Wayfair Revenue Jumps Nearly 50% In Q1

While quarter-over-quarter revenue dropped, Wayfair W nonetheless exceeded analysts' expectations when it announced Q1 2021 earnings Thursday morning.

The e-commerce firm reported revenue of $3.5 billion, up 49.2% year-over-year from Q1 2020's $2.4 billion. Quarter-over-quarter, though, Wayfair reported a slight decline in revenues, falling from $3.67 billion.

Wayfair's stock price was down slightly at market open.

In the U.S., net revenue increased $800 million to $2.8 billion. First-quarter net income was $18.2 million, or 16 cents per share, versus a loss of $285.9 million, or $3.04 per share a year ago.

Wayfair said it changed accounting systems as of Jan. 1. Under the old system, Q1 would have resulted in a loss of 31 cents per share.

Adjusted earnings per share was $1, beating the FactSet consensus of 26 cents.

"We grew to $3.5 billion in net revenue in the quarter, having added more than $1 billion dollars to the top-line year-over-year, and generated over $200 hundred million dollars in adjusted EBITDA — all while simultaneously and ambitiously investing for the future," said Niraj Shah, CEO, co-founder and co-chairman. "We are confident that customers will remain focused on their homes even as the environment normalizes in the U.S. and Europe, and that our strong profitability should not only continue but expand."

Non-GAAP-adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and adjusted EBITDA was $205.8 million and 5.9% of total revenue, the company said.

During Q1, Wayfair continued to add customers, growing its active customer base 57.3% year-over-year to 33.2 million as of March 31. Net revenue per active customer in the last 12 months (LTM) was $461, up 2.7% from a year ago. Orders per customer increased to 1.98 in Q1 2021 from 1.86 in Q1 2020.

"Wayfair's focus remains squarely on connecting all of the industry's customers and suppliers on our unique platform, which is custom-built to address the specific needs of shopping for the home," said Shah. "Our platform model creates a flywheel where scale begets growth, which leads to further efficiency. We see this in action each quarter, and Q1 was no exception."

Repeat customers placed 74.5% of total orders in the quarter. That too was up significantly, rising 58.9% year-over-year. Wayfair delivered 14.7 million orders in Q1, a 48.8% increase year-over-year, with an average value of $237 compared to $235 in Q1 of 2020.

More orders were placed via mobile devices, with customers placing 60% of total orders in the quarter on a mobile device, compared to 54.8% in Q1 2020.

Net revenue for the preceding 12 months reached $15.3 billion, the company said.

Click for more FreightWaves articles by Brian Straight.

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