BARK (BARK) Q2 2027 Earnings Call Transcript

DATE

Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• General Counsel - Christina Donnelly
• Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer - Matt Meeker
• Chief Financial Officer - Anya Hamill

TAKEAWAYS

• Total Revenue -- $87.6 million, exceeding the high end of guidance despite a decline from $107.0 million due to a planned pullback in marketing spend and a smaller subscriber base.
• Commerce Revenue -- $25.7 million, representing 3.6% growth driven by strength in retail, marketplaces, and the club channel.
• Direct to Consumer Revenue -- $61.8 million, accounting for 71% of total revenue as the company focused on profitability over volume.
• Gross Margin -- 58.9%, reflecting a 100-basis-point expansion driven by lower product costs and a favorable product mix within the DTC segment.
• Adjusted EBITDA -- $2.0 million, an improvement from a $1.4 million loss in the prior year period due to reduced operating expenses and margin expansion.
• Net Loss -- $3.8 million, or $0.43 per share, improving from a $10.7 million loss in the prior year period.
• Average Order Value -- $31.40, increasing from $30.87 in the prior year period, reflecting a higher quality subscriber base.
• Subscriber Retention -- 94%, representing an improvement of approximately 200 basis points year over year.
• Marketing Expense -- $10.4 million, or 11.9% of revenue, down from 14.4% of revenue in the prior year but up 9.4% sequentially to drive a 26% increase in new subscribers.
• General and Administrative Expenses -- $46.4 million, down 19% year over year due to lower headcount-related costs and stock-based compensation.
• Shipping and Fulfillment Costs -- $24.5 million, improving to 28% of revenue from 29.4% due to network efficiency and segment mix shifts.
• Cash and Cash Equivalents -- $19.0 million, an increase of $2.9 million sequentially driven by $4.7 million in operating cash flow.
• Inventory -- $72.4 million, remaining flat sequentially with expectations for a meaningful reduction over the next two quarters.
• Share Repurchases -- $2.0 million, used to buy back approximately 194,000 shares under the current $40.0 million authorization.
• Fiscal 2027 Revenue Guidance -- $325 million to $340 million, reaffirmed by management based on first-half performance and momentum in new product launches.
• Fiscal 2027 Adjusted EBITDA Guidance -- $7 million to $10 million, maintained as the company balances growth investments with profitability.
• Third Quarter Revenue Guidance -- $88 million to $92 million, reflecting anticipated shipments for major retail partnerships.
• Third Quarter Adjusted EBITDA Guidance -- $1 million to $3 million, consistent with the company's objective for continued positive earnings.
• BARK Air Revenue -- $3.5 million, included in the DTC segment total prior to the company's planned exit from the business.
• Tariff Refunds -- $14.4 million, received by the balance sheet date with the remaining $1.1 million collected subsequently.
• Accounts Receivable -- $20.3 million, up from $12.3 million at fiscal year-end due to the timing of commerce shipments late in the second quarter.
• Other G&A Expenses -- $21.9 million, representing a 15% decrease versus the prior year driven by lower payroll, taxes, and headcount-related benefits.
• Total Orders -- 1.9 million, excluding BARK Air, reflecting the impact of the planned pullback in marketing spend on volume.

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RISKS

• Meeker stated, "The arrangement remains subject to definitive documentation, and there can be no assurance that will be completed on these terms or at all," referring to the preliminary agreement to exit the BARK Air business.
• Hamill stated, "G&A for the quarter included $1.1 million of litigation expenses related to the shareholders' class action lawsuit," identifying a significant non-operating cost.

SUMMARY

BARK, Inc. (NYSE:BARK) reported total revenue of $87.6 million, exceeding management's guidance range despite a year-over-year decline. The company reported a return to growth in the Commerce segment and expanded its gross margin through lower product costs and improved mix. Management announced a strategic decision to exit the BARK Air business to focus capital on core commerce and high-return product lines. The company reaffirmed its full-year guidance for revenue and adjusted EBITDA, citing momentum from new retail partnerships and innovative product launches.

• BARK reached a preliminary agreement to sell the BARK Air customer list and license the brand starting Jan. 1, 2027.
• CEO Matt Meeker stated, "Licksters has the potential to become a genuine growth engine for years to come," highlighting the product's design that encourages recurring revenue through refills.
• The company expects to ship its two largest retail orders in history during the third quarter for Girl Scout and Harry Potter themed collections.
• Management reported that the Commerce segment now accounts for 29% of total revenue, up from 23% in the prior year period.
• The company received $14.4 million in tariff refunds during the period with an additional $1.1 million received subsequently.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• DTC: Direct to Consumer, referring to sales made directly through the company's own websites and subscription services.
• Commerce Segment: The division of the business that sells product collections through retail partners and online marketplaces.
• Licksters: A new enrichment toy product line that utilizes a recurring revenue model based on treat refills.
• AOV: Average Order Value, calculated as Direct to Consumer revenue for the period divided by total orders.
• Adjusted EBITDA: A non-GAAP financial measure used to evaluate operating performance by excluding interest, taxes, depreciation, and other specific items.
• IEEPA: International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the authority under which the company received recent tariff refunds.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the BARK Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2027 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the conference over to Christina Donnelly, General Counsel. Please go ahead.

Christina Donnelly: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to BARK's Fiscal Second Quarter 2027 Earnings Call. Joining me today are Matt Meeker, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer; and Anya Hamill, Chief Financial Officer. Today's conference call is being webcast in its entirety on our website, and a replay of the webcast will be made available shortly after the call. Additionally, a press release covering the company's financial results was issued this afternoon and can be found on our Investor Relations website. Before I pass it over to Matt, I want to remind you of the following information regarding forward-looking statements.

The statements made on today's call are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future results and outcomes to differ. Please refer to our SEC filings for more information on some of the factors that could affect our future results and outcomes. We will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures on today's call. Reconciliation of our non-GAAP financial measures is contained in this afternoon's press release. And with that, let me pass it over to Matt.

Matt Meeker: Thanks, Christina, and good afternoon, everyone. Our second fiscal quarter was one where the strategy we've been building toward over the past 2 quarters started showing up everywhere we look in the top line, in the products on our shelves, and in the harder calls we made about where this company spends its energy and capital going forward. Total revenue was $87.6 million, above the high end of our guidance range of $83 million to $85 million, powered by continued strength in commerce, which returned to growth this quarter and contributed 29% of total revenue. As expected, the year-over-year revenue comparison reflects the smaller DTC subscriber base we carried into fiscal 2027 following last year's planned pullback in marketing spend.

Adjusted EBITDA was $2.0 million, landing in the middle of our $1 million to $3 million guidance range. We had an opportunity to increase marketing sequentially this quarter as retention and customer economics continue to improve, and we did so selectively while still delivering positive adjusted EBITDA and protecting profitability, exactly the kind of disciplined trade-off we want to be making as the business reaccelerates. We are reiterating our full year guidance of $325 million to $340 million in revenue and $7 million to $10 million in adjusted EBITDA, and we feel good about where we sit relative to that range given how the first half of the year has played out.

On the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with $19.0 million in cash, up $2.9 million sequentially, even as we continue to repurchase shares under our buyback program. Inventory stood at a healthy $72.4 million, unchanged from last quarter, and we expect that number to come down meaningfully over the next 2 quarters as it converts into cash, giving us even more flexibility over the balance of the year and into fiscal 2028. Importantly, being more disciplined about the economics of the business does not mean pulling back from growth. It means being more selective about where we pursue it.

I'm going to spend some time on what I think was the most important development of the quarter, the launch of Licksters, our new line of enrichment toys. Enrichment is the fastest-growing category in the dog toy aisle, and we believe we just launched a genuine hit. Licksters has been in development for more than 2 years, built on a simple but important insight. BARK gets to hear from and test products with millions of direct-to-consumer customers every single month.

Few companies in this category have anything close to that kind of real-time feedback before bringing a product to market at scale, and it gives us a meaningful advantage in developing products we believe will resonate with dogs and their people. The product itself delivers on its promise. Licksters gives dogs more than 40 minutes of focused, uninterrupted play. It's simple for owners to load with treats, and it's easy to clean, a kind of combination that turns a toy into a daily ritual rather than a onetime purchase.

And because it operates on a razor and blade model with refills creating a recurring revenue opportunity, we believe Licksters has the potential to become a genuine growth engine for years to come rather than a strong launch in a singular quarter. We'd also note that the largest competitor in this space was just acquired with roughly $100 million in revenue and healthy margins. That transaction is a useful data point on the size of this opportunity, and we believe we have a meaningfully better product to go after it with. Beyond Licksters, this was a terrific quarter for partnerships, which continue to demonstrate the strength of BARK's brand affinity and distribution well beyond our 4 walls.

We launched collaborations with Liquid Death and with Crocs, bringing a new line of Crocs for dogs to market, and had a standout activation with Dunkin'. Looking ahead, we begin shipping in the third quarter for our Girl Scout cookie program and for a Harry Potter themed collection headed to Costco, representing the 2 largest retail orders in BARK's history. This momentum matters greatly to our business and to the strategy we've laid out this fiscal year, primarily because it shows the model becoming more diversified.

We are taking a brand and product engine that was historically concentrated in D2C and subscriptions and increasingly monetizing across retail, marketplaces, and partnerships, allowing us to reach more dogs and introduce BARK to customers well beyond our existing subscriber base. As commerce grows, we are creating more ways to reach dog parents, extend the BARK brand across retail marketplaces and partnerships, and drive growth from those products and customer relationships we've already built through D2C. Our broader presence has also brought new customers and partners into the BARK ecosystem and has meaningfully expanded the relationships we're able to grow and build over the long term.

Finally, I want to address a significant decision we made this quarter regarding BARK Air. Subsequent to quarter end, we reached a preliminary understanding to sell the BARK Air customer list and license the BARK Air brand beginning January 1, 2027. The arrangement remains subject to definitive documentation, and there can be no assurance that will be completed on these terms or at all. That being said, BARK Air proved something real. We ran utilization rates around 90%, with 99% of passengers giving 5-star reviews, and we remain confident there is a meaningful demand for a more dignified, safe, and accessible way to travel with dogs. We're genuinely glad that problem will continue to be worked on.

What changed is not our belief in the problem or the consumer demand. It is our conviction about whether continuing to operate BARK Air ourselves is the best use of our capital and attention right now, taking into consideration the broader macro environment. BARK Air no longer aligns with where we see our long-range strategy heading and was not generating the bottom line contribution needed to justify continued investment. Exiting it allows us to redirect our capital and focus toward the areas where we see the clearest and largest returns, which are commerce, our partnership pipeline, strengthening the supply chain, and innovative enrichment products like Licksters. Turning to guidance for the third quarter.

We expect total revenue of $88 million to $92 million and adjusted EBITDA of $1 million to $3 million. Taken together, I come away from this quarter increasingly confident that we are building a great business, and our strategy is taking hold in meaningful ways. We have a healthier D2C customer base. Commerce is expanding the way BARK reaches customers, and our product and partnership pipeline are operating at significantly higher scale and creating new opportunities for growth. While there is more work to do, we believe this combination is rare and gives us strong momentum and deliberate focus. I'm genuinely excited about what's ahead. And with that, I'll turn the call over to our new CFO, Anya Hamill.

Anya Hamill: Thank you, Matt, and good afternoon, everyone. It is a pleasure to be here with you today on my first earnings call as BARK's CFO. I will start by walking through our second quarter fiscal 2027 financial results and then cover the balance sheet and our outlook for the third quarter and the full year. We delivered total net revenue of $87.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2027. As Matt noted earlier, this exceeded the high end of our guidance range of $83 million to $85 million compared to $107 million in the prior year period.

The year-over-year change primarily reflects the planned pullback in marketing spend and results in a smaller direct-to-consumer subscriber base and is partially offset by growth in the Commerce segment. Turning to our segments. DTC net revenue was $61.8 million compared to $82.1 million in the prior year period and contributed 71% of total revenue as we focus on improving profitability and driving more efficient growth. Within that, BARK Air contributed $3.5 million in revenue. I would like to point out the composition of Q2 DTC revenue. Total orders were 1.9 million. Average order value rose to $31.40 from $30.87, an increase of $0.53 per order compared to prior year. Retention was 94%, up approximately 200 basis points year-over-year.

These improvements are consistent with our focus on the quality of our subscriber base. Commerce segment revenue returned to growth, increasing 3.6% year-over-year to $25.7 million and expanded to 29% of total revenue compared to 23% a year ago. The growth was supported by strength across retail and marketplaces, continued expansion in the club channel, and the initial launch of Licksters. Gross profit in the second quarter was $51.6 million compared to $62.0 million in the prior year period, while gross margin expanded by approximately 100 basis points to 58.9% from 57.9% last year. There were no tariff recoveries related to 2026 in the quarter. So reported gross margin reflects the underlying business.

The expansion in gross margin was driven by stronger DTC margins, reflecting lower product costs and favorable product mix. It more than made up for the shift towards commerce, which carries a lower margin than DTC. Advertising and marketing expense was $10.4 million, down 32.5% from $15.4 million in the prior year period, representing 11.9% of revenue compared to 14.4% of revenue last year. Sequentially, marketing increased 9.4% from $9.5 million in the first quarter. As Matt mentioned before, we saw an opportunity to invest more into marketing this quarter, and that investment resulted in a 26% increase in subscribers compared to the first quarter of this year.

We will continue to protect our bottom line and remain disciplined in how we invest in customer acquisition. General and administrative expenses were $46.4 million, down 19% from $57.2 million. G&A includes shipping and fulfillment expense of $24.5 million, down from $31.5 million last year, and improved to 28% of revenue from 29.4% of revenue, reflecting the lower DTC segment mix as a percentage of the total and continued network efficiency work. Other G&A was $21.9 million, down 15% versus prior year, driven by lower payroll, taxes, and benefits, and lower stock-based comp, both due to lower headcount. Also, $0.8 million of impairment charges were recorded in the prior year period with none recorded this quarter.

These decreases were partially offset by a $1.8 million increase in legal fees. G&A for the quarter included $1.1 million of litigation expenses related to the shareholders' class action lawsuit, $0.4 million of warehouse restructuring costs, and $0.2 million of restructuring charges, all of which are excluded from adjusted EBITDA. Net loss for the second quarter improved to $3.8 million or $0.43 per basic and diluted share compared to a net loss of $10.7 million or $1.25 per share in the prior year period. Loss from operations narrowed to $5.2 million versus $10.7 million last year, reflecting lower G&A and marketing expense and higher gross margins, partially offset by lower revenue.

Adjusted EBITDA was positive $2.0 million in the second quarter, landing within our guidance range of $1 million to $3 million compared to negative $1.4 million in the prior year period, an improvement of $3.4 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 2.3% compared to negative 1.3% last year. A detailed reconciliation of net loss to adjusted EBITDA is included within the earnings release. The improvement versus last year was driven by lower G&A and marketing spend as well as gross margin expansion, which more than offset the decline in gross profit dollars from lower revenue. Turning to the balance sheet.

We ended the second quarter with cash of $19.0 million, up $2.9 million from $16.1 million at the end of the first quarter and compared to $19.3 million at fiscal year-end. We continue to carry no debt. The sequential increase in cash reflects $4.7 million of net cash provided by operating activities, partially offset by $2.0 million of share repurchases and other items. Under our up to $40.0 million share repurchase program, we repurchased approximately 194,000 shares for $2.0 million in the quarter and have $37.7 million remaining under the authorization. We remain committed to balancing continued investments in the business with returning capital to shareholders.

Inventory was $72.4 million, flat with the first quarter and down from $75.5 million at fiscal year-end. We will continue to optimize inventory and improve turns, and we expect inventory to come down meaningfully over the next 2 quarters as it converts into cash, providing us additional flexibility heading into fiscal 2028. Accounts receivable was $20.3 million, essentially flat with last quarter and up from $12.3 million at fiscal year-end, reflecting the timing of commerce shipments late in Q2. As of the balance sheet date, we received $14.4 million in our IEEPA tariff refunds, and a remaining balance of $1.1 million was subsequently received as well. Now turning to our guidance.

For the full fiscal year 2027, we are reaffirming our guidance of total revenue in the range of $325 million to $340 million and adjusted EBITDA of $7 million to $10 million. Based on BARK's performance through the first half of fiscal 2027, we remain confident in achieving these ranges. For the third quarter, we expect total net revenue of $88 million to $92 million and adjusted EBITDA of $1 million to $3 million. To summarize, the second quarter delivered net revenue of $87.6 million, above the high end of our guidance range, and adjusted EBITDA of $2.0 million, within our guidance range.

We expanded gross margins by approximately 100 basis points, generated $4.7 million of positive operating cash flow, and increased cash sequentially while remaining debt-free and continue to repurchase shares. Exiting BARK Air allows us to focus our capital on the areas of the business where we see the strongest returns, and we expect to continue inventory reduction to provide additional cash for the balance of the year. We are entering the second half with the Commerce segment back to growth, improved profitability, and a clear focus on where we're utilizing our capital. Our priorities for the second half are to build on this momentum, drive consistent cash generation, and deliver against the full year guidance we reiterated today.

And with that, I will turn the call over to the operator for Q&A.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Ryan Meyers with Lake Street Capital Markets.

Ryan Meyers: First one for me, just thinking about the direct-to-consumer business. So given the progress that you've made through the first half of the year, are you becoming more confident in a return to growth in that business?

Matt Meeker: Ryan, thanks for the question. I would say we're pretty happy with the first half of the year. And if it's D2C, if it's commerce, pretty much across the board, we're happy with the progress, and we're kind of -- we feel like we're still on our plan for the year and returning to growth at the same pace that we always thought we would. And on the -- well, across the board on both, as I mentioned on the call, some great wind in our sails with the launch of Licksters, which launched early August. So we got 2 months of that here. It's doing well in D2C.

It's starting to make its way into commerce, and we're super encouraged by the start there. So that could give us a little bit of a boost as the year goes on.

Ryan Meyers: Got it. And then just thinking about the reiterated guidance for the year despite coming in ahead, are you guys just simply maintaining some conservatism in the back half weighting? Or are there any offsets that we should potentially be thinking about just given where the quarter came at and then the guidance being unchanged?

Matt Meeker: Yes. I wouldn't say conservative. I mean we had a fairly -- I don't know if you characterize it as a wide range, but $325 million to $340 million as we started the year. I'd say we're certainly trending to that -- to the higher end of that. And then also thinking about 1 quarter of BARK Air revenue that if all goes according to plan, won't be there, but yet still feeling very confident about that range and probably edging ourselves towards the higher end of it even without that.

Operator: This concludes our question-and-answer session. This also concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

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