WFCF Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Image source: The Motley Fool.

DATE

Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 12 p.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Chief Executive Officer — John Saunders
• Chief Financial Officer — Dannette Boyd Henning

Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email pr@fool.com

TAKEAWAYS

• Total Revenue -- $5.4 million, representing nearly 2% year-over-year growth.
• Verification and Certification Revenue -- $4.4 million, up 6% from the previous year, attributed to new customer wins driven by certification demand.
• Product Sales -- $713,000, slightly higher than last year's $702,000, reflecting increased demand for premium tags despite lower cattle volumes and temporary tag subsidies.
• Profitability -- The company returned to profitability after the prior period, as specifically stated in the call.
• Raise Well Program Launch -- Initiated in the quarter with Whole Foods Market secured as its first major beef retailer, now generating revenue; also available across multiple protein categories.
• Non-beef Business Lines -- Verifications for pork, dairy, and egg operations, as well as certifications for organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, and upcycled, each posted growth.
• Share Repurchases -- 24,469 shares repurchased at $293,000 cost during the quarter; cumulative buybacks since inception reach 1,399,121 shares at $15.5 million.
• Animal Traceability and Disease Response Capability -- Management highlighted preparedness to support U.S. authorities in the event of cross-border animal disease spread, leveraging their IMI Global traceability system and partnership with Pattletrace.

SUMMARY

Where Food Comes From (NASDAQ:WFCF) reported direct year-over-year improvement in both revenue and profitability, aided by the expanding demand for verification and certification services. Management introduced the raise well program and announced its immediate adoption by a major national retailer, positioning the company in the premium protein segment. Growth was also observed in certifications outside the beef sector, including pork, dairy, egg, organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, and upcycled categories, broadening the company’s revenue streams. The company emphasized ongoing investments in disease traceability infrastructure and maintained an active capital return strategy via share repurchases.

• CFO Dannette Boyd Henning described growth momentum across bundled certification offerings, indicating customer uptake for combined solutions that improve efficiency and cost savings.
• Management stated, "we remain optimistic about our ability to profitably grow our business over the long term," and confirmed the intention to continue the stock repurchase program.
• New private and public sector partnerships, such as with Pattletrace, may enhance the company's ability to respond quickly to emerging industry risks, according to management statements on operational readiness.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• Raise Well program: A proprietary certification offering by Where Food Comes From that verifies premium protein products for responsible animal care practices, including no antibiotics or added hormones, traceability, and compliance with animal welfare standards.
• Pattletrace: A producer-led private livestock database partnered with Where Food Comes From to enhance national-level animal traceability and contact tracing readiness.

Full Conference Call Transcript

John Saunders: Hello, and thank you for joining the call today. This morning in our first quarter results news release, we were pleased to announce year-over-year growth and returned to profitability. Verification and certification revenue increased 6% in the quarter to $4.4 million from $4.2 million, while product sales edged up slightly to $713,000 from $702,000. Total revenue increased nearly 2% year-over-year to $5.4 million. This growth, which we achieved despite persistent headwinds around tariffs and a smaller herd size was driven by steady new customer wins based on increasing demand for a range of certifications we provide. And for all the challenges on the beef side, I'm happy to report that many of our new customers are for beef-related services.

A highlight on the beef side has been the raise well program that we launched in the first quarter of 2026. Raise well offers brands, high-end retailers and food service operators, a great way to attract consumers seeking premium protein products that have been verified back to the source of origin as having been responsibly raised, meaning they have not been given antibiotics or added hormones and have complied with rigorous animal care requirements throughout the life of the animal. The raise well launch has gone very well thus far. We secured Whole Foods market as a first major retailer to adopt the program for its beef supply, and we are generating meaningful revenue now.

Raise well is also available for other proteins, including pork, Bison, Lam, poultry, eggs and dairy. In terms of product sales, we are experiencing lower volumes in line with fewer head of cattle being put through the system and temporary tag subsidies offered to Rangers. Despite that, our product revenue was slightly higher year-over-year, reflecting increased demand for premium tags that offer more features that our ranchers are looking for. As we mentioned last quarter, the cattle industry is going through an unusual period of disruption due to the confluence of many factors, but with this disruption comes many opportunities. One of those is a potential opportunity to demonstrate our unique capabilities in response to an animal disease outbreak.

As you know, the Mexican cattle industry is experiencing an outbreak of what is known as New World crew room. This outbreak has been steadily moving north and now involves several Mexican states border in Texas.

Operator: I think for having an issue with John line. John, can you hear me. Okay. Just give me a moment, we'll try to reconnect. She's going to try and reconnect with John. If not, I can pick it up or you can very I'm happy to do it. Either way, I don't mind reading. I think maybe some -- 1 of us should say something about John's traveling internationally. So excuse the interruption.

Dannette Boyd Henning: I want to apologize. John Saunders is traveling internationally, and we believe we've lost connection with them. I'm Dannette Henning, the CFO. I'm going to go ahead and take over where he kind of left off. And -- here we go. So picking back up where the Mexican cattle industry was experiencing an outbreak of what is known as New World's preform. The outbreak has been steadily moving north and now involves a couple of Mexican states bordering Texas. The USDA is working hard to prevent a cross-border spread, but should a spread occur, we are ideally positioned to help manage the response. Our IMI Global unit maintains the most advanced animal traceability system.

And with our growing partnership with Pattletrace, the producer led private industry database, we can quickly deploy a system that enables contact tracing and allow animal health officials to identify livestock in locations that may have been exposed to disease. In the meantime, we are seeing solid growth in the number of non-beef business lines. verifications for pork, dairy and egg operations all extended their growth momentum in the first quarter. Certification activity for organic, non-GMO, gluten-free and upcycled also showed gains. And again, we continue to leverage our extensive solutions portfolio to our advantage through bundling incentives that save our customers' time and money.

In closing, we remain optimistic about our ability to profitably grow our business over the long term. and accordingly plan to continue our stock repurchase program. We bought back 24,469 shares of our common stock during the first quarter at a cost of $293,000. total buybacks since plan inception, including private purchases are 1,399,121 shares at a cost of approximately $15.5 million. And with that, I'll thank you again for joining the call today and open the call to questions. Operator?

Operator: [Operator Instructions] There are no questions at this time. I would like to turn the conference back over to John for some closing remarks.

John Saunders: Well, thank you all very much. I'm sorry, I just -- thank you, Denee, very much for finishing for me. I apologize to all of you. for the technical difficulty. I want to say welcome to all the new shareholders, and we will make you very proud and look forward to talking to you in 3 months. Take care, everyone.

Operator: Thank you. This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect at this time, and thank you for your participation.

This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. Parts of this article were created using Large Language Models (LLMs) based on The Motley Fool's insights and investing approach. It has been reviewed by our AI quality control systems. Since LLMs cannot (currently) own stocks, it has no positions in any of the stocks mentioned. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability.

The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Where Food Comes From. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.