Zevia PBC (ZVIA) Q2 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Greetings. Welcome to the Zevia PBC Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Jean Fontana of Investor Relations. Thank you, Jean. You may begin.

Thank you and welcome to Zevia's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. On today's call are Alexandre Ruberti, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Girish Satya, Chief Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the company's second quarter 2026 earnings press release and investor presentation made available this afternoon. This information is available on the Investor Relations section of Zevia's website at investors.zevia.com. Before we begin, please note that all financial information presented on today's call is unaudited. Certain comments made on this call include forward-looking statements which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs concerning future events that are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements. Please refer to today's press release and other filings with the SEC for a detailed discussion of the risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made today. During the call, we will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures as we describe business performance. The SEC filings, as well as the earnings press release, presentation slides that accompany today's comments and reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are all available on our website at investors.zevia.com. And now I'd like to turn the call over to Alexandre.

Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us today. It's a privilege to speak with you on my first earnings call as CEO. Before I begin, I would like to thank Amy Taylor for her leadership and her support during this transition. I am excited to lead Zevia as I believe that we have a truly distinct product within the better-for-you beverage category. As a member of the Board of Directors, I have gained valuable insights into the transformation that has taken place over the last two years. And I'm grateful for the opportunity to lead the company into the next chapter. My objective is to build on the work that has strengthened the foundation of our business, drawing from my beverage industry experience to accelerate growth and drive profitability while reinvesting in the future. We believe that Zevia's truly distinct market position presents a tremendous opportunity that we have yet to capture. We are working aggressively to build a strategic plan that we believe will deliver breakthrough growth, sustainable performance for the business, and drive long-term value for all stakeholders. Before sharing my initial observations, let me briefly highlight our results, which Girish will speak to in more detail. For the second quarter, we delivered net sales of $45 million at the high end of our guidance and adjusted EBITDA of $0.5 million above our expectations. We are encouraged by our progress year-to-date and the momentum going into the third quarter. We continue to make progress in driving awareness and trials through distribution and completed the rollout of our new packaging and flavors. That said, we have a significant opportunity to drive improvement in our go-to-market execution, which I will speak to shortly. Turning to marketing, we launched the anticipated 360 campaign of Refreshingly Real, starring Cardi B as our Real Talk interpreter. The campaign generated tremendous engagement with nearly 29.5 billion social campaign video views, over 1.7 million engagements on Cardi's and Zevia posts, 1.8 billion PR earned media impressions, and 473 media placements. We plan to build on this momentum with additional campaigns, including upcoming Refreshingly Real contests. I look forward to keeping you posted on more upcoming events with Zevia and Cardi B. Now turning to my observations and priorities. For the last month and a half, I have spent much of my time meeting with our executive team and employees, as well as our customers, suppliers, and investors. Following my listening tour and a deep dive into the business, my belief in Zevia's potential is greater than ever. I also recognize that there are measures that need to be taken to convert our strength into sustained momentum in our business. To accomplish this, we need to make Zevia easier to find with a targeted strategic distribution expansion, easier to buy through enhanced in-store execution, and easier to choose by amplifying awareness and brand relevance. And we shall do so with urgency. As we develop a strategic plan for our path forward, and drawing from my broad experience, I will be focused on four key areas. First, evolving our go-to-market strategy. Second, sharpening and scaling our brand identity. Third, maintain strong financial discipline and operational efficiency to support our sustainable growth initiatives. And fourth, establishing a performance-driven culture. I'd like to expand on each of these areas and provide some additional context. Starting with evolving our go-to-market strategy. We see a significant opportunity to expand the reach and productivity of the Zevia brand through three verticals: optimizing our singles platform, expanding distribution, and improving in-store execution. The first and most meaningful value creation opportunity is unlocking the full potential of the singles in-store. We view singles as the most effective vehicle for driving consumer discovery, trial, and ultimately household penetration. Over the past year, we have focused on refining the product format, optimizing our flavor assortment with the right balance of the classic flavors, and emerging trends, and improving taste. As consumers increasingly seeking healthy beverage alternatives without sacrificing taste, singles represent a cost entry point into the brand and a catalyst for driving trial and long-term customer acquisition. Second, with improved product portfolio, we see substantial opportunities to expand distribution and increase brand availability. Despite our good position within the zero sugar soda category, Zevia remains underpenetrated across several attractive channels including mass, club, food service, value chain, retail and e-commerce. We believe our enhanced singles platform improves our ability to secure new distribution gains while increasing visibility and accessibility for consumers. Expanding our presence where consumers shop remains a critical lever for driving both awareness and trial. The third component of our go-to-market strategy is improving productivity within existing doors through a stronger approach to in-store execution, merchandising, and category management. And to be frank, we need to do a better job of activating Zevia in-store. We believe improved execution can increase velocity, support retailer economics, and strengthen our position as a key growth driver within the beverage category. This leads to our second strategic focus area: sharpening and scaling our brand identity. Over the past several years, we have made meaningful progress in defining what Zevia stands for, where we believe there is opportunity to further increase the precision and relevance of our positioning. We are moving beyond the broad concept of the health-evolved consumer and developing a more focused understanding of our core customers. We see our target consumer as wellness aspirational, younger, digitally engaged families who enjoy beverages and flavors they love, but are increasingly unwilling to compromise on ingredient quality or health considerations. They want the enjoyment of soda without the trade-off. As we continue to refine our positioning around this consumer, we intend to support it with a disciplined ROI-driven marketing strategy designed to increase awareness, strengthen brand affinity, and improve customer acquisition efficiency. By pairing a more clear defined brand identity with a broader distribution and stronger execution, we believe we can meaningfully expand Zevia's addressable market and accelerate sustainable, profitable growth over time. Our third area of focus: financial discipline and operational efficiency. We aim to build on the success of our positive financial momentum and drive profitable innovation across functions. This will be achieved through maximizing or redirecting resources to align with strategic priorities as we reinvest savings from continuing efficiency gains. Our final area of focus is to establish a performance-driven culture within the organization, delivering results not just for today, but over the mid and long term. We will challenge each other to improve, take ownership, make confident decisions, and learn quickly from setbacks so we can keep raising the bar together without losing the essentials of trust, empowerment, and accountability. Before I turn it over to Girish, I want to thank everyone for the warm welcome I have received since stepping into this role. I believe we are operating from a better financial position as shown by improved cash flow and positive EBITDA over the last few quarters. I will share our strategic plan in the coming months with further details on our four key focus areas. As part of this plan, we will outline clear, measurable milestones and provide regular updates on our progress. I look forward to working with our talented team as we realize Zevia's great potential. We have an exciting future in front of us. With that, I will turn it over to Girish.

Thank you, Alexandre. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining our call today. Before we get into the quarter, I'd just like to take a moment to welcome Alexandre to the Zevia team. It's been a pleasure working more closely with him since he transitioned into the CEO role, and I look forward to the partnership. Echoing his remarks, with our vastly improved financial profile, coupled with our increased supply chain efficiencies and cost disciplines, we have a strong foundation from which to build the next phase of growth for the brand. Now turning to our results. For the second quarter, net sales increased 1.1% to $45 million, primarily driven by successful pricing actions. Our results also reflect the lapping of load-ins to Walgreens and Albertsons in the second quarter of last year, as well as the shift in cadence with higher volumes anticipated in the first and third quarters versus last year. Notably, net sales in the first half of 2026 increased 10.4% to $91.1 million, including the discontinuation of our tea offering, which began in Q2. Gross margin was 48.9%, a 20 basis point increase from 48.7% in the prior year quarter. The improvement reflects strong price realization, partially offset by increases in aluminum costs, from which we expect to see a bigger impact in the back half of the year. Selling and marketing expenses were $13.1 million or 29% of net sales in the second quarter of 2026 compared to $13.4 million or 30% of net sales in the second quarter of 2025. Breaking it down, selling expense was $8.1 million, or 17.9% of net sales in the second quarter of 2026, compared to $8.7 million, or 19.4% of net sales in the second quarter of 2025. The 150 basis point improvement reflects savings in warehousing and repackaging costs, partially offset by increased fuel costs. Marketing expense was $5 million or 11.1% of net sales in the second quarter of 2026, compared to $4.7 million or 10.6% of net sales in the second quarter of 2025. The increase in marketing expense as a percentage of sales as compared to last year was due to higher planned investments in the second quarter to support our new product rollout, package redesign, and Cardi B partnership. General and administrative expenses were $8.6 million, or 19% of net sales in the second quarter of 2026, compared to $8.1 million, or 18.2% of net sales in the second quarter of 2025. The increase was primarily due to higher personnel-related costs and outside services expenses, partially offset by lower accrued variable compensation. For the second quarter, adjusted EBITDA was approximately $0.5 million compared to an adjusted EBITDA of $0.2 million in the prior year period. Year-to-date, adjusted EBITDA increased $4.5 million versus the prior year period, despite significant cost pressures. Turning to our balance sheet, we ended the quarter with approximately $28.5 million in cash and cash equivalents and have an undrawn revolving credit line of $20 million. Now, turning to our outlook. Starting with the third quarter of 2026, we expect net sales of between $44 million to $46 million, reflecting 10% growth at the midpoint of the range. This guidance incorporates increased club distribution, ongoing strength in digital, and the benefit of incremental promotional support for the national rollout of our packaging refresh, partially offset by the discontinuation of our tea offering. We expect third quarter adjusted EBITDA loss to be between negative $3 million and negative $3.5 million. This assumes a reduction in gross margin to approximately 46% due primarily to the impact of elevated aluminum costs and higher promotions and channel mix. Additionally, this reflects pressure on selling expense related to higher fuel costs, as well as higher marketing investment associated with the Cardi B campaign launch and the rollout of the new product packaging nationwide. Looking at the full year, we are maintaining our 2026 net sales guidance of $170 million to $175 million, reflecting 7% growth at the midpoint of the range. In addition, this incorporates an approximately 1.5 percentage point impact from the discontinuation of tea. As Alexandre outlined in his discussion, we are amplifying efforts to drive materially accelerated growth across our business, but predominantly through an improved go-to-market strategy. We have identified a number of opportunities across our distribution channels. However, realize that it will take time to bear fruit. Turning to profitability, we are maintaining our full year 2026 adjusted EBITDA range of negative $2 million to negative $4 million. As a reminder, due to ongoing macro volatility, this range continues to incorporate approximately $11 million related to the surge in fuel prices and higher aluminum-related costs. While we expect these elevated costs to come down over time, we are on track to achieve $3 million to $5 million in additional cost savings beginning in Q1 of 2027. In closing, we believe that we have a distinct market position which presents a tremendous opportunity that we have yet to capture. We remain confident in our path forward and our focus on executing a strategic plan to improve profitability through enhanced commercial execution, financial discipline, and targeted investments to strengthen our capabilities and create sustainable long-term value for all shareholders. I'll now turn it over to the operator to begin Q&A. Operator?

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Andrew Strelzik with BMO Capital Markets.

I appreciate all the detail on some of the opportunities that you discussed this already. But -- and you mentioned kind of that it's going to take some time for that to play out. But I'm just curious, you know, how you think about which of the priorities you think we could see the benefits from the fastest or maybe takes the longest, kind of how we should think about the cadence of those opportunities flowing through to performance.

Sure. Andrew. Good to talk to you again. I think if you try to prioritize priorities in here, prioritize priority is good, but prioritize priority in here, it is, first of all, everything to do with the singles. I think this is a bit urgent and more meaningful priority that we have, because if you want to measure that, nowadays we have a 10% of share and we have a 0 share in singles. And singles opportunity for us, if we keep the same multipack share that we have nowadays, it will be around $80 million, right? So our business nowadays is based on multipacks and we don't have singles. I think everything that we are doing in terms of activating singles, we are on the streets now in the selling season talking to the customers in order to prioritize this ahead of any other. But this one is the main opportunity for us.

Okay, okay, that's helpful. And if I could just ask about the guidance, you know, the second quarter came in at the higher end of the revenue guidance above on EBITDA, the 3Q guidance, at least ahead of consensus. I know that's not your internal expectation, but I guess in holding the year, it implies a weaker 4Q kind of flat to down, which is not entirely inconsistent with what you had communicated previously, but it's maybe a little weaker than I would have thought. So I guess, you know, just in the context of the 2Q performance, just holding the annual guidance, and is there anything in the fourth quarter that we should be aware of incrementally as a potential headwind?

Yes, no, thanks, Andrew. And look, you're right. We said earlier in the year that Q1 and Q3 would be the biggest quarters. Our Q4 growth is consistent with what we had outlined earlier in the year and I think this is largely a reflection of the timing shift in marketing spend and innovation launches. Separately, it's also a remnant of our club business. And as club becomes a more consistent channel, we should see less fluctuations in growth rates going forward. I'd say that generally speaking at this point, we're in the really early days of our marketing and innovation initiatives, which we recently launched as we alluded to with Cardi B just a couple of weeks ago. And we're encouraged by the Early Reads and think that this could be an opportunity for us, but there isn't necessarily any headwind that we're calling out for Q4. As Alexandre noted, you know, we do believe we have a lot of opportunities to accelerate growth. But those initiatives are going to take a little bit of time.

Our next question is from Jim Salera with Stephens Inc.

Alexandre, I wanted to ask a little bit around, you know, kind of why now for singles and if you could maybe walk through some of the operational infrastructure that gives you the confidence that you can execute on that, such that it'll be incremental. I know the West Coast DSD expansion has kind of been key, but is singles going to be something we see kind of nationwide, is going to be more of a regional rollout? Can you kind of walk us through the cadence there and how quickly we should expect to see that business ramp?

Yes, sure. Let me get to you some kind of high-level view, and then I go into singles. I think first of all, when I say that we have to increase our focus on our go-to-market, and then imagine that the go-to-market will have the most expensive way how to go or more effective ways, right? And we are evaluating a couple of options, but the main objective for us is to make sure that we guarantee distribution across the nation as well as in-store execution, both. And, you know, we can go DSD network, we can go brokers, broadliners, to sales, merchandising agencies, this kind of stuff. But at the end of the day, the mix of those ways to go to market will be the secret. We are creating this plan right now. We are willing to -- aiming to start execution in the beginning of 2027. This is one way to support singles. When talking about singles, the idea here was a very rational concept because nowadays we have a 10% of share. If you just segment modern soda within the multipack, we have a 20% of share. If you have the same 20% of share within singles, we're talking about $80 million opportunity. So in the end of the day, why now? Because I think that now we have the right product because we improved taste. Second, the right size of the can, not sleek can anymore, it's going to be the regular can. And third, we're going to have the right price and value equation. I think this combination of power of execution and the right format of the product will be a huge difference moving forward. But as you said, we need to have a structure in place in order to execute that. That's why I think it's going to take some time after implementing the new go-to-market.

Okay. And then Girish, if I could ask a follow-up on, you talked about aluminum pricing, and I know that's been a headwind across the industry for the year, but recently we've heard folks talking about stepped up transport costs, freight and diesel. Can you just walk us through how that flows through on your gross margin and maybe just any thoughts around price offset. I think you guys are just shy of 5% price, if I did the math right in the quarter. Is that like a fair kind of cadence to carry forward to the end of the year? Is there an opportunity for any incremental price?

Thanks, Jim. And yes, as you alluded to, everybody has been facing these increased aluminum costs and fuel costs. And as a reminder, we've taken $20 million out of the business. We've identified an incremental $3 million to $5 million that we'll -- that we're currently working on taking out of the business, which will primarily impact COGS and selling expenses beginning in Q1 of 2027. As you alluded to, we recently took a price increase, which in some ways was preemptive knowing that we were going to be seeing or continuing to see these aluminum costs. You know, given the broader macroeconomic outlook and consumers' flight to value, it's unlikely that we're going to pull the pricing lever again this year. But we do believe that we will continue to find opportunities to drive efficiencies through the P&L. And although we highlighted a bit of a dip in Q3 with regard to gross margin. Some of that will be recovered in Q4, partly because we are going a little bit deeper from a price point -- from a promotional price perspective in Q3 to support not only the new packaging and new flavors, but also the Cardi B brand awareness campaign as well. And so that will kind of reverse itself -- a little bit reverse itself out in Q4. So long-winded way of saying we're managing it as closely as we can and continue to find opportunities to maintain our margins. And as you saw from our first half performance, you know, we continue to sort of balance the two between reinvesting in the business and dropping dollars to the bottom line.

Our next question is from Eric Des Lauriers with Craig-Hallum Please proceed with your question.

It seems like we've touched a good amount on singles and some of the expanded distribution opportunities. I wonder if we could just focus a little bit on some of the opportunities kind of right in front of us, starting with the new packaging and new flavors. Just any sort of early insight into how that national rollout is proceeding. Are you guys continuing to see any velocity pickups from this new packaging or new flavors and just any sort of commentary on the early performance would be great.

Sure, Eric. I think -- thanks for the question, because I still think are very, very early to make any kind of comments on that because it's just one month and we still don't have 100% rollout, but I would say 90%. It's going to take a couple of months in order to be able to evaluate and as well as to segment the effects of sales in terms of the new packaging and flavors. The first readings we have some weeks, of course, and the first readings, mainly in terms of the natural channel, the velocities are higher, but still everything is too early, but we are looking for the next month to understand how solid we will be. But we are very, very excited because the first readings are positive so far.

That's great to hear. And then just switching to the Cardi B marketing campaign, you guys gave a lot of detail on just how viral this went, certainly, I mean, caught me by surprise. Are you seeing -- I mean, I know this is obviously even sort of even earlier than this new packaging rollout, but are you seeing any sort of increased web traffic or any higher engagement with the Zevia brand as a result of this? Anything to call out just initially from this?

No question on that. I think the first numbers that we showed during the conversation was huge, right? In the last two weeks, we had almost 30 million social video views. We had 1.8 billion in earned media impressions. It's huge. It went viral just because of who she is and how we are engaging with her and the brand. So, said that, in the end of the day, what we are looking for until the end of the year is going to be a track from the top of the funnel to the bottom of the funnel, the marketing funnel, right? Because we're going to have one more ad coming in the next few weeks. We're going to have a one consumer contest that consumers are going to submit some stores and then she's going to perform a new ad in real life to them. And also we are planning to have a launch of a new product, signature product with Cardi B in the beginning of January. So at the end of the day, the strategy here is the full funnel. We're talking about awareness. We're talking about consideration with the consumer in terms of the context of the better story. And then we're going to make available a product with a flavor that was developed together with her in the beginning of January. I think that's what we are focused in this campaign.

Well, sounds like lots of very exciting things to come.

Our next question is from Eric Serotta with Morgan Stanley.

I'm hoping you could give a little bit of color in terms of the sort of the priorities that you laid out, Alexandre. Do you see these as involving, you know, sort of meaningful levels of increased investment or step up of investment in order to kind of achieve your ambitions, you know, across these initiatives, or do you think you could sort of do it within the existing, you know, P&L cost envelope that you have?

Thanks, Eric. From my side, still it's very early to say. We are cooking the plan and of course we're going to make the dollars work harder for us moving forward. I believe that when we talk about first in terms of improving the go-to-market, there's many ways how to go. As I said, the most expensive and the more efficient way, we're going after the most efficient and making the mix of that. I think that's the one point. The second point, when we say in terms of how to better shape the brand is much more a conceptual shape and how to communicate and when to communicate. I think that's going to be a part. And then the third one in general it is, as I said, the high level is how to make Zevia easier to find in terms of expanding distribution and be more available and how to make Zevia easier to buy in terms of execution, right? And then this one is going to take some investment because we have to have foot on the street. And the third one, how to make Zevia easier to choose in terms of market awareness and brand relevance, this is the first test that we are doing with Cardi B, which is working. I think this is a combination of, we don't have precisely the amount of investment yet, but we are planning as we speak.

Great. And then, you know, just in terms of the modern soda category we've seen some of the brands over the past few years on the probiotic and functional side slow a bit lately. Wondering how you look at that. Is that a headwind in terms of broader less interest in modern soda? Is that an opportunity to make Zevia more relevant when some of these other broader competitors have sort of gotten a lot of mind share and kind of free air time over the past few years?

Yes, sure. I think in terms of making Zevia more relevant, this is what we call in terms of sharpening the brand a little bit. And for sure, in terms of the modern soda category, the cake or the size of the prize is growing as a whole. We have a couple of new entrants coming and exchanging share among them. But if you take a look in Zevia, we are holding very, very steady our share, independently on what's happening with the functional ones. But I think that this is the future because consumers are still looking for a more healthy way and how to consume soda and we're going to be ready to fulfill this need.

We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the floor back over to Alexandre Ruberti for closing comments.

Super, thank you. Thanks you all for joining our call today and for sure we look forward to updating you in the progress we are making in our 4 key main areas and sharing our strategic plan to accelerate growth, improving profitability and building long-term shareholder value in the coming months. Thanks a lot.

This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.