Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Joseph Hogan: Jeff, I just think there are some things that kind of make sense from a productivity standpoint and some things that don’t. Maybe the technology changes to the point, Jeff, will have a different conversation. But as it stands today, I really don’t believe that.

Operator: Our next question comes from Elizabeth Anderson with Evercore.

Elizabeth Anderson: I was wondering if you could talk about, one, how you sort of think about the OpEx spend in terms of particularly sales and marketing in this environment? Do you sort of — obviously, with the uncertain demand profile, are there things that you’re doing incrementally in fourth quarter and the first quarter that sort of switch that spend around?

John Morici: Yes, I think what we always look at, Elizabeth, this is John. We’re always looking at trying to find the right return on investment. So as you see some of the markets stabilize and start to come back that we see, that’s where we’ll continue to make investments. And as we see volumes come back, we’ll invest even more. Like we talked about some of the stability in Americas and EMEA. So we’ll also look at trying to find the right return on investment. And as those markets stabilize and come back, you’ll see us continue to invest in there. And as we said, last year, we kind of had to pair some of that back based on the conditions. And ideally, we could be in a better situation where we can make additional investments this year.

Elizabeth Anderson: That makes sense. And maybe I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about the GP demand profile, because it was interesting how that was sort of holding up on a relative basis. I heard what you said, obviously, about the teen commentary. Is it something about that market or maybe the lower price point per case or anything like that, that would sort of be impacting that? I’d be just curious to get more color on that.

Joseph Hogan: Elizabeth, it’s Joe. Could you restate that question? I didn’t quite get the entire question.

Elizabeth Anderson: I think in your prepared remarks, you talked about the GP dentist sort of strength versus the ortho on a relative basis in the quarter. So I was wondering if you could talk more about sort of the underlying color about why that — why you sort of think that is at this point?

Joseph Hogan: Yes, that’s a good question. When you think about it, we have — we’re an elective procedure, right? And so someone is going to go to an orthodontist on a procedure like this to have teeth straighten. With the GP dentist, there is patient traffic there constantly with cleaning and restorations and different things. And so just it’s an area right now where — since it’s not just elective procedures there, we feel GPs are just seeing more patients than an ortho would when you compare period to period.

Operator: The following question comes from Jon Block with Stifel.

Jonathan Block: Maybe for the first one, John or Joe, can you just talk about the 5.5% price increase for 2023? The 1Q guidance is lower cases, lower scanner and services but revs flat. So clearly, ASP benefits. And I think you realized the 5.5%, the doc stays on comprehensive or goes to 3 x 3. But how do we think about what flows to realized ASP, John, is that sort of a, I don’t know, a plus 2% or 3% from the 4Q ’22 levels when we think about 1Q ’23 and into the balance of ’23?

John Morici: That’s a good way to look at it, John, because you’re going to have some cases that kind of carry over where they kind of order them and they get shipped a little bit later. And then you’re right, you’re going to have some mix shift between the 3×3, which is kind of the same price and then the full comprehensive. So 2% to 3% in that first quarter is about in that range. Okay. Go ahead, Jon.