility of our data-driven, capital-efficient and inventory-light operating model is a compelling competitive advantage. We ended the first quarter with approximately $59 million in cash with no debt on the balance sheet. As a reminder, the year-over-year decline in cash balance reflects the payoff of our term loan in Q3 of last year and the completion of our onetime dividend and distribution of approximately $25 million last year. Consistent with recent historical seasonality, Q1 represents our lowest cash quarter of the year. We expect our quarter end cash balance to be higher than Q1 in every quarter for the remainder of the year, reflecting the strength of our asset-light data-driven business model that differentiates us from others in the industry. Turning to our outlook. For Q2, we expect net sales to be up in the low single-digit percent range year-over-year. On a 2-year stacked basis, this represents an acceleration compared to our Q1 net sales growth. We expect a profitable Q2 with adjusted EBITDA in the range of $0.5 million to $2 million. For the full year, we continue to expect net sales to grow year-over-year in the mid-single-digit percent range and continue to expect a mid-50s gross margin for the year. We also expect year-over-year leverage in marketing expense as a percentage of net sales for the full year. We will make selective medium- and longer-term investments, including employee costs and other G&A, such as investments in technology and in our showrooms. We continue to expect adjusted EBITDA dollars for the year to be positive but slightly lower than 2025. We also continue to expect that most of this year's adjusted EBITDA will come from Q4, given the seasonal shape of quarterly net sales, with Q4 being the highest net sales quarter of the year, improvements in gross margin as we progress through the year and that we don't expect significant seasonal incremental employee and other G&A costs. In closing, our data-driven approach, including our agile price optimization, disciplined expense management and our asset-light business model position us well to outperform the industry while delivering profitable growth. This quarter's solid execution reinforces our capability to identify and capture opportunities to drive sustainable, profitable growth and create value for our shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call over to the operator for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Oliver Chen of TD Cowen.

Beth and Jeff, nice job on all the progress in fine jewelry, by the way. As we look at your, think about your guidance next quarter, how are things trending lately relative to what you're seeing? And also, related pricing sensitivity given the increase this quarter and what you're thinking about prices relative to unit and elasticity? I imagine you're being pretty surgical and analytical about how you think about pricing. And then a follow-up question on fine jewelry. What are your thoughts on the LTV and the CAC on the fine jewelry customer relative to your heritage and bridal as well?

Oliver, thanks for the questions. Maybe we can start with just what we're seeing lately. I would say Q2 to date, nothing really significant to call out and a big difference in macro. We continue to see top line growth, the high-value customer is continuing to perform and show resiliency there. I think your discussion on pricing sensitivity is absolutely something that we think very carefully about. And the ASPs generally are increasing based on a few different factors. One of those factors, is we're just continuing to see that strength at the higher end, those higher-value customers. And then we are taking selective ASP increases to mitigate some of that increased metal cost. But as you mentioned, we are being very surgical, having a really keen eye for that pricing sensitivity is something that we've developed capability really for many, many years. And so I don't think it's anything new here, but we are being careful to protect value, quality, profitability while still making sure that we are attracting that new customer. As it relates to fine jewelry, I think we're really pleased that we're able to acquire new customers at very strong marketing efficiencies. I mentioned how we are investing heavily in the $500-plus assortment. We're very strategically focused on that higher-value customer, and we're seeing very strong results there, growing that customer base. We're having new customers over 40% this year relative to last year, just in that $500-plus assortment. So marketing, driving marketing efficiencies across the assortment is always something that we pay very special attention to. But the brand resonance, the assortment, all of that is performing really well and driving nice efficiencies. And as a result, across the assortment, we are seeing marketing leverage, which is something that we are also heavily focused on.

Okay. And Jeff, you've always been very active at managing gross margins with agility. We're facing these unprecedented times with costs. What are you seeing now with gross margins? And amongst the volatility, what are the latest strategies in terms of sourcing and what's implied in your guidance?

Thanks, Oliver. I think we did a great job managing our gross margin in Q1, in line with our expectations. We were able to take historically high, all-time high metal prices in Q1, navigate through that really nimbly with a variety of strategies, including price optimization, vendor procurement efficiencies, being thoughtful about product designs and specification and hedging. We're able to package all that together really quickly in a dynamic market and deliver a strong gross margin within our expectations. I think we're glad to see that sequentially quarter-to-date, we've had improving gross margins. And we think that as the year progresses with more time to manage with these tools that we have, we'll be able to deliver increasing gross margins, assuming that metal prices stay where they are. So, I think this is a real case study in how Brilliant Earth has just been able to be very nimble and effective even in the face of significant changes like what we've seen. And this is all included in our guidance, including our agility in our strategies as well as expectations for metal prices being where they are and some continued volatility. So I think we're feeling good overall at what we were able to deliver.

Our next question comes from the line of Ashley Owens of KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Maybe just to start, you've noted that nearly half of the new customers are now discovering and Brilliant Earth through fine jewelry. So as that becomes the primary acquisition channel, how is that changing the customer journey? Are these fine jewelry first customers actually converting to bridal? Or would you say you're building a different customer base than the one you had 5 years ago?

Yes. I would say that. Overall, we are acquiring more and more customers through fine jewelry, but we continue to invest in bridal, especially given the importance of it as that first purchase. So we do see the customer journey where people will buy fine jewelry and then they'll buy bridal and really, but I would say more frequent, you're seeing a bridal customer who is, that's really their first major purchase and then they tend to repeat in the future, whether it's wedding band or additional fine jewelry. So really, I think it's important for us to cater to both the bridal and the fine jewelry customer and driving repeat is something we are laser-focused on and essentially making sure that we are increasing our customer loyalty and thinking through the journey, whether it's online or in our showrooms, to be able to ultimately drive that customer loyalty, whether it's starting with bridal or fine jewelry.

Okay. Maybe just as a follow-up on that really quickly. You did highlight the ASP growth across assortment. I don't think you broke out the engagement rings specifically. Could you just update us on where those landed in 1Q? And then, Jeff, maybe on AOV really quickly, both the drivers you called out with the higher-priced items and some of the selective price increases seem pretty durable at this time. Is there a reason that the AOV growth we saw in 1Q wouldn't be a reasonable run rate for the next few quarters? Or does the fine jewelry mix shift kind of eventually reassert some of that pressure we have been seeing for about several quarters?

So, I can start on the bridal side. We are happy to see that ASP growth, which is true across all of the different pieces of the assortment. So bridal as well, we're seeing more strength at the higher end with a higher value customer and more resilience there versus at the lower end. So that's kind of what we're seeing on bridal. I would say Q1, it was, bookings were slightly down as it relates to Q2 to date, we're seeing signs of improvement, but a similar bifurcation that we've talked about with the relative strength at the higher price points. Jeff, do you want to talk about the AOV and how we're thinking about that projecting forward?

Sure. So, we're seeing a few things in the Q1 results. I think as we talked about for Q1, I think, one, we're seeing a variety of things influencing the ASPs, including the resonance that we have with higher income consumers, consumers mixing into some higher price point products and the success that we're having in driving those higher price point sales as well as, as Beth mentioned, some of the selective price increases. So, you are seeing some of those factors at play. Overall, regarding your point about growth of FJ, we do think that over a longer term, as we continue to have success in fine jewelry, we will, we expect some moderation in price points overall because they do have lower price points than, for example, bridal, but it's something that we do want to continue to have that success in growing fine jewelry since it's such a big opportunity for us. So you're seeing a variety of different factors at play in the Q1 results. But I think overall, we are very pleased to be able to navigate through and drive these results where both orders and AOV increased for the quarter.

Our next question comes from the line of Dana Telsey of Telsey Advisory Group.

Two questions. First of all, new collections has always been and the innovation and newness has always been a driver. As you think about the comparatives with last year, anything we should be thinking about new collection launches and timing this year versus last year? And then certainly, with the rise in energy prices, what have you been seeing? How have you incorporated the impact in margins? And how would you define it? Any changes to the cadence or shaping of the year given this than you originally expected?

Thank you, Dana. I can start with just the new jewelry collections, and I agree this is a driver of the success that we've seen in fine jewelry. The assortment is very strong and Signature and iconic design collections have been performing very well. Sol was up 90%, as I mentioned earlier. So, we're continuing to invest in existing collections, the iconic collections that we continue to be known for. And we have a really nice pipeline of new product collections as well. So, we mentioned the Butterfly collection, that's performing really well. We reintroduced our Ring Pop Collaboration, which sold out and was phenomenal. So, we think it's a really important part of the strategy to continue to introduce this newness, also introducing it in really fresh, innovative ways with strong marketing campaigns, making sure that we are able to capitalize on key holidays like Valentine's Day and timing the collections appropriately there is also really important, and also just making sure that all of this creates a nice halo effect on our Diamond Essentials, which continue to demonstrate strong growth. So we're excited about the pipeline we have coming up this year, but do recognize that this is a really nice way for us to communicate, drive our brand and overall also activate the showrooms and make sure that we're driving really strong interest, which is why the showrooms as well have very nice fine jewelry growth, about 48%. So, I think all of these aspects of the strategy are key and they're working well together. As it relates to energy specifically, I wouldn't say that what we're seeing in the macro has changed our overall outlook in terms of the year. That's why we're reiterating the same guidance that we had last quarter for the full year. So I wouldn't say it's something that we have noticed in terms of very specific behavioral changes that is changing how we are shaping the year.

I am showing no further questions at this time. So I would like to turn it, we have one more question. Our next question comes from the line of Anna Glaessgen of B. Riley Securities.

I'm hopping off another call, so I apologize if the last. But I was curious on the discussions around bridal. I think over the past few quarters, we've seen nice momentum within the category. Curious if you can read into the consumer a little bit and what's going on that's driving that bifurcation? Is it a response to recent gas prices or broader uncertainty and how you can address that in your go-to-market strategy ahead?

Sure. Thanks, Anna, for the question. I think as it relates to bridal and frankly, all the categories, we're seeing that similar type of behavior where the higher-value customer continues to show resilience, and we're seeing a little bit more softness at the lower end, which is likely due to a lot of the factors that that you guys have talked about, whether it's increasing gas prices or just some of the overall macro volatility, affordability, et cetera. So I think that generally, we're pleased to see that high end continue to hold up well. And we've always, as a company, catered to a variety of different price points, but we continue to invest in elevating the brand and catering to a higher-value customer, having a really premium experience with new innovations like our Date Night experience and our showrooms. So I think we're very well positioned in both the breadth of the assortment as well as the premium nature of our brand to take advantage of the strength in that higher-value consumer, which is also showing up on, in the bridal assortment as well.

Great. And I guess if we can extrapolate more on that, when you have pressure within that lower consumer, given you speak to a more premium consumer, do you expect that people trade down within your mix? Or is it that they potentially might seek more value-oriented offerings outside of your core?

I think it's a mixture of either kind of holding off in terms of buying based on some of the volatility. I think that might be part of it. I think the holding off on purchasing could be an important aspect. But overall, we want to make sure that we are acquiring customers in a profitable and sustainable way. And so we just have to continue to price optimize to make sure that we're able to acquire that customer where it makes sense to acquire them.

And I am showing no further questions at this time. So I would like to turn it back to Beth for closing remarks.

Great. Well, thank you, everyone, for joining us for our Q1 earnings call. I appreciate all of the questions. Look forward to talking to you next quarter.

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