Here’s how Wayfair fared compared to what Wall Street expected, based on a survey of analysts from LSEG:
- Loss per share: 32 cents adjusted against an expected loss of 44 cents
- Income: $2.73 billion versus $2.64 billion expected
Wayfair shares rose as much as 9% in premarket trading Thursday.
The company’s reported net loss for the three-month period ended March 31 was $248 million, or $2.06 per share, compared with a loss of $355 million, or $3.22 per share, a year earlier. Excluding non-recurring items, the company lost 32 cents per share. stock.
Sales fell to $2.73 billion, down more than 1% from $2.77 billion a year earlier. The steepest decline came from Wayfair’s international segment, where sales fell nearly 6% to $338 million compared to the same period a year earlier.
Despite the sales decline, CEO and co-founder Niraj Shah struck a positive note in a press release, saying the quarter “ended with an upturn.”
“Shoppers are increasingly choosing Wayfair, with year-over-year active customer growth again positive and accelerating compared to last quarter,” Shah said.
“For the first time since pre-pandemic, we are seeing suppliers introduce large groups of new products into their catalogs as they look to build momentum for the next stage of growth,” he added.
Like some of its other digitally native peers, Wayfair implemented a series of layoffs after it experienced a sales boom during the pandemic and then shrank as consumers began trading new sofas and shelves for dining out and traveling after the Covid-19 pandemic ended.
In January, it announced plans to cut 13% of its global workforce, or about 1,650 employees, so it could trim its structure and cut costs after it went “overboard” with corporate hiring during the pandemic, the company previously said. The restructuring — the third Wayfair implemented since the summer of 2022 — was expected to save the company about $280 million, it previously said.
The company is still charting its path to profitability, but it cut its losses by $107 million during the fiscal first quarter after implementing the latest round of job cuts. It also increased its active customer base at a time when the housing sector is facing pressure as high interest rates and a sluggish housing market weigh on sales.
During the quarter, Wayfair’s active customers grew 2.8% to 22.3 million, slightly above the 22.1 million that analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount.
On average, orders were valued at $285 during the quarter, compared with the $275.07 that analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount. While average orders were higher than Wall Street’s expectations, they were down slightly from last year, when the average order value was $287. That’s because of changes to Wayfair’s unit prices, which were inflated in 2021 and 2022 and began to decline last year, the company said.
Read the full earnings announcement here.
