Debra Borchardt
Turning Point Brands, Inc. (NYSE: TPB) announced disappointing financial results for the second quarter ending June 30, 2022, as net sales dropped by 16.1% to $102.9 million. This missed the yahoo Finance average analyst estimate for revenue of $105 million, but it was higher than the first quarter’s net revenue of $100 million. Turning Point reported that combined net sales for Zig-Zag and Stoker’s Products only declined by 0.9% for the quarter. NewGen net sales, which is the vape category, declined by 45.1% and dropped 2.1% sequentially.
The net income decreased 64.7% to $5.4 million from last year’s $13 million for the same time period and the adjusted EBITDA decreased 17.6% to $24.7 million.
The diluted EPS of $0.30 and adjusted Diluted EPS of $0.70 fell versus the reported $0.73 and $0.84 in the same period one year ago, respectively. This also missed the analyst estimates for earnings of $0.72.
“We are pleased with the stable performance of both the Zig-Zag and Stoker’s segments during the quarter in light of a heightened inflationary environment for our customers with rising prices at the pump impacting consumer traffic in convenience stores. While overall sales decreased 16 percent from the previous year, Zig-Zag and Stoker’s sales were steady despite weakness in the wraps and loose leaf subsegments. Zig-Zag maintained its leading positions in both the roll-your-own paper and cigar wraps markets while Stoker’s MST experienced accelerated share gains driven by consumer trade-down to the value category. Despite NewGen revenue decreasing 45 percent from last year, the segment remained relatively stable from the previous quarter and profitable as we continue to monitor FDA regulatory developments,” said Yavor Efremov, President and CEO. “We continued to deploy a substantial amount of our free cash flow towards share repurchases during the quarter while maintaining a strong balance sheet providing us with optionality on further capital deployment.”
Expenses did get trimmed to $33.3 million versus $35.1 million in the second quarter of 2021. Turning Point also ended the quarter with total liquidity of $128.8 million, comprised of $107.4 million in cash and $21.4 million of revolving credit facility capacity. During the quarter, the company said it spent $8.8 million to repurchase 301,662 shares at an average price of $29.16 per share. The stock was lately trading at $30. The company also recorded an additional impairment of $6.3 million during the quarter related to its investment in the cannabis brand dosist.
Next Gen Trouble
The company said that the vape category remains under pressure due to the regulatory environment which is hurting sales. For the quarter, the NewGen Products segment’s gross profit decreased 50.6% to $7.0 million. The segment gross margin contracted 340 basis points from the previous year to 30.1 percent due to product mix and the competitive environment.
“Despite another challenging quarter further impacted by new regulation around synthetic nicotine products, our vape business remained profitable,” concluded Purdy. “Meanwhile, our distribution capabilities continued to improve through the quarter as we position our business for a post-PMTA environment while our vapor products’ applications remain under FDA review.”
Outlook
Mr. Efremov concluded, “Going forward, we maintain a favorable outlook on our underlying business and our competitive positioning. However, given the market environment during the second quarter, along with continued inflationary pressures and resulting uncertainty of consumer confidence, we feel it is prudent to adjust our outlook for the year.”
Turning Point lowered its estimates for its 2022 sales and blamed it on the uncertain macro environment and slower than expected improvement in its NewGen Products segment. Zig-Zag Products sales are expected to remain flat in a range of $193 to $200 million, Stoker’s Products sales of $127 to $133 million, which is only tweaking the upper end of the range from $134 million. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA is estimated to range between $97 to $103 million.
