Earnings Call Transcript - KMTS Q1 2026

Operator, Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Kestra Medical Technologies Earnings Conference Call. This conference call is being recorded for replay purposes. We will have a question-and-answer session after the prepared remarks from management. I would now like to turn the call over to Neil Bhalodkar, Vice President of Investor Relations for introductory comments.

Neil Bhalodkar, Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you. Thank you for joining this afternoon's First Quarter Fiscal 2026 Earnings Call. With me today are Brian Webster, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Vaseem Mahboob, Chief Financial Officer. This call includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements made on this call that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements. These statements are based on Kestra's current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions, which are subject to the current uncertainties, risks, and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Actual outcomes and results could differ materially from any results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements due to various factors. Please review Kestra's most recent filings with the SEC, particularly the risk factors described in our Form 10-K for additional information. Any forward-looking statements provided during this call, including projections of future performance, are based on management's expectations as of today. Kestra undertakes no obligation to update these statements, except as required by applicable law. With that, I'll turn the call over to Brian.

Brian Webster, President and CEO

Thanks, Neil. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's conference call. We are excited to discuss the strong start we had to our fiscal '26 and the continued progress we have made in our key operational objectives. But before we jump into that, I'd like to again highlight the purpose behind the mission that drives the Kestra team. At the center of everything we do are the lives we protect each day and the impact we have on patients, their families, and the providers who care for them. Recently, one of our territory managers or sales reps gave an overview of the ASSURE system to a provider where they discussed how the ASSURE system tracks heart rate trends and how this capability can provide critical insights for identifying patients with previously undiagnosed arrhythmias. The fact that patients could trigger their own ECG recordings with the simple push of a button on their wearable vest stood out to the provider. Soon after, the impact of this capability came into sharper focus when the same provider prescribed the ASSURE system for a 53-year-old patient at elevated risk of sudden cardiac arrest. The patient had hypertension, non-ischemic cardiomyopathy, frequent extra heartbeats, and a cardiac output injection fraction of just 34%. During the fitting, the patient's fiancée candidly shared her anxiety about the unpredictability of her loved one's condition. To provide reassurance, the care team advised that the patient triggered heart rhythm recordings twice a day. Those recordings captured repeated irregularities in the patient's heart rhythm. The Kestra representative promptly pointed out the recordings to the physician, illustrating the clinical value of patient-triggered rhythm recordings and the broader role of the cardiac recovery system in guiding care. The insights were significant enough that the patient was scheduled for a cardiac ablation. However, before the patient was able to undergo the cardiac procedure, lifesaving therapy was necessary. The patient laid down for a nap after feeling unwell. While asleep, they went into a dangerous rhythm that quickly progressed into cardiac arrest. The ASSURE system detected this and delivered a shock, saving the patient's life. In the critical moments that followed, our ASSURE Assist service quickly helped connect the patient to emergency care, and the patient was safely transported to the hospital. The story illustrates the full continuum of care that our cardiac recovery system provides. Equipping providers with insights to guide treatment, protecting patients with life-saving therapy when it matters most, and ensuring rapid emergency support in the vulnerable periods that follow. And while this is just one patient's experience in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, our team and technology helped facilitate many similar life-saving events. We remain humbled by this responsibility and by the trust placed in us by providers, their patients, and their families. With that, I would now like to turn to our recent performance. In the first quarter, we continued to reach more patients at risk of cardiac arrest, accepting over 4,200 prescriptions written for the ASSURE system, an increase of 51% year-over-year. Revenue grew 52% year-over-year to $19.4 million. Continued improvements in revenue per fitting from a higher in-network mix and reductions in cost per fitting from volume leverage drove the seventh quarter in a row of gross margin expansion. First-quarter gross margin was 45.7% compared to 32.9% in the prior year period. We expect continued gross margin expansion in FY '26 and remain confident that Kestra is on the path to 70% plus gross margins. With the strong revenue growth that Kestra is generating, we are seeing nice operating leverage in the business. This leverage supports the investments we are making in the company's key growth drivers that we believe will yield significant long-term value for Kestra and stakeholders. A quick overview of four of those growth drivers. First, we continue to expand our sales organization with the goal of further penetrating existing accounts as well as calling on new potential ASSURE prescribers. We are targeting geographies in which a high volume of WCD prescriptions are being written and where we also have strong in-network payer coverage. As we noted on our last earnings call, we ended fiscal year '25 with approximately 80 sales territories. While this will not be a data point that we will be updating on a quarterly basis, I can say that our territory additions in the first quarter were in line with our hiring plan, and we continue to aggressively expand our sales coverage. Of note, we also have an updated commercial strategy that includes an expanded clinical specialist role that will complement our sales territory managers. We expect that this strategy will support further penetration of existing accounts. Second, we continue to make progress on improving our revenue cycle management capabilities while also bringing more payers in network. At the time of our IPO six months ago, approximately 70% of our fittings were for patients with in-network benefits. This figure is now approaching 80%. The higher in-network mix meaningfully increases our team's efficiency and positively impacts all key RCM metrics. It is important to note that there are over 3,000 payers in the United States. So there will be a long tail of regional and local payers we are working to bring under contract. The RCM activities that increase the speed and rate of our collections are process-driven, and we expect to see further improvements over time. For example, in the early days of commercialization, we had a small RCM team that was not specialized. The same individual may have been tasked with following a claim from fitting all the way to cash. Our RCM function has grown significantly, particularly in the last 12 months, with team members specializing in specific areas such as prior authorization, medical review, and home management. Third, as you all know, we utilize a lease business model. Our substantial investment in our fleet of devices, each with the capacity for approximately three patient wears per year, enables the business to scale with our attractive unit economic profile. While our current asset pool can support our near-term business objectives, we are continuing to add to our fleet at a measured pace as we grow our field team. Fourth, we are continuing to build the body of clinical evidence supporting the safety, efficacy, and benefits of the ASSURE system. We recently achieved a major clinical milestone with the conclusion of enrollment in our FDA post-approval study. This is a really significant achievement for the Kestra team and took a ton of hard work by our entire team. We were also recently notified that our study was chosen for a late-breaker presentation of our clinical data at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, which will be conducted in November. At the time that our post-approval study is presented, we expect this to be the single largest study ever published in the WCD category. This is the biggest stage in cardiology for our exciting results. All of these growth drivers further our mission of protecting even more patients that are at risk of sudden cardiac arrest. We have previously noted that despite the overwhelming evidence that an external fibrillation shock is effective at terminating dangerous cardiac rhythms, WCD therapy remains underutilized, reaching just 14% of the eligible U.S. patient population. That means six out of seven patients that are indicated for WCD are not being protected by this therapy. Last quarter, I shared with you two examples of hospitals that transitioned from underutilization of WCDs to significantly expanding their use of WCDs by establishing therapy protocols with the ASSURE system as their preferred solution. I would like to share another data point that gives us confidence that the WCD market will continue to expand into a multibillion-dollar market over the coming years. The results of a large German WCD study sponsored by the incumbent competitor were recently published. The SCD PROTECT study evaluating the risk of sudden cardiac death in over 19,000 patients in the first few months after they were newly diagnosed with heart failure or post-myocardial infarction, or heart attack. Despite widespread overall use of guideline-directed medical therapy drugs, the study found higher-than-expected sudden cardiac arrest risk in this patient population, suggesting a need for greater WCD protection in the early high-risk period of the patient's journey. Investment in this study is further evidence that the incumbent is focused on market expansion to help make up for lost share to Kestra. In conclusion, the simplicity of the Kestra story continues. We are competing in a large existing market that is growing consistently in both unit volume and price. We have an underserved medical condition where we offer a clearly superior solution. We have rapidly closed the gap on payer endorsement of our product, and we are implementing a commercial expansion plan to rapidly grow the business. We are seeing strong execution across all elements of our business, and the foundation we have built has positioned Kestra for strong growth this fiscal year and beyond. I would like to thank our incredible team in the field and here at the home office in Kirkland for their passion and commitment to the Kestra mission. I will now turn it over to my partner, Vaseem, who will discuss first-quarter financial results in more detail and provide our updated fiscal year 2026 revenue guidance.

Vaseem Mahboob, Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Brian, and good afternoon, everyone. Total revenue was $19.4 million in the first quarter, an increase of 52% compared to the prior year period. Revenue growth was driven by a 51% year-over-year increase in prescriptions, reflecting market share gains with existing customers and activation of new accounts. Gross margin was 45.7% in the first quarter compared to 32.9% in the prior year period. As Brian mentioned, we have now expanded our gross margins sequentially for seven quarters in a row. The continued expansion in gross margin was driven by the attractive unit economics inherent in Kestra's rental model, a higher revenue per fit from more in-network patients, and a lower cost per fit driven by volume leverage and our cost improvement projects. Cost per fit decreased approximately 20% compared to the prior year period, while adjusted revenue per fit increased approximately 20% compared to the prior year period. In the years ahead, you should expect to see steady and consistent increases in our gross margins as our rental model benefits significantly from the volume and depreciation leverage. We remain confident in our ability to achieve 70% plus margins over the next few years. As we have discussed previously, higher in-network mix unlocks the power of the Kestra business model. You can see this in our steadily expanding year-over-year conversion rate. We ended the quarter with a conversion rate of approximately 47% compared to an adjusted conversion rate of approximately 40% in the prior year period. The higher conversion rate reflected improvements in all three key drivers of our conversion rate, our prescription fill rate, our bill rate, and our collections performance. As we continue to bring more payers in network and enhance our revenue cycle management processes, we will see benefits in our revenue growth, gross margins, and our profitability profile. Moving on. GAAP operating expenses were $37.7 million in the first quarter and included $2.9 million of nonrecurring new public company costs. GAAP operating expenses were $22.6 million in the prior year period. Excluding those nonrecurring costs and our stock-based compensation expense, operating expenses were $30.3 million in the first quarter of 2026. The increase was primarily attributable to growth investments in our commercial and revenue cycle resources. GAAP net loss was $25.8 million in the first quarter compared to a GAAP net loss of $20.3 million in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA loss was $19.4 million in the first quarter compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of $15.7 million in the prior year period. Cash and cash equivalents totaled $201.2 million as of July 31, 2025. We continue to expect our existing cash balance to be sufficient for Kestra to reach cash flow breakeven and profitability. I would also note that based on our trailing 12-month revenue, an additional $15 million tranche of our existing term loan has become available to us to draw on through July 31, 2026. At present, this tranche of $15 million remains undrawn. I will now provide our updated fiscal year 2026 guidance. We expect revenue of $88 million, an increase of 47% compared to fiscal year 2025. This compares to prior year guidance of $85 million. Underpinning this guidance is our expectation that we will continue to see strong growth in prescriptions as our market share increases with existing customers and as we activate new accounts. We expect revenue per fit to continue to benefit from a higher mix of in-network patients and improvements in our revenue cycle management capabilities. With that, operator, we have concluded our prepared remarks and are ready to proceed to the Q&A portion of the call.

Operator, Operator

Certainly. Our first question for today comes from the line of Travis Steed from BofA Securities.

Travis Steed, Analyst

Congrats on a good quarter. Maybe to start on guidance. Nice to see a raise by more than the beat. Just helping us understand kind of what's driving the confidence to raise this much in the beginning of the year and how to think about any cadence over the course of the year as we update our models?

Brian Webster, President and CEO

Yes, Travis, thanks for the question. And I would say we certainly have a really strong Q1, and we're certainly bullish about the rest of the year. It's early in the year. So we're going to see if things play out over the next quarter or two. But right now, we're comfortable with that guidance update. And I'm excited about marching into our second quarter.

Travis Steed, Analyst

All right. Great. And I wanted to maybe double-click on some of the in-network mix things you mentioned. Just kind of understanding like what you guys are doing on the ground to improve the mix, where the mix can be over the course of this year and next few years, and maybe to think about the impact on gross margins as well as we go forward.

Brian Webster, President and CEO

Yes. At the time of our IPO, we had over 90% of lives covered by insurance in the U.S., meaning a significant majority of insured individuals were under contract with us. However, the real revenue comes from the actual patients we serve. This percentage has increased from 70% at the IPO to around 80% now, and we expect this to rise gradually as we bring on more payers. There is a lengthy process involved with approximately 3,000 payers, and engaging with local and regional ones takes time. Some payers we may not reach due to pricing, but we will continue our efforts. As we engage more payers, we expect to see a gradual increase. It's also important to note that we are strategically expanding our sales territories in regions where we see known demand and have good payer coverage, ensuring efficiency in this expansion. As we increase the number of in-network payers, we anticipate a positive impact on our revenue per fitting or per patient.

Operator, Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Rick Wise from Stifel.

Frederick Wise, Analyst

Two things I'd like to follow up on a little bit. One, actually, you just touched on in your response to Travis, Brian, this notion, and you've said it from the beginning, this notion of expanding into areas where there's greater in-network opportunity or however, I should phrase the words. I know you know what I mean. Where are you in that process? And I mean, is there any way to quantify or give us a more granular understanding of like what happened in the last few months and what's going to happen now this year in terms of that kind of a move? So just so we better understand where you are.

Brian Webster, President and CEO

Yes. Thanks for the question, Rick. It's obviously important to our business model. I don't think you can think of the payer additions in a straight linear line over time. You have to think of it more as sort of a sawtooth curve because in one period, we may add a good-sized regional payer; in the next period, it may be some smaller regional payers that we're trying to add to support specific territories where we have a lot of demand. So I think it will continue to go up and to the right as we get more coverage, and that will continue to benefit the business model, benefit our ability to go after these territories. It's really impactful when you're in a territory and you're a territory manager trying to sell your product, and the competitor has insurance coverage and you don't. That puts you at a disadvantage. And so what we're trying to do with that strategy is we're trying to make sure that when we make the investment to add new reps, we're giving them all the tools that they need, including insurance coverage so that they can be successful.

Vaseem Mahboob, Chief Financial Officer

And Rick, I’d like to add one more comment to that. We have previously discussed this, and I want to remind everyone that when considering the impact on the conversion rate due to the in-network mix, we have stated that reaching 80% or 90% is not necessary. Our financial model anticipates an increase from the high 40s where we currently are to the high 50s over the next couple of years. So, as Brian mentioned, as you provide coverage and conversions towards a higher mix with that 3,000, it will naturally lead to a higher conversion rate. However, we don’t need to achieve all 3,000 at once; it will be a gradual process, which is already reflected in our previous communications.

Frederick Wise, Analyst

Great. Vaseem, I wanted to discuss the quarterly flow. This has been a strong quarter, and the solid raise is very encouraging as we look forward to the rest of the year. Can you help us understand how this affects the quarterly flow? With the additional millions we are incorporating into our model, should we expect our current models to be more back-end loaded? Does this change the quarterly cadence? Please ensure our models are aligned correctly.

Vaseem Mahboob, Chief Financial Officer

Yes, that's a great question, Rick. I think, again, what's really great about this quarter is now we've taken our guidance from being 42% year-over-year growth to a 47% growth year-over-year. And as you guys have heard us communicate in the past, we are in a ramp. We are adding new territory managers, as Brian talked about. That's where most of the OpEx investment is going. So as we have said in the past, there is a start and that ramp that needs to happen. So we should expect not to be back-end loaded, but we see a really nice steady increase in our top line as we go through the remainder of the quarters for the rest of the year. But really, really excited about having to raise the guidance by the levels that we have and just based on, as Brian said, the comfort that we take in the performance of the business in the first quarter.

Operator, Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Matthew O'Brien from Piper Sandler.

Matthew O'Brien, Analyst

Would love to talk about the prescription number in the quarter because that was really strong, up about 300 sequentially. This time last year, we were roughly flat. So I would just love to hear about the improvements that we're seeing on the prescription side of the business. And I think you're now roughly annualizing to about 14% of all cases that you're going after right now. So just where can we think about the company kind of exiting the year in terms of percentage of all prescriptions being written for ASSURE.

Brian Webster, President and CEO

Thank you for the question, Matt. From my perspective, the positive aspect of the prescription numbers is that as we ramp up the commercial team, we analyze the metrics in different categories. One category consists of fully onboarded and fully productive representatives. We assess their performance on a month-over-month, week-over-week, and quarter-over-quarter basis, and the encouraging news is that those who have been in their roles for a while continue to show improvement. However, this is only part of the picture because we are also bringing in many new representatives. The key question is whether we can onboard these new hires quickly enough for them to reach acceptable productivity levels. We closely monitor those metrics as well, and we are seeing similar progress, with new reps achieving the productivity targets we expect weekly and monthly. This trend is promising and boosts our confidence, which is why we are expanding our commercial presence. The sequential growth you see in prescriptions reflects the influence of both our seasoned and new representatives.

Matthew O'Brien, Analyst

Okay. That's helpful. And then just kind of staying on that topic, Brian. Just the reps are coming in, are they really focusing on the low-hanging fruit, which is really just converting existing accounts over to ASSURE from the competitor? Or are some of the more legacy reps really being more successful in kind of doing both, which is converting market share but also expanding the market because your commentary about the competitor and the clinical trial, I thought was interesting too, just given how underpenetrated the whole category is.

Brian Webster, President and CEO

Yes. I believe that study is significant because it highlights the ongoing necessity, particularly for heart failure patients. However, when it comes to onboarding new sales representatives, we are concentrating on ensuring that as soon as they start using Salesforce.com, they have access to all the top prescribers and clear initial targets to focus on. The challenge is that some new reps may have existing relationships that they may prioritize, which might not include the highest prescribers. Overall, the strategy for new representatives is to target the core business first and then expand from there. Established representatives have already made inroads and are continuing to deepen their presence in existing accounts while also exploring new accounts that haven't traditionally prescribed WCD. This approach is contributing to our market growth.

Operator, Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Lawrence Biegelsen from Wells Fargo.

Larry Biegelsen, Analyst

Two for me. One, on the conversion rate, one back on market share. So Vaseem, what does the guidance assume for the year-over-year increase in the conversion rate? It looks relatively small, a relatively small increase is assumed for the fiscal year versus the first quarter, which looks like about 700 basis points. And secondly, if I heard correctly, in-network is now almost 80%, which is relatively high. What are the drivers to get you to that best-in-class conversion rate that I think you said on the Q4 call was 76% from 47% today?

Vaseem Mahboob, Chief Financial Officer

That's a great question. Thank you, Larry. We've observed a steady year-over-year rise in our conversion rate, and I am pleased to share that we are making progress in all three components of our conversion rate, with all trends moving positively. The primary factor contributing to this conversion rate is the enhancement in our in-network patient mix, which has increased by 10 points since the IPO, a very encouraging sign. As Brian mentioned, we will keep pushing in the right direction. Our strategy is effective, and our main focus areas for the conversion rate remain on deploying therapy managers into regions with high prescriptions and returns. This will occur naturally as the commercial team grows, leading to further positive growth in the conversion rate. Additionally, we are heavily concentrating on Tier 2 opportunities, such as the recent partnership with Oscar Health, which is a valuable regional program. Our market access team is actively engaged in pursuing similar opportunities. Lastly, we continue to invest in our Revenue Cycle Management team, improving both our workforce and systems. The guidance indicates an expected 2.5 to 3-point increase in our conversion rate, which we believe is very attainable. There are still many games left to play this year, so you will continue to see progress in the conversion rate. However, it’s worth noting that the conversion rate is assessed on a year-over-year basis, and we will persist in enhancing it.

Brian Webster, President and CEO

Yes. Thanks, Larry. I think time will tell how long it takes us to get to that position. But I think there's a couple of different drivers that I would say. With regards to where we stand today, we're probably somewhere around 12% market share, is my math. I would say that the key driver, now that we've got the insurance coverage in place and we've got a high percentage of our patients coming in with coverage, that's not as big a focus as just pure sales coverage is. And right now, we're a little over 50% of the U.S. that we have covered in terms of actually having a rep in a territory. Now that doesn't mean we're 50% of the competitor. It means that in a city, like let's call it Minneapolis, we might right now, we don't have a rep there. They might have three reps there. So when we put a rep in there, we would say at least we've got representation there. So right now, we're still just a little over 50% territory coverage in the U.S. So we've got a lot of room to go in terms of being able to cover the market. And we're going deep in certain territories that we know are high-producing territories now, but also, you'll see us starting to broaden that out and cover some of these other territories in the future. But that's going to be the biggest driver. The rate at which we do that will determine how quickly we can get to that category leadership position.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Michael Polark from Wolfe Research.

Michael Polark, Analyst

Brian, I want to follow up on one of your prepared remarks comments about the expanded clinical specialist role to complement certain territory managers to penetrate existing accounts. I guess can you just help us better understand, I was under the assumption you had specialists already. What's the expanded role look like? What is this person doing that's different? And how are they incentivized? And is this something you expect to deploy for all territories? Or is this going to be focused on the biggest accounts? Any color here would be helpful.

Brian Webster, President and CEO

Thank you for the question, Mike. I want to revisit the service model that is fundamental to this category. When we receive a prescription, the prescriber expects that we will fit and train the patient within 24 to 48 hours, enabling the patient to go home. This requires a robust service model, which influences the pace at which we expand into new areas and grow our commercial presence. As we deepen our engagement with certain accounts, we can shift some account management tasks from our sales representatives to clinical specialists. This transition allows sales reps to focus on identifying new prescribers and accounts. Our approach is collaborative. Initially, we will implement these roles in high-performing territories where we have successfully captured significant market share. This will empower our representatives to expand their reach. As we assess our progress, we will determine how extensively we should add these resources. This strategy aligns with practices seen in medtech across various categories, and we believe it will be effective for us, starting with our top performers and evolving from there.

Michael Polark, Analyst

That's helpful. The follow-up is regarding the late-breaker coming at AHA for your post-approval study. Can you remind us of the high-level specifications of that post-approval study, including the size, focused patient demographics, and the enrollment period? Additionally, if you're willing to preview the data, that would be great. What outcomes do you hope this study will demonstrate? Will it significantly change the narrative on patient compliance? Is that the main focus? Is it just the robustness of the quality data that supports the pitch? Will there be differentiated insights on MI versus heart failure patients or post-MI patients? What do you aim to highlight in this presentation?

Brian Webster, President and CEO

Well, shall I just read the whole presentation to you now, Mike, and then we'll just cut to the chase?

Vaseem Mahboob, Chief Financial Officer

Obviously. You're free to do that. This is a public forum.

Brian Webster, President and CEO

Yes, this is a significant milestone for the company. We initiated the post-approval study shortly after launching the product, and we've been involved for about three years. We anticipate the study will include around 24,000 to 25,000 patients, which provides a substantial amount of data for deriving clinical results. The main endpoints of the study encompass shock success rate as the primary metric and safety via inappropriate shocks. Additionally, we will examine false alarm rates and patient compliance. These represent the key focus areas. As we analyze this extensive dataset, we will have the chance to explore differences between post-myocardial infarction (MI) patients and non-ischemic patients, along with other valuable data that we expect to publish in the upcoming quarters and over the next few years. The upcoming report at AHA will garner significant attention, especially since one of our major competitors often claims that Kestra lacks the published clinical data they possess. With our large study featuring 25,000 patients, that argument loses its weight as we present a robust collection of clinical data. We are enthusiastic about addressing this concern definitively. While we have not completed all analytics yet, we recently received a late-breaker notification, marking an important achievement for the company and for many dedicated individuals involved. We believe that the promises associated with the ASSURE system will soon be validated through the clinical data we will share in just a couple of months.

Operator, Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Daniel Dams from Goldman Sachs.

Unknown Analyst, Analyst

Key topic at last week's HRX conference was on compliance rates and that it still remains a key barrier on WCD utilization. Can you just detail a little further what you are seeing, and how compliance rates are evolving across your user base as experience growth?

Brian Webster, President and CEO

Thank you for the question. I would say that compliance is the biggest challenge for any at-home patient and any at-home category, whether it's blood pressure monitoring, medications, or wearables like ours. The therapies don’t work if patients aren't willing to use them. Compliance has been our top priority in designing our product. We look at compliance in two ways: the median daily wear time and how that wear time changes over time. Our metrics show that our daily median wear time is over 23 hours a day, which indicates patients are willing to use our product. Additionally, while there is a gradual decline in wear time over time, we’ve found that once patients get through the initial week of using our device, they continue to wear it for the full duration of their prescription. This shows that they can tolerate it not just in the short term but for the long term, providing them with the protection they need. We feel very positive about how our data aligns with these goals.

Unknown Analyst, Analyst

That's very helpful. And just the second question is just on the cadence of OpEx investments through the course of the year. Last quarter, we had talked about some of the investments the new commercial offer was making. We've discussed the new territory manager expansion today, but any color on the pace of those investments through the rest of the year and what those might be focused on?

Brian Webster, President and CEO

I believe our approach will be steady and measured. We are expanding our commercial presence, as previously discussed. Last quarter, we mentioned that we were somewhat aggressive with our operational expenses because we had the chance to invest in our leadership team and enhance the training for our new representatives. Now that we have entered our new fiscal year, we have a clear business plan for the year that we are executing with precision. You will observe consistent additions to our team to ensure we effectively cover new territories and support territory managers for their success. This strategy is essential; it’s not about rapidly hiring as many representatives as possible. We seek high-quality representatives who will excel in serving our customers and their patients, aiming to establish a strong commercial team. That is our strategy.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. This does conclude the question-and-answer session of today's program. I'd like to hand the program back to Brian Webster, President and CEO, for any further remarks.

Brian Webster, President and CEO

Okay. Thank you, and thank you for the great questions. I think, again, the story of Q1, we're off to a new start in a new fiscal year. And it's an exciting start, but we've got a business plan. We're executing to that plan. And I'm thrilled by the level of commitment that the Kestra team has and the culture that we're building around performance and commitment. And we're looking forward to getting back with you all in 90 days or so and give you an update on Q2. We continue to put a really bright shiny light on the focus we have around patients and the lives that we save every day; every week we report on those to our team. Every Monday, we report on the patients' lives that were saved by our product last week. And that continues to be the guiding light for this company and will continue to be so. So thank you for attending today, and we look forward to updating you again in 90 days. Thank you.

Operator, Operator

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Good day.