What happened
Shares of Liquidity Services (LQDT -0.52%) were up 17.2% as of 3:45 p.m. EST Thursday after the surplus-marketplace company announced better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter 2018 results.
More specifically, Liquidity Services' gross merchandise volume climbed 7.1% year over year to $155.3 million, near the high end of its most recent guidance for GMV in the range of $140 million to $160 million. As for the headline numbers, quarterly revenue declined 14.2% year over year to $52.7 million, which translated to an adjusted net loss of $4.6 million, or $0.14 per share, near the more favorable end of its outlook for a per-share net loss of $0.12 to $0.20.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
So what
"In Q4-FY18 we achieved stronger growth and we began to reap the benefits of our business transformation, restructuring efforts, new service offerings and increased efficiencies in our operations," stated Liquidity Services' chairman and CEO, Bill Angrick. "Overall," he added later, "we are encouraged by the strides made in FY18 to reset our business following the wind down of the DoD [Department of Defense] Surplus Contract and to resume organic growth."
Excluding the aforementioned DoD surplus contract, Liquidity Services achieved solid 19% GMV growth this quarter, its highest rate since 2012.
Now what
The company also noted that, as part of its strategic "LiquidityOne" transformation initiative, it anticipates launching a new consolidated marketplace in 2019 to provide buyers the ability to find and purchase assets from any one of its network of marketplaces.
"We believe a single, unified marketplace will drive increased traffic from our buyer base through more efficient marketing strategies and provide our buyers with a more efficient method of sourcing our global supply of available assets from the most recognizable sellers across the globe," the company elaborated.
In the meantime, Liquidity Services expects current fiscal first-quarter 2019 GMV in the range of $150 million to $170 million, which should result in an adjusted net loss per share of $0.17 to $0.13.
Of course, investors would love to see the company continue to march toward sustained, profitable growth. But given its relative outperformance to end this fiscal year, and its plans to launch a promising consolidated marketplace in the coming year, the stock is understandably rallying in response.
