Blue Apron soars after beating fourth-quarter estimates (APRN)

pulse

February 13, 2018 2:16 PM

Blue Apron reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates although it lost customers from the prior quarter.

The company did not lose as much in revenue and earnings as expected, particularly after it switched distribution hubs in a costly move that forced the company to cut its marketing budget.
It was still trading below its IPO price of $10 to $11 per share.

Shares of Blue Apron spiked 8.45% to $3.63 per share in early Tuesday trading after the meal-kit subscription service reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings.

Blue Apron revenue fell 13% versus a year ago to $187.7 million, but that beat the Wall Street consensus of $185.1 million. It also reported a quarterly net loss of $0.20 per share, better than the $0.27 loss that was expected.

Analysts were expecting a larger revenue decline and quarterly loss because the company had to make a costly distribution hub switch, forcing it to cut marketing.

The subscription service reported its number of subscribers fell to 746,000 during the quarter, well below the 856,000 customers it had last quarter.

Blue Apron has dealt with several setbacks since it went public last year. The Amazon-Whole Foods merger was announced around the same time it went public, sending shares below their

Amazon already offers its own meal-kit delivery subscription service, through Amazon Fresh and Prime Now, though the Whole Foods acquisition will likely see it expand its offerings. More recently, Amazon has begun testing two-hour same-day delivery service of Whole Foods items in select cities.

In 2017, Amazon led the US online grocery market, according to BI Intelligence.

Blue Apron's stock was down 9.25% for the year.