CV Sciences Q3 2025 Earnings Call - Navigating Regulatory Headwinds while Advancing M&A and Product Innovation

Conference Operator: Greetings and welcome to the CV Sciences third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session from the analyst community will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Brendan Hawkins, Investor Relations. Thank you, sir. You may begin.

Brendan Hawkins, Investor Relations, CV Sciences: Thank you and good afternoon, everyone. With us today with prepared remarks are CV Sciences Chief Executive Officer, Joseph Dowling, and Joerg Grasser, Chief Financial Officer. After the prepared remarks, we will take questions from the analyst community. I’d like to remind you that during this call, management’s prepared remarks may contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risk and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by CV Sciences at this time. When used in this call, the words anticipate, could, estimate, intend, expect, believe, potential, will, should, project, and similar expressions as they relate to CV Sciences are, as such, a forward-looking statement. Finally, please note that in today’s call, management will refer to non-GAAP financial measures in which CV Sciences excludes certain expenses from its GAAP financial results.

Please refer to CV Sciences’ press release from earlier this afternoon for a full reconciliation of its non-GAAP performance measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures. As I just mentioned, this afternoon, the company issued a press release announcing its financial results. Participants on this call who may not have already done so may wish to look at the press release as the company provides a summary of the results in this call. The press release may be found at cvsciences.com. I’d like to now turn the call over to CV Sciences Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Joseph Dowling. Joe.

Joseph Dowling, Chief Executive Officer, CV Sciences: Thank you, Brendan. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining our call. This afternoon, we issued a press release reporting results for our third quarter ended September 30, 2025. We are pleased with our progress as we move closer to profitability and positive cash flow. Significant financial highlights during Q3 included: we generated revenue of $3.3 million, slightly down sequentially from $3.6 million for the second quarter 2025. Our Q3 gross margin of 48.5% represents our continued ability to achieve strong margins. We continue to maintain our number one position in the natural product retail channel and have also increased our market share in this critical sales channel as well. During Q3, we continued to adapt our product innovation efforts to include more non-cannabinoid products to more fully diversify our product offering.

We also continue to execute on our M&A strategy and are realizing the initial benefits from our acquisition of Elevated Softgels, especially with the insourcing manufacturing of many of our own soft gel and tincture products previously produced by contract manufacturers. Our position as a leading consumer product company in the health and wellness category, along with our ability to leverage our public company status, continues to make us a compelling investment opportunity. Our M&A strategy goals are to increase our scale with greater revenue, but also to increase our cost efficiency. We continue to look for opportunities to increase revenue profitably with transactions that can leverage our brands, people, process, and our distribution. We are also looking at transactions that can increase our cost efficiency, including assets that allow us to further insource manufacturing.

Insource manufacturing will allow us to have much greater control over our supply chain and eventually lower our product costs. Our most recent transaction of Elevated Softgels provides us with an opportunity to insource manufacturing of a significant number of our products. Over time, we expect to see improved cost efficiency and gross margin directly from the integration of Elevated Softgels. We are constantly evaluating our capability at the Elevated facility and are selectively investing in equipment and people to improve productivity. New product development is a critical initiative for our company. We are adapting our innovation and new product development in several ways. Alongside our legacy and new cannabinoid products, we will be emphasizing and developing new non-cannabinoid products that will be positioned under our +PlusHLTH brand.

We believe there are numerous innovative formats and formulations to develop for both human and pet consumption, and we are planning to launch several new products in early 2026. We are adapting to a more diversified product offering, which will include both cannabinoid and non-cannabinoid products. We will continue to innovate and launch new products that are responsive to our customers and their specific needs states. We will work to develop products with strong science that support our product claims, always keeping in mind the trust and loyalty of our customers. We believe that adapting our product innovation and development will not only meet customer demand, but will also mitigate some of the regulatory challenges to the hemp industry. The regulatory challenges to the hemp industry are serious, but not insurmountable. The funding legislation passed in the U.S.

Senate to reopen the federal government included language that disallows the sale of hemp products with greater than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container, which represents a significant portion of hemp-derived products currently sold today. Just last night, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the funding legislation to reopen the federal government, which was then signed by the president. However, the restrictive language will not go into effect for a one-year period from today. Again, we are disappointed. However, CV Sciences will have an opportunity, along with bipartisan members of Congress, pro-hemp advocacy and consumer groups, and other industry participants, to lobby and support Congress for a balanced and responsible regulatory framework that preserves access to hemp-derived health and wellness products that are relied upon by millions of consumers across the United States.

The restrictive hemp language in the legislation to reopen the federal government conflicts with bipartisan support in Congress for the hemp industry and hemp-derived cannabinoids. Recent social media posts from the White House highlighting CBD as a wellness supplement are more than encouraging. Bipartisan members of Congress, including Senators Paul and Wyden and Congressman Comer, have been staunch advocates for the hemp industry. We believe there is significant political awareness and support from both parties to engage in an effort to achieve sensible regulation and not prohibition. A recent statement from Senator Paul summarizes the pressing need to regulate, but also support the hemp industry.

In summary, Senator Paul stated, "Hemp is an agricultural crop used for textiles, rope, insulation, composite wood, paper, grain, and CBD products that veterans, seniors, and people with chronic pain rely on every day." Senator Paul further stated, "The issue at hand is a last-minute federal ban slipped into the funding bill that would recriminalize legal hemp products and shut down farms across the country. If there are bad actors selling high-potency products in gas stations, then the solution is regulation, not destroying a $28 billion industry and the rural communities who depend on it." Senator Paul is right. We need sensible regulation, and we, CV Sciences, are ready to engage in a bipartisan effort as needed to enact regulation that will ensure product quality and safety, that will eliminate bad actors, and most importantly, that will protect consumers. Again, we are disappointed, but we are not defeated.

The hemp industry was able to secure a major concession 365 days before the language will go into effect. We, along with the hemp industry, have until November 13, 2026, to help the federal government understand how to regulate hemp and protect Americans, not to ban hemp, which is essential for the health and wellness benefits relied upon by millions of Americans. Federal regulatory reform will greatly benefit the hemp industry. At the state level, we continue to fight for a sensible and consistent framework in as many states as possible. A sensible framework at the federal and state level will help advance our industry and would create an environment where quality companies and products are trusted politically and by consumers to produce safe and high-quality products in a responsible way. We recognize this new regulatory challenge, and we are adapting to this reality.

We are positioning ourselves to compete in the current environment in spite of regulatory uncertainty. We are doing this in numerous ways, including by streamlining operations and increasing our cost efficiency to align the company for growth and profitability, and by adapting our new product development efforts in both cannabinoid and non-cannabinoid products. We continue to make good progress. Let me pause now, and I will turn the call over to Joerg to go over the numbers.

Joerg Grasser, Chief Financial Officer, CV Sciences: Thank you, Joel. During the third quarter of 2025, we continue to make strong progress on our cost-saving initiatives. We are approaching positive cash flow and delivered an adjusted EBITDA loss of just $118,000, with a healthy 48.5% gross margin. Over the past several quarters, we have right-sized our cost structure without impacting productivity. We are now well-positioned to benefit from operating leverage as we grow revenue and integrate new businesses, all with the goal of creating long-term shareholder value. We continue to evaluate strategic acquisition opportunities that align with our core competencies in wellness and innovation. We believe that disciplined M&A can meaningfully expand our product portfolio, strengthen our distribution, and accelerate top-line growth over the next several years.

Revenue for the quarter was $3.3 million, down 10% sequentially and 16% on a year-over-year basis, driven primarily by a 16% decline in unit sales due to temporary out-of-stock issues for some of our key products and restrictive regulation in certain states. On the positive side, new product innovation remains a key driver. Products launched since early 2023 represented 39% of total revenue in Q3, underscoring the strength of our pipeline and execution. The CBD market remains fragmented and competitive, but we see opportunities as weaker brands exit or consolidate. We expect that dynamic to benefit us over time. Our direct-to-consumer channel performed well, accounting for 45.2% of total revenue, up from 42.8% a year ago and 41.6% in Q2. Sequentially, DTC revenue was down about two percentage points, reflecting lower site traffic. Gross margin of 48.5% improved from 46% a year ago, though slightly below 50.9% in Q2.

The year-over-year gain reflects lower freight, fewer inventory losses, and a favorable product and channel mix, partially offset by higher costs in our Elevated Softgels and Cultured Foods subsidiaries. We continue to pursue cost efficiencies, particularly by insourcing production of key products. As Joerg mentioned, we made great progress on soft gel and tincture SKUs this year, and we expect the full cost savings to show up in our 2026 results as more in-house products sell through. SG&A was $1.8 million, down 12% year-over-year and 5% sequentially, mainly from lower professional and legal expenses. Operating loss for the quarter was $0.3 million, roughly flat with last year and slightly higher than $0.1 million in Q2. Our lower sales for Q3 resulted in a decline in gross profit, which was offset by reduced SG&A expenses.

Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $118,000 compared to $75,000 last year and a positive $59,000 in Q2. On a GAAP basis, we reported a net loss of $0.4 million versus $0.5 million last year and $0.3 million in the prior quarter. Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with $0.4 million in cash compared to $0.5 million at year-end of 2024. In September, we amended our financing agreement with an institutional investor to support growth. Cash used in operations was $0.3 million versus $0.1 million in Q3 last year. We continue to manage working capital tightly, improving AR collections, managing inventory, and aligning payables with revenue levels. We expect modest cash use in the near term as we integrate acquisitions and anticipate generating positive operating cash in 2026.

Inventory stood at $4.1 million, down from $4.9 million at year-end, reflecting our focus on converting hemp oil raw materials into finished goods and cash. We have fully consolidated our recent acquisitions of Cultured Foods and Elevated Softgels and expect to realize full synergy benefits in 2026. Beyond these integrations, we are actively pursuing additional bought-on acquisitions that can expand our addressable market, enhance our manufacturing capabilities, and create new growth channels. Our disciplined approach ensures any acquisition contributes positively to cash flow and shareholder value. With a strong balance sheet, lower cost base, and improved efficiency, we have the flexibility to continue executing our growth plan and expect improving trends ahead. Now, I’ll turn the call back over to Joel.

Joseph Dowling, Chief Executive Officer, CV Sciences: Joerg, thank you. We remain a compelling investment opportunity for several reasons. First, we will take a leading role in shaping a new federal regulatory framework for the hemp industry. We are highly respected and will use our experience to help guide legislation that will replace the new restrictive legislation and create a much stronger platform with regulatory guardrails allowing the hemp industry to flourish. Next, we are under-leveraged and can significantly scale the company through new product development and through M&A. Our sales distribution is evenly split between B2B and B2C, which we believe is a huge asset that can be leveraged considerably. Last, our public company status provides investors with liquidity options that do not exist for private companies.

We believe our opportunity to leverage our assets into a much larger public company platform in the health and wellness category is well-positioned to grow into a much bigger and profitable company. CV Sciences is a strong consumer product platform company, and we are also a public company investment vehicle with significant room to increase our operating leverage through greater scale, leading to a much larger company that can achieve strong profitability and shareholder value. We are optimistic about the long-term opportunity for our company to remain and be a competitive force in the health and wellness industry. On the regulatory front, we have a new mission: work with both Republicans and Democrats to achieve and enact sensible and responsible legislation.

This includes supporting efforts by Representative Morgan Griffith of Virginia to introduce a bill that provides robust regulation of hemp products, including requiring good manufacturing practices, truth in labeling, bans on synthetic THC, and strong measures to keep products away from children. We will also continue working with Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon on their pending hemp bill over the next several months. We have work to do, but we are great advocates for our industry and know that we are up to this challenge. We will work closely with our elected officials to enact legislation that is responsible and allows the hemp industry to flourish. Our employees are industry leaders and are focused on making the best, most innovative, and highest-quality products that meet the needs of our customers.

Now, I will turn the call back over to the operator for any calls from the analyst community.

Conference Operator: Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press Star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate that your line is in the question queue. You may press Star 2 if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the Star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. It appears that there are no questions at this time. I would now like to turn the floor back over to Joseph Dowling for closing comments.

Joseph Dowling, Chief Executive Officer, CV Sciences: Thank you. I would like to thank everyone for being a supporter of CV Sciences and our great products, and thank you for listening today. We look forward to speaking again soon.

Conference Operator: This concludes today’s teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.