Overstock’s Q3 results miss expectations

Overstock.com Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK) missed revenue forecasts and reported a wider-than-expected loss for the third quarter of 2019, sending shares falling 3% in premarket hours on Tuesday.

Total revenue fell 21% year-over-year to $347.1 million, missing estimates of $376.2 million. The decrease was mainly due to lower product sales caused by a reduction in marketing activities. Revenues were also impacted by tariffs as well as delays in the translation of search traffic into purchasing customers.

Net loss narrowed to $30.9 million, or $0.89 per share, from $47.9 million, or $1.55 per share, in the year-ago quarter, but was wider than analysts’ forecasts of $0.62 per share.  

CEO Jonathan Johnson said, “Our retail business continues its path to sustained profitability, despite a few external headwinds, thanks to the focused leadership of an executive team with a proven track record of success. tZERO continues to reach milestones on its product roadmap, which is no small feat in the highly regulated capital markets environment. Other Medici Ventures companies are bringing their products into production and increasing their leads in their respective verticals.”

In the third quarter, revenues in the retail business fell 21% year-over-year to $340.7 million. In the tZero segment, revenues increased 30% to $5.6 million.  

Also read: Overstock Q3 2019 Earnings Preview

Gross margin improved to 20% from 19.7% in the prior-year quarter due to improvements in the promotional pricing strategy and a higher proportion of revenue coming from marketplace sales.

Sales and marketing expenses decreased 38% to $34.2 million as the company discontinued its aggressive retail marketing strategy.

Cash and cash equivalents were $83.5 million at quarter-end.

During the quarter, Overstock saw the departure of its key executives, CEO Patrick Byrne and CFO Greg Iverson. On its conference call today, the company plans to talk about the status of the digital dividend and the book of patents that the retail and blockchain businesses have built.

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