Wayfair Inc. Posts Smaller Than Expected Q1 Loss

Written by StockNews.com

Wayfair Inc. (NYSE: W) early Tuesday posted market-bearing first quarter earnings results, as the company continues to edge closer to what it hopes will be eventual profitability.

The Boston-based online home goods retailer reported Q1:

• net loss of ($0.48), which was $0.09 better than the Wall Street consensus estimate of ($0.57) [while]
• revenues rose 28.6% from last year to $960.8 million, also easily beating analysts’ view for $934.84 million.
  • Direct Retail net revenue jumped 32.1%...while gross profit was 24.7% of total net revenue.
• ...number of active customers in Wayfair’s Direct Retail business surged 45.8% to 8.9 million, and
• orders per customer was 1.73, up slightly from 1.71 last year.

Niraj Shah, CEO, co-founder and co-chairman, Wayfair, commented via press release:

“We are very pleased to report strong momentum in the first quarter of 2017 as we continue to gain significant traction across our key strategic initiatives and steadily increase our market share in the $600 billion dollar home category across North America and Europe.

The home category is driven by visual imagery and discovery with customers responding most positively to an inspirational shopping experience that brings product to life and solves traditional retail challenges in unexpected and compelling ways.

The house brands that we are building are good examples of our best in class merchandising and technology capabilities that showcase the vast selection we offer our customers.

In addition, our investment in a proprietary logistics network customized for furniture and décor is paying off as we continue to increase sales conversion through faster delivery and greater customer satisfaction.

With technology and innovation as the backbone of our business, we feel confident that we have built a category-leading retail brand that is exceptionally well positioned for long term growth and continued success.”

Wayfair Inc. shares fell $0.93 (-1.82%) in premarket trading Tuesday. Year-to-date, W has gained 45.88%, versus a 7.68% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

W currently has a StockNews.com POWR Rating of A (Strong Buy), and is ranked #4 of 35 stocks in the Specialty Retailers category.