Wayfair's stock jumps after retailer narrows loss, says quarter ended 'on an upswing'

By Ciara Linnane

Wayfair's quarterly revenue beat estimates

Wayfair Inc.'s stock rose 6.5% premarket Thursday, after the online furniture retailer narrowed its quarterly loss and posted revenue that beat estimates.

"The first quarter ended on an upswing," Niraj Shah, CEO and co-founder of the company (W), said in prepared comments.

For the first time since before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, "we're seeing suppliers introducing large groups of new products into their catalogs as they look to build momentum for the next stage of growth," he said.

The enthusiasm has Wayfair bullish that it can take advantage by featuring suppliers in promotional events, leveraging its fulfillment capabilities and offering shelf space in stores.

Wayfair reported a loss of $248 million, or $2.06 a share, in the quarter, narrower than the loss of $355 million, or $3.22 a share, in the year-earlier period.

The company's adjusted per-share loss came to 32 cents, a penny wider than the 31-cent FactSet consensus.

Revenue fell to $2.729 billion from $2.774 billion a year ago, but was ahead of the $2.635 billion FactSet consensus.

Active customers rose 2.8% in the quarter to 22.3 million.

Other metrics, including net revenue per customer and orders per customer, also moved higher, while repeat customers increased and placed more orders than in the year-earlier period.

The trend of shopping from mobile phones continued and accounted for 63.1% of total orders delivered, up from 62.1% in the year-earlier period.

The stock is down 18% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 5.2%.

-Ciara Linnane

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05-02-24 0744ET

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