Wayfair Earnings Beat, but Was It by Enough?

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 13, 12:42PM EST · Published Feb 25, 12:15PM EST

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Wayfair Earnings Beat, but Was It by Enough? — © Thinkstock

Wayfair Inc. (NYSE: W) released its fourth-quarter earnings report before the markets opened on Thursday. The company had a net loss of $0.07 per share on $739.8 million in revenue, versus consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters of a net loss of $0.14 per share on $679.08 million in revenue. The same period from the previous year had a net loss of $0.18 per share on $408.62 million in revenue.

Direct Retail revenue, consisting of sales generated primarily through the sites of Wayfair’s five brands, increased $338.9 million to $685.6 million, up 97.8% year over year.

Orders per customer, measured as LTM orders divided by active customers, increased to 1.71 for the fourth quarter, up from 1.63 year over year. Also Repeat customers placed 54.3% of total orders in the fourth quarter of 2015, compared to 50.3% in the same period from last year.

During the fourth quarter, free cash flow totaled $78 million. On the books, cash, cash equivalents and short-term and long-term investments totaled $466.0 million at the end of the fourth quarter.
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Niraj Shah, CEO, co-founder and co-chairman of Wayfair, commented:

We are excited to report an incredibly strong fourth quarter and tremendous overall growth for Wayfair in 2015 with the business reaching $2.25 billion in full year net revenues. We continue to grow both our new customer base and our repeat business with an exceptional shopping experience that redefines what is possible in home retail. We remain firmly focused on delighting our customers as we continue to innovate and raise the bar in terms of selection, service and design inspiration. We look forward to making great strides in 2016 as we continue to build the Wayfair brand in the United States and ramp up our investment in Europe and Canada.

Shares of Wayfair were trading up nearly 5% at $42.46, with a consensus analyst price target of $56.90 and a 52-week trading range of $21.93 to $56.84.

About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.