Carvana rivals’ stocks plunge after earnings

All three were among a throng of companies selling used cars online that went public in recent years, just in time for a surge in interest and sales during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the spreading virus kept people away from public transit, and semiconductor shortages combined with other supply-chain difficulties kept car manufacturers from providing new cars, websites selling used cars became more popular.

In year three of the pandemic, though, that dynamic has slowed. Vroom reported that revenue decreased more than 37% to $475.5 million in the second quarter, missing Wall Street’s expectations for sales by more than $65 million. While CarGurus revenue more than doubled, that was largely due to a changing business model, as the company seeks to do more business on its platform instead of relying on its legacy business of listing cars available at dealerships.

Carvana missed on both profit and revenue in its report last week, but shares still soared more than 40% higher the next day, for their second-best daily gain ever. CarGurus was the only one of the three companies to beat Wall Street’s expectations, posting adjusted earnings of 32 cents a share on sales of $511.2 million against average analyst expectations of 31 cents a share on revenue of $507.3 million, but surprisingly forecast a sequential decline. Executives guided for third-quarter adjusted earnings of 25 cents to 28 cents a share on sales of $460 million to $490 million, while analysts on average were expecting 33 cents a share on sales of $556 million, according to FactSet.

Vroom reported a second-quarter loss of $115.1 million, or 83 cents a share, or 73 cents a share after adjustments related to “realignment” and other costs. That was down from an adjusted loss of 48 cents a share a year ago, and slightly better than the average analyst estimate for an adjusted loss of 75 cents a share, though sales missed the mark.