Blue Apron Holdings (NYSE: APRN) reported second-quarter losses that were narrower than what the street anticipated. Q2 net loss narrowed to 59 cents per share from 2.56 per share a year ago and the company reduced its marketing spend. Analysts were expecting a second-quarter loss of $1.08 per share.
Marketing expenses were cut down to $9.7 million from $34.6 million a year ago.
Meanwhile, the company failed when it comes to meeting the street expectations in terms of top-line performance. During this period, net revenue decreased 34% year-over-year to $119.2 million, missing the street target of $138.09 million.
Orders declined quarter-over-quarter, despite a slight increase in average revenue per customer. Orders fell 17% in Q2, even as average revenue per customer increased to $265 from $258 in the first quarter.
APRN shares fell 1.4% during pre-market hours on Tuesday.
Blue Apron faces tough competition from other delivery services as well as retailers like Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and Kroger (NYSE: KR) who offer lower-priced meal kits in their stores. This significantly hurts the company’s business.
In June, Blue Apron announced a 1-for-15 reverse stock split which helped it avoid delisting from the NYSE. Last month, the company announced it would start offering plant-based products from Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND) on its menus from August.
Wall Street remains unimpressed with these two moves. Analysts do not see much benefit coming out of these actions and even though Blue Apron’s shares had spiked 20% on the Beyond Meat-alliance news, it was considered nothing more than a halo effect.
Blue Apron’s shares have dropped 52% year-to-date and 48% over the past three months.
