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Shares of Chewy Inc. were tumbling in after-hours trading Tuesday after the online purveyor of pet products fell short of expectations with its latest results, citing cost pressures and negative impacts on supply.
The company recorded a fiscal fourth-quarter net loss of $63.6 million, or 15 cents a share, whereas it posted net income of $21.0 million, or 5 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. The FactSet consensus was for a 6-cent loss per share on a GAAP basis.
Chewy
CHWY,
posted a loss on the basis of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) of $28.1 million, while analysts had been looking for $1.8 million in positive adjusted Ebitda.
Sales rose to $2.39 billion from $2.04 billion, while analysts had been projecting $2.42 billion.
Shares were down about 14% in after-hours trading.
The company said in its shareholder letter that the latest results reflected “the conflict between the fundamentally strong demand that underpins our business and the highly challenging operating environment.”
While the company pointed to “positive trends” in metrics like site traffic and order volumes, it also noted that it saw operating conditions “deteriorate” in some places due to the omicron surge. That COVID-19 wave “disrupted already-weakened supply chains across our industry,” creating further pressure on out-of-stock levels, the company continued.
Chewy estimates that it saw an impact from lost sales that was twice as high as it had been anticipating. The company expects that it would have performed at the high end of its sales-guidance range were it not for this impact.
Additionally, the company noted in its shareholder letter that it believes the worst of the near-term gross-margin pressures are behind it, as the company is “already seeing signs of recovery in the current quarter.”
Chewy anticipates net sales of $2.40 billion to $2.43 billion for the fiscal first quarter and net sales of $10.2 billion to $10.4 billion for its full fiscal year. Analysts tracked by FactSet were modeling $2.51 billion in sales for the fiscal first quarter and $10.6 billion for fiscal 2023.
