Align forecasts downbeat Q1 revenue on soft demand for teeth aligners

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(Reuters) – Align Technology forecast its first-quarter revenue below analysts’ estimates on Wednesday, signaling soft demand for its clear teeth aligners from teenagers and younger patients.

Shares of the company, which also makes teeth retainers, dental scanners and software for dental laboratories and practitioners, fell 4.4% in extended trading.

Demand for dental products and surgeries has been sluggish as consumers, reeling from a cost-of-living crisis, continue to cut back on discretionary spending.

Align, which currently manufactures some of its teeth aligners in Mexico and ships them to the U.S., said the tariff situation “remains very fluid” and that it was monitoring the events closely.

U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on Mexican and most Canadian imports and 10% on goods from China earlier this month. But while he paused tariffs on Mexico and Canada, he did not suspend it for China.

“Assuming a 25% tariff on goods originating in Mexico, it is still more economical to ship clear aligners to the U.S. from Mexico, due to a variety of factors including the incremental additional freight costs incurred were we to ship from our Polish facility,” the company said.

Align also said it currently manufactures its products in China for its customers in the country.

The Invisalign clear teeth aligner maker expects its first-quarter revenue to be between $965 million and $985 million, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $1.03 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

On an adjusted basis, the company earned $2.44 per share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, in line with the estimates.

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)