The Honest Co Inc is a personal care company dedicated to creating cleanly-formulated and sustainably-designed products for everyone from babies to adults... Show more
The Honest Company has spent recent quarters reshaping its portfolio toward higher-margin categories such as wipes and personal care while winding down lower-margin businesses like diapers and apparel. That strategic shift is now showing up clearly in profitability, even as reported revenue declines. For investors, this third quarter report matters because it tests whether the company can keep expanding margins and generating cash without leverage, while sustaining organic growth. A record gross margin, a raised full-year outlook, and a new buyback authorization suggest management is gaining confidence in the durability of its business model.
For the third quarter ended September 30, 2026, The Honest Company reported revenue of $84.6 million, a decline of 8.6% from $92.6 million a year earlier but above the consensus estimate of about $80.8 million. The top-line decline reflects strategic exits and lower diaper revenue; on an organic basis, revenue rose 9.2% to $79.3 million.
Reported gross margin was 45%, while adjusted gross margin came in at 45.8%, an improvement of 850 basis points. Excluding apparel liquidation dilution, underlying adjusted gross margin reached a record 48.9%, up 1,160 basis points year over year, driven by supply chain efficiencies, lower fulfillment costs, and favorable product mix.
GAAP net income was $91.3 million, compared with $0.8 million in the prior-year period, largely reflecting an $89.4 million income tax benefit from the release of a valuation allowance on deferred tax assets. Adjusted and underlying adjusted net income were both $3.1 million. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) was $6.3 million, or 7.4% of sales, up 360 basis points from a year earlier.
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Investor sentiment heading into the report was cautious, given expectations of a double-digit year-over-year revenue decline. The stronger-than-expected top line, record underlying margins, and a raised full-year outlook are likely to be read positively, particularly alongside the new $30 million buyback and a balance sheet holding $103 million in cash with zero debt. The large GAAP earnings figure, however, is driven by a one-time tax benefit, so investors are expected to focus on adjusted results and the sustainability of margin gains rather than the headline net income number.
Management raised its full-year 2026 outlook across the board. Reported revenue is now expected in the range of $322 million to $325 million, up from $319 million to $325 million, with organic revenue growth of 6% to 7%. The adjusted gross margin outlook was lifted to 45.5% to 46.5%, and adjusted EBITDA guidance moved to $25 million to $26 million.
Investors should watch whether the company can sustain its organic growth momentum in wipes and personal care, which now represent a majority of revenue, while continuing to manage the structural decline in the diaper category. Marketing spend is increasing to support higher-margin platforms, so the balance between investment and margin expansion will be a key swing factor.
Other factors to monitor include tariff levels and mitigation efforts, household penetration trends, and how the company deploys its new repurchase authorization against its stated goal of disciplined capital allocation. Free cash flow generation will remain an important signal of the asset-light model's health.
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Industry HouseholdPersonalCare