Evolus, Inc. (NASDAQ:EOLS) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Serge Belanger: Hi. Good afternoon. Couple of questions for us. The first one just on overall market trends. It doesn’t sound like there was any macro headwinds in the fourth quarter, but curious if you’re seeing similar trends in the first two months of the year so far. And second question around the product with Jeuveau. I think it’s also up for approval in the coming months, so it could be a second entrance in the U.S. market. Curious how you view that product relative to Jeuveau and if it’s presence in Europe has kind of given you a preview of what it could do in the U.S.? Thanks.

David Moatazedi: Great. Thanks for the question. Yes, you’re right. In the fourth quarter of last year, we saw minimal impact from the economy. We did hear a little bit of noise from some customers, but as you said, overall, it’s a strong quarter in terms of procedural demand. We’ve seen that carry forward into the new year. As a matter of fact, in the new year, we really don’t hear much of any customers complaining about procedural volumes. So at least qualitatively, you could argue that the markets are as good, if not potentially stronger as we entered the new year than they were when we exited them. So I think we feel good about the overall market trends. As it relates to new competition, of course, competitors have to receive approval and we have to have a look at their data and understand the product before we can opine with the view.

But we’re fortunate this is a market that’s been in existence for over 20 years. Today, there are five competitors in the space, and over time there could be a six. I think it’s a very healthy market with plenty of room for new entrants to come in and carve out their own space. We see a highly underpenetrated consumer market opportunity. And in the end, a company needs to enter in this market with their unique value proposition in order to establish a presence here. And so in this case, we do see this product outside the U.S., in UK, we’re both entering that market at the same time, I think it’s probably too early to say what role we play versus others. But I think we think of it the same way, which is it doesn’t change our trajectory or our potential as a company, but it potentially creates an opportunity for another player to come in here and establish a presence.

Serge Belanger: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question is from Greg Fraser with Truist Securities. Please proceed with your question.

Gregory Fraser: Good afternoon, folks, and thanks for taking the questions. I’m wondering if you’re seeing any differences or notable trends in behavior among the consumers in your loyalty program based on age, such as differences in frequency of injections for the millennials versus older consumers. And then on the outlook, the revenue outlook for 2023, can you be more specific on the amount of growth that you’re factoring in for the overall U.S. toxin market? Thanks.

David Moatazedi: Sure. I’ll take the first part. I’ll turn it over to Sandra to give you a view on our growth assumptions for the outlook. We do look at our consumer data very closely. As you know, we have half a million consumers now in the program and many more transactions than we have consumers because many of them are coming back two, three and four times now that the program’s been existence for several years. So we’re fortunate that we have such a large database to reference. We don’t see a difference amongst the demographic groups in terms of the retention rates. They stratify similarly across groups. Retention rates are very high across the ranges with Jeuveau. And as a matter of fact, most of the patients that we see in there that are newer to Jeuveau or newer to toxin tend to skew younger.

Hence our advertising is having its impact. And then, of course, with programs like Switch Your Tox, where we added a significant number of new consumers. Those are switches from other brands, so we’re getting conversions which tend to skew older when they’re coming from the market leader and other products like that. So we do have a very diverse pool of consumers in our loyalty program, depending on what their source is, skewing older if they’re transitioning from another neurotoxin or younger if they’re new to the category. And I think that’ll continue to be the case. And the last thing I’d say is, it is interesting how the younger demographic does gravitate to loyalty programs at a higher rate than the older generation. That’s not unique to aesthetics, it’s across consumer purchasing patterns within this younger group.

So having a loyalty program is an important dimension. Having a text-based loyalty program, which is what we have, also creates an ease by which we communicate with these consumers. And then lastly, what we’ve done that’s unique and different in addition to text-based approaches, all of our communications with consumers are in partnership with the practice. And so that drives greater confidence and higher open rates in that. We’re a partner with these offices and we communicate as one voice with them. And I think those are all factors that have played an important role in us scaling the program because practices trust in the partnership we’ve built with them, but it also improves the retention rates because consumers get the messages not just from the manufacturer, but also from the practice.

Those are some unique dimensions of our program.