European Wax Center, Inc. Provides Update Ahead of the 2026 ICR Conference

Rhea-AI Summary

European Wax Center (NASDAQ: EWCZ) updated its fiscal 2025 outlook ahead of the 2026 ICR Conference. The company reported 20 net center closings in fiscal 2025 (11 gross openings, 31 closures) and revised guidance: system-wide sales $945M–$948M, total revenue $206M–$208M, same-store sales 0.1%–0.3%, Adjusted EBITDA $72M–$74M, and Adjusted Net Income $33M–$35M. Results remain subject to quarter and year-end close and an audited financial report expected in March 2026.

Positive

• Adjusted EBITDA outlook raised to $72M–$74M from $69M–$71M
• Adjusted Net Income outlook raised to $33M–$35M from $31M–$33M
• Fewer net center closings than prior outlook: 20 vs 23–28
• System-wide sales guided to $945M–$948M

Negative

• Same-store sales guidance constrained to a narrow 0.1%–0.3% range
• Gross openings (11) materially lower than closures (31)
• Fiscal 2025 results subject to audit and final close in March 2026

News Market Reaction – EWCZ

-0.25%

1 alert

-0.25% News Effect

On the day this news was published, EWCZ declined 0.25%, reflecting a mild negative market reaction.

Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.

Key Figures

System-wide sales outlook: $945M–$948M Prior sales outlook: $940M–$950M Total revenue outlook: $206M–$208M +5 more

8 metrics

System-wide sales outlook $945M–$948M Fiscal 2025 current outlook

Prior sales outlook $940M–$950M Fiscal 2025 previous system-wide sales outlook

Total revenue outlook $206M–$208M Fiscal 2025 current outlook

Same-store sales outlook 0.1%–0.3% Fiscal 2025 same-store sales guidance

Adjusted EBITDA outlook $72M–$74M Fiscal 2025 current guidance

Adjusted Net Income outlook $33M–$35M Fiscal 2025 current guidance

Net center closings 20 centers Fiscal 2025 actual net closings vs outlook of 23–28

Fiscal 2024 sales $951M Network sales generated in fiscal 2024

Market Reality Check

Price: $5.75 Vol: Volume 314,822 is close t...

normal vol

$5.75 Last Close

Volume Volume 314,822 is close to the 20-day average 331,611 (relative volume 0.95x). normal

Technical Shares at $4.08 are trading below the 200-day MA $4.26, reflecting prior technical pressure.

Peers on Argus

EWCZ is up 2.77% while peers show mixed moves (e.g., ACU +0.78%, SKIN -7.01%). W...

EWCZ is up 2.77% while peers show mixed moves (e.g., ACU +0.78%, SKIN -7.01%). With no peers in the momentum scanner, action appears more stock-specific than sector-driven.

Historical Context

5 past events · Latest: Nov 12 (Positive)

Pattern 5 events

Date	Event	Sentiment	Move	Catalyst
Nov 12	Q3 2025 earnings	Positive	+14.0%	Q3 results with Adjusted EBITDA growth and guidance reiteration.
Oct 29	Earnings call notice	Neutral	-3.0%	Scheduling and access details for upcoming Q3 2025 results call.
Aug 19	Executive equity grants	Negative	-3.2%	Equity inducement RSUs and options for new COO and CDO.
Aug 13	Q2 2025 earnings	Negative	+13.8%	Soft sales, lowered 2025 outlook, but stock rallied strongly.
Aug 01	Product launch	Positive	-9.8%	Launch of first-ever all over deodorant at <b>$18</b> price point.

Pattern Detected

News reactions have been mixed: positive surprises sometimes prompted strong gains, while product and corporate updates occasionally saw selling pressure.

Recent Company History

Over the past six months, European Wax Center reported Q2 and Q3 fiscal 2025 results, updated full-year guidance, announced executive inducement equity grants, and launched a new deodorant product. Earnings releases on Aug 13, 2025 and Nov 12, 2025 each saw double-digit positive moves despite mixed fundamentals and guidance revisions. In contrast, product and personnel-related updates occasionally coincided with share price declines, underscoring inconsistent market responses to non-earnings news.

Market Pulse Summary

This announcement refines fiscal 2025 expectations, with updated ranges for system-wide sales of $94...

Analysis

This announcement refines fiscal 2025 expectations, with updated ranges for system-wide sales of $945M–$948M, total revenue of $206M–$208M, and Adjusted EBITDA of $72M–$74M, alongside 20 net center closings. Compared with prior guidance, the changes indicate slightly better profitability and fewer closures. Investors may track audited results expected in March 2026, execution on same-store sales of 0.1%–0.3%, and how development initiatives affect future openings and closures.

Key Terms

adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, non-GAAP financial measures, EBITDA, +4 more

8 terms

adjusted EBITDA financial

"The Company updates its previous fiscal 2025 outlook... Adjusted EBITDA | $72 million to $74 million"

Adjusted EBITDA is a way companies measure how much money they make from their core operations, like running a business, by removing certain costs or income that aren’t part of regular business activities. It helps investors see how well a company is doing without distractions from unusual expenses or gains, making it easier to compare companies or track performance over time.

adjusted net income financial

"Adjusted Net Income (1) | $33 million to $35 million"

Adjusted net income is a company's reported profit after removing unusual, one-time, or non-operational items so the number reflects the business’s regular earning power. Investors use it like a cleaned-up scorecard — similar to judging a player’s season performance without a few fluke games — to compare companies or assess trends without being misled by rare gains or losses that won’t affect future cash flow.

non-GAAP financial measures financial

"Disclosure Regarding Non-GAAP Financial Measures In addition to the financial measures..."

Non-GAAP financial measures are numbers companies use to show their financial performance that exclude certain expenses or income. They help investors see how the company might perform without one-time costs or other unusual items, giving a different perspective from official reports. However, since they can be adjusted, they don’t always tell the full story and should be looked at alongside standard financial figures.

EBITDA financial

"We define EBITDA as net income (loss) before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization."

EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It measures a company's profitability by focusing on the money it makes from its core operations, ignoring expenses like taxes and accounting adjustments. Investors use EBITDA to compare how well different companies are performing financially, as it provides a clearer picture of operational success without the influence of financial structure or accounting choices.

amortization of intangible assets financial

"Prior to the first quarter of 2025, the Company did not include amortization of intangible assets..."

Amortization of intangible assets is the accounting practice of spreading the purchase cost of non-physical items—like patents, trademarks, or customer lists—over their expected useful life. Investors care because this non-cash charge reduces reported profits and book value over time, affecting earnings trends and valuation, even though it does not immediately change the company’s cash; think of it as paying off a large one-time purchase in small, regular amounts on the books.

effective tax rate financial

"Adjusted Net Income outlook assumes an effective tax rate of approximately 23% for fiscal 2025..."

The effective tax rate is the percentage of a company's profits that it pays in taxes. It shows how much of its earnings go to taxes after all deductions and credits are considered. For investors, it indicates how much of the company's income is taken by taxes, impacting overall profitability and financial health.

forward-looking statements regulatory

"This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act..."

Forward-looking statements are predictions or plans that companies share about what they expect to happen in the future, like estimating sales or profits. They matter because they help investors understand a company's outlook, but since they are based on guesses and assumptions, they can sometimes be wrong.

tax receivable agreement liability financial

"non-cash gains and losses on remeasurement of our tax receivable agreement liability, contractual cash interest..."

A tax receivable agreement liability is the recorded future obligation a company expects to pay under an agreement that shares tax savings generated after a corporate transaction. Think of it like promising to split a refund with a former owner: the company recognizes a future bill on its books that reduces cash available to shareholders and can affect valuation and debt capacity. Investors watch it because it represents a real, sometimes sizable, cash outflow tied to tax benefits realized over time.

AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.

Reports fiscal 2025 net center closings
Updates fiscal 2025 financial outlook

PLANO, Texas, Jan. 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, European Wax Center, Inc. (NASDAQ: EWCZ), the leading franchisor and operator of out-of-home waxing services in the United States, provides an update on fiscal 2025 expected performance ahead of meetings at the 2026 ICR Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Chris Morris, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of European Wax Center, Inc., stated: “We are pleased with the progress made in 2025 across our key business priorities, which has helped establish a stronger foundation for the company. As we look ahead to 2026, we remain focused on the areas within our control amid an evolving macro environment. This includes further strengthening our marketing and operational capabilities and making disciplined, strategic investments designed to elevate the guest experience and drive long-term performance. We look forward to sharing additional updates on our fourth quarter earnings call.”

Fiscal 2025 Results and Outlook

The Company reports 20 net center closings in fiscal 2025, below its previous outlook of 23 to 28 net center closings, driven by both the timing of planned closures and progress on the Company’s strategic development initiatives. The results reflect 11 gross new center openings and 31 closures.

The Company updates its previous fiscal 2025 outlook for the following metrics:

	Fiscal 2025 Outlook (Current)	Fiscal 2025 Outlook (Previous)
System-Wide Sales	$945 million to $948 million	$940 million to $950 million
Total Revenue	$206 million to $208 million	$205 million to $209 million
Same-Store Sales	0.1% to 0.3%	0.0% to 1.0%
Adjusted EBITDA	$72 million to $74 million	$69 million to $71 million
Adjusted Net Income(1)	$33 million to $35 million	$31 million to $33 million

The Company notes that its fiscal 2025 financial results are subject to quarter and year-end closing procedures, including a financial statement audit. The Company expects to publish its audited financial results for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2026 in March 2026.

Management is scheduled to participate in meetings at the 2026 ICR Conference today, January 12, 2026, and tomorrow, January 13, 2026.

——————————————
^{(1) Adjusted Net Income outlook assumes an effective tax rate of approximately 23% for fiscal 2025 computed by applying our estimated blended statutory tax rate and incorporating the effect of nondeductible and other rate impacting adjustments. See Disclosure Regarding Non-GAAP Financial Measures for additional information regarding the change in definition for Adjusted Net Income.}

About European Wax Center, Inc.
European Wax Center, Inc. (NASDAQ: EWCZ) is the leading franchisor and operator of out-of-home waxing services in the United States. European Wax Center locations perform more than 23 million services per year, providing guests with an unparalleled, professional personal care experience administered by highly trained wax specialists within the privacy of clean, individual waxing suites. The Company continues to revolutionize the waxing industry with its innovative Comfort Wax® formulated with the highest quality ingredients to make waxing a more efficient and relatively painless experience, along with its collection of proprietary products to help enhance and extend waxing results. By leading with its values – We Care About Each Other, We Do the Right Thing, We Delight Our Guests, and We Have Fun While Being Awesome – the Company is proud to be Certified™ by Great Place to Work®. European Wax Center, Inc. was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Plano, Texas. Its network, which includes more than 1,000 centers in 44 states, generated sales of $951 million in fiscal 2024. For more information, including how to receive your first wax free, please visit: https://waxcenter.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements in this press release include but are not limited to European Wax Center, Inc.’s strategy, outlook and growth prospects, its operational and financial outlook for fiscal 2025, its capital allocation strategy and its long-term targets and algorithm, including but not limited to statements under the headings “Fiscal 2025 Results and Outlook” and statements by European Wax Center’s chief executive officer. Words including “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “likely,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” or “would,” or, in each case, the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements or information that refer to expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, performance or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking.

These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and beliefs. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different than the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Some of the key factors that could cause actual results to differ from the Company's expectations include, but are not limited to, the following risks related to its business: the operational and financial results of franchisees; the ability of its franchisees to enter new markets, select appropriate sites for new centers or open new centers; the effectiveness of the Company’s marketing and advertising programs and the active participation of franchisees in enhancing the value of its brand; the failure of its franchisees to participate in and comply with its agreements, business model and policies; the Company’s and its franchisees’ ability to attract and retain guests; the effect of social media on the Company’s reputation; the Company’s ability to compete with other industry participants and respond to market trends and changes in consumer preferences; the effect of the Company’s planned growth on its management, employees, information systems and internal controls; the Company’s ability to retain and effectively respond to a loss of key executives; recruitment efforts; a significant failure, interruptions or security breach of the Company’s computer systems or information technology; the Company and its franchisees’ ability to attract, train, and retain talented wax specialists and managers; changes in the availability or cost of labor; the Company’s ability to retain its franchisees and to maintain the quality of existing franchisees; failure of the Company’s franchisees to implement business development plans; the ability of the Company’s limited key suppliers, including international suppliers, and distribution centers to deliver their products; changes in supply costs and decreases in the Company’s product sourcing revenue, including due to the imposition of tariffs; the Company’s ability to adequately protect its intellectual property; the Company’s substantial indebtedness; the impact of paying some of the Company’s pre-IPO owners for certain tax benefits the Company may claim; changes in general economic and business conditions, including changes due to tariff policy and geopolitical tensions; the Company’s and its franchisees’ ability to comply with existing and future health, employment and other governmental regulations; complaints or litigation that may adversely affect the Company’s business and reputation; the seasonality of the Company’s business resulting in fluctuations in its results of operations; the impact of global crises on the Company’s operations and financial performance; the impact of inflation and rising interest rates on the Company’s business; the Company’s access to sources of liquidity and capital to finance its continued operations and growth strategy and the other important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” under Item 1A in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 4, 2025 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), as such factors may be updated from time to time in its other filings with the SEC, accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and Investors Relations section of the Company’s website at www.waxcenter.com.

These and other important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any forward-looking statement that the Company makes in this press release speaks only as of the date of such statement. Except as required by law, the Company does not have any obligation to update or revise, or to publicly announce any update or revision to, any of the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Disclosure Regarding Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In addition to the financial measures presented in this release in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”), the Company has included certain non-GAAP financial measures in this release, including Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income. Management believes these non-GAAP financial measures are useful because they enable management, investors, and others to assess the operating performance of the Company.

We define EBITDA as net income (loss) before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. We believe that EBITDA, which eliminates the impact of certain expenses that we do not believe reflect our underlying business performance, provides useful information to investors to assess the performance of our business.

We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for the impact of certain additional non-cash and other items that we do not consider in our evaluation of ongoing performance of our core operations. These items include non-cash equity-based compensation expense, non-cash gains and losses on remeasurement of our tax receivable agreement liability, contractual cash interest on our tax receivable agreement liability, loss on disposal or impairment of assets, transaction costs, business transformation costs and other one-time expenses and/or gains. Business transformation costs primarily include expenses related to our business transformation and optimization efforts that do not qualify as capital expenditures under applicable accounting principles.

We define Adjusted Net Income (Loss) as net income (loss) adjusted for the impact of certain additional non-cash and other items that we do not consider in our evaluation of ongoing performance of our core operations. These items include non-cash equity-based compensation expense, amortization of intangible assets, debt extinguishment costs, non-cash gains and losses on remeasurement of our tax receivable agreement liability, contractual cash interest on our tax receivable agreement liability, loss on disposal or impairment of assets, transaction costs, business transformation costs and other one-time expenses and/or gains. Prior to the first quarter of 2025, the Company did not include amortization of intangible assets in the calculation. However, the Company revised the definition in the first quarter of 2025 as a result of a change in the way management reviews Adjusted Net Income (Loss) in order to remove the impact of the non-cash amortization of intangible assets which management does not view as part of our core operations. Management believes excluding this enables investors to evaluate more clearly and consistently the Company's core operating performance in the same manner that management evaluates its core operating performance. The comparative period was also adjusted based on the revised definition.

This release includes forward-looking guidance for certain non-GAAP financial measures, including Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income. These measures will differ from net income (loss), determined in accordance with GAAP, in ways similar to those described in the reconciliations at the end of our earnings release. We are not able to provide, without unreasonable effort, guidance for net income (loss), determined in accordance with GAAP, or a reconciliation of guidance for Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income (Loss) to the most directly comparable GAAP measure because the Company is not able to predict with reasonable certainty the amount or nature of all items that will be included in net income (loss).

Investor Contact 
Edelman Smithfield for European Wax Center, Inc.
EWCIR@edelman.com

Media Contact 
Zeno Group
Sophia Tortorella
sophia.tortorella@zenogroup.com
312-752-6851

FAQ

How many net center closings did European Wax Center (EWCZ) report for fiscal 2025?

The company reported 20 net center closings in fiscal 2025 (11 gross openings, 31 closures).

What is European Wax Center's updated fiscal 2025 Adjusted EBITDA outlook (EWCZ)?

Updated Adjusted EBITDA outlook is $72M–$74M, up from the prior $69M–$71M range.

What revenue and system-wide sales does EWCZ expect for fiscal 2025?

The company updated guidance to total revenue $206M–$208M and system-wide sales $945M–$948M.

What did European Wax Center (EWCZ) say about same-store sales for fiscal 2025?

Same-store sales guidance was narrowed to a modest 0.1%–0.3% for fiscal 2025.

When will European Wax Center (EWCZ) publish audited fiscal 2025 results?

The company expects to publish audited results for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2026 in March 2026 after quarter and year-end close.

Will European Wax Center management discuss these updates at ICR Conference (EWCZ)?

Yes, management is scheduled to participate in meetings at the 2026 ICR Conference on January 12–13, 2026.