Buda Juice (AMEX:BUDA) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Wednesday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.
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The full earnings call is available at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/605302226
Summary
Buda Juice reported a 17.7% year-over-year revenue growth for the first quarter of 2026, driven entirely by its existing customer base.
The company faced a temporary gross margin decline due to a spike in lime costs caused by supply chain disruptions in Mexico, but expects recovery in the second quarter.
Buda Juice announced a major expansion into 256 Walmart stores across nine states, significantly increasing its store count by more than 75%.
Operational efficiencies were highlighted with labor costs as a percentage of revenue improving by over 150 basis points year-over-year.
Despite increased general and administrative expenses due to public company costs, the company remains profitable and debt-free, ending the quarter with $20 million in cash.
Management emphasized continued strategic focus on expanding distribution and maintaining profitability while diversifying its geographic footprint beyond Texas.
Full Transcript
Dennis (Operator)
Hello and thank you for standing by. My name is Dennis and I will be your conference operator today. At this time I would like to welcome everyone to the Buda Juice first quarter 2026 earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker’s remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press STAR followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. I would now like to turn the call over to Brian Siegel, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Brian Siegel (Investor Relations)
Thank you Dennis. During today’s call, Horatio Lanzdel Hands, Buda Juice’s Chief Executive Officer and Clint Bowers, Buda Juice’s Chief Financial Officer, will discuss Buda Juice’s financial and operational results that were reported this morning. Any forward looking statements made during this conference call, during the prepared remarks or in the question and answer session, whether general or specific in nature, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results in the future to differ materially from those discussed on today’s call. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, specific risks and uncertainties disclosed in Buda Juice’s periodic and annual SEC filings. BUDA assumes no obligation to update any forward looking statements or to update the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that they forecast. Please note that our earnings release is available on the investor relations page of the Buda Juice website has also been filed on Form 8K with the SEC. Finally on this call we will refer to non GAAP measures including non GAAP net income and eps free cash flow and adjusted ebitda. Please see our earnings release for an explanation of our use of non GAAP measures and reconciliations to GAAP measures. Now I’d like to turn the call over to Horatio.
Horatio Lanzdel Hands (Chief Executive Officer)
Thank you Brian. Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining us. The first quarter of 2026 was our first full quarter as a public company. Revenue grew 17.7% year over year which is about the mid teens outlook we discussed in our last earnings call. Importantly, that growth came entirely from our existing customer base. Gross margin during the quarter was impacted by the temporary disruption in citrus supply. In February, lime costs spiked significantly following disruptions in western Mexico that interrupted normal supply routes. This was a temporary issue and conditions have now stabilized. Even with that temporary pressure, labor cost as a percentage of revenue improved by more than 150 basis points year over year which reflects continued operational efficiency across the business. We enter 2026 from a position of strength profitable, debt free and well capitalized following our IPO which we believe positions us well for long term expansion. Looking beyond our first Quarter On Monday this week we announced a major milestone for our company expansion of our products into 256 stores across nine states including Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, all with a new customer, Walmart. This expansion takes us from one state to nine states and increases our store count by more than 75%. The Buda Juice Fresh Cherry Limeade is now available in these Walmart stores In both the 12 ounce single serve and 32 ounce multi serve formats. The products are being merchandised in the fresh produce department, reinforcing our ultra fresh within the retail environment. These new products are manufactured at our Dallas facility where we recently invested in additional capacity and automation following our IPO to support future growth. When we went public this year we had built a strong and profitable business concentrated primarily in Texas. This expansion now diversifies both our geographic footprint and customer base as we continue building the business beyond our historical Texas concentration. …
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