Chewy Inc. shares fell 14% to $43.75 after the company reported its third consecutive quarterly loss in the fourth quarter.
The online pet-products retailer posted a net loss of $63.6 million, or 15 cents a share, for the quarter ended Jan. 30 compared with its first quarterly profit of $21 million, or five cents a share, in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by FactSet expected per-share losses of nine cents.
Chewy said the loss was attributable to a decline in gross margin and elevated selling, general and administrative expenses, which rose 35% to $516.5 million. The company attributed the higher expenses to elevated labor costs and investments in new initiatives.
Revenue rose to $2.39 billion from $2.04 billion, below analysts’ expectations of $2.42 billion in sales for the quarter. The company guided for revenue between $2.4 billion and $2.43 billion in the current quarter, below analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion.
A number of firms cut their price targets Wednesday following Chewy’s fourth-quarter results. Jefferies cut its price target to $60 a share from $90, while Wedbush cut its price target to $45 a share from $55.