A Wayfair employee works at his desk at the Boston headquarters of Wayfair on July 31, 2018.
Suzanne Kreiter | Boston Globe | Getty Images
Wayfair shares jumped Thursday after the furniture seller’s second-quarter results showed it was holding on to some of the gains it made in its business during the pandemic.
Earnings topped estimates, and even though sales declined and fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, revenue was above pre-pandemic run rates.
Wayfair benefited from surging demand during the pandemic as consumers spent more money online during lockdowns. Shoppers were also focused on improving their homes as they spent more time working and relaxing there.
But Wayfair’s latest results show it was was able to hang on to some of these new shoppers. The company said active customers grew to 31.1 million, a nearly 20% year-over-year increase.
Shares of the company rose nearly 7% in premarket trading. The stock is down more than 28% from its 52-week high of $369, which it reached on Jan. 14, as investors worried its pandemic boost was unlikely to last.
Here’s how the company did for its second quarter ended June 30 compared with what analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were anticipating:
- Earnings per share: $1.89 vs. $1.15 expected
- Revenue: $3.86 billion vs. $3.94 billion expected
During its second-quarter, the company reported a net income loss of $130.4 million, or $1.14 per share, compared to $273.9 million, or $2.54 per share, from a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company reported earnings of $1.89 per share, beating the $1.15 per share expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.
The company reported a revenue of $3.86 billion, compared with expectations of $3.94 billion.
During the quarter, Wayfair’s average order value was $278, higher than the $277 it had in the quarter last year.
“The home remains a high priority for our customers and longer term tailwinds to online category growth are firmly in place,” said Niraj Shah, CEO, co-founder and co-chairman of Wayfair, in a press release.
After four quarters of growth above 40%, its revenue was expected to drop 8.4% for the second period, according to StreetAccount.
