Shares of DoorDash popped as much as 21% in pre-market trading on Thursday, after the company reported earnings Wednesday that showed a record number of people placed orders in the fourth quarter.
The delivery company notched 369 million orders during the quarter, an increase of 35% year over year, and higher than the 361 million orders analysts’ expected. Consumers also continued to spend more on orders. Gross order value grew 36% year-over-year to $11.2 billion, exceeding Wall Street’s projected $10.6 billion.
Fourth-quarter revenue came in at $1.3 billion, beating analysts’ projected $1.28 billion. The company reported a 45 cent loss per diluted share, wider than the 25 cent loss estimate collected by Refinitiv.
DoorDash benefited heavily from stay-at-home trends during the coronavirus pandemic, as many restaurants restricted indoor dining and consumers opted to order food in order to minimize exposure to the virus. Now, delivery companies are under pressure to prove they can sustain that demand as Covid-19 restrictions continue to ease.
DoorDash’s full-year guidance suggested it doesn’t see momentum slowing down. The company projected marketplace gross order value to be in the range of $48 billion and $50 billion, which is in line with consensus estimates of $49.4 billion, according to analysts surveyed by FactSet.
“Overall, the underlying demand for DASH’s delivery offerings remains steady even as normalcy is slowly returning in many markets,” Wolfe Research analyst Deepak Mathivanan wrote in a note to clients Thursday. “The company is also making nice progress in scaling several [long term] initiatives.”
Analysts noted that fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) was light. DoorDash has said it’s investing heavily in expanding into new categories and international markets.
“We believe DASH’s investments in growth opportunities — new verticals, services, & geos–being funded by profit from its core US restaurant marketplace should be well received in a rising rate environment,” analysts at JPMorgan wrote in a note to clients on Thursday.
