After the market hours on Wednesday, February 16, EST, DoorDash, the largest U.S. food delivery platform, announced its fiscal fourth quarter results for fiscal 2021 and its fiscal first quarter 2022 results outlook, although the fourth quarter earnings were lower than expected, but due to strong fourth-quarter revenue and first-quarter performance guidance, its U.S. stocks soared more than 30% after hours.
While DoorDash's $8.1 billion acquisition of Finnish food delivery platform Wolt surged 20 percent after hours on the occasion of last quarter's earnings report, DoorDash's stock price continued to plummet to a new low of $91.96 in several trading days last week, falling below its December 2020 offering price of $102 per share. And investors had expected it to post disappointing earnings reports, closing down 6.8 percent on Wednesday, down about 34 percent year-to-date, far behind the 11 percent cumulative decline in the Nasdaq 100 over the same period.
Specifically, its core financial indicators for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2012:
Fourth-quarter revenue was $1.30 billion, higher than analysts' expectations of $1.28 billion, compared to $970 million in the year-ago quarter, up 34 percent year-over-year.
Total market orders (all application orders and subscription fees) totaled $11.2 billion in the fourth quarter, higher than analysts' expectations of $10.6 billion, up 36% year-over-year; total market orders in the fourth quarter reached 369 million, higher than analysts' expectations of 361 million orders.
Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was $47 million.
A loss of $0.45 per share for the fourth quarter was lower than analysts' expectations of a loss of $0.25 per share.
In addition, in its guidance for the first quarter of 2022, which it has released this time, shows:
Total market orders (all application orders and subscription fees) are expected to be between $11.4 billion and $11.8 billion in the first quarter, and analysts expect it to be between $11.4 billion and $11.6 billion.
Total market orders for the full fiscal year 2022 are expected to be between $48 billion and $50 billion, in line with the market's consensus expectation of $49.4 billion.
Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $000 million and $500 million in fiscal 2022.
2022 below the issue price is a difficult start, the reversal situation is coming?
Fierce industry competition and the continued recovery of eating out after the epidemic have caused DoorDash's revenue growth rate to drop sharply from 198% in the first quarter of 2021 to 83% in the second quarter of 2021, while in the third quarter, the growth rate was only 45% and narrowed to 34% in the fourth quarter. And people are beginning to worry that DoorDash's valuation myth only works during the pandemic and will not last in the post-pandemic era.
DoorDash finally fell below the $102 IPO price last week after a tough start to 202, the first time the company has fallen below the offering price since its listing. In addition to fears of a sharp slowdown in the company's core business, DoorDash is also facing sell-off pressure from highly valued growth stocks triggered by soaring yields.
For the higher-than-expected financial data, DoorDash said the growth was driven by its user retention and additions:
Higher-than-expected consumer retention and growth in new consumers drove growth in (overall) performance... In addition, DashPass members have higher retention rates and order frequencies than non-members.
In addition to wall street analysts' previous analysis, user ordering habits are likely to have undergone permanent changes, which will help the delivery platform to show steady growth in the next few years, DoorDash itself is also trying to expand the development of various businesses.
For example, it offers non-food services including groceries, pet food and alcohol to attract more users, and it is reported that it has partnered with some retailers, including Ulta Beauty, Bed Bath & Beyond and PetSmart. From its published data, it can also be found that more and more users are choosing other non-catering businesses.
DoorDash hopes to help further increase user retention and order frequency through a multi-category experience at scale, with data showing that MAUs reached an all-time high of more than 25 million in the fourth quarter and DashPass membership exceeded 10 million in the fourth quarter.
In addition, DoorDash unveiled a new plan last week called DoorDash Capital, which will provide cash advances for eligible restaurants. Restaurants can use the money to buy equipment, pay rent or pay other expenses such as recruitment and marketing. Restaurants will repay the advance payment by deducting it from their DoorDash income.
Competing in the Red Sea, the food delivery market has undergone full integration
DoorDash currently faces stiff competition from peers like Uber Eat and Grubhub, and the Red Sea industry is undergoing a reshuffle and consolidation.
Not to mention DoorDash's $8.1 billion acquisition of Finnish food delivery platform Wolt last November, European food delivery company Just Eat Takeaway (GRUB) acquired GrubHub on an all-share deal for $7.3 billion, and Uber Technologies (UBER) acquired Postmates for $2.65 billion.
Looking at the competition, in early February, Uber released the fourth quarter of last year's financial report, showing that the order value of the takeaway business increased by 34% year-on-year to $13.44 billion, lower than the expected $13.62 billion. In addition, the company's takeaway business revenue has surpassed the company's core online ride-hailing business.