No one wants to say the coronavirus pandemic is actually good for business, but Blue Apron Holdings (APRN) is showing that certain companies were uniquely positioned to capitalize on the new normal COVID-19 created.
The meal kit delivery specialist reported second-quarter earnings that were demonstrably better than what it has been able to produce pre-pandemic, going so far as to report a surprise profit for the period.
Image source: Blue Apron.
The best performance in years
Blue Apron unlocked a number of achievements this quarter, including adding another 20,000 customers, the second quarter in a row it has grown its subscriber rolls sequentially. Although the 396,000 customers it had at the end of June was still 12% below the 449,000 it had in the second quarter a year ago, it has added 45,000 new members during the pandemic.
It shows meal kit delivery has a place in a world turned upside down, because in every other metric, Blue Apron notched better performance both sequentially and year over year.
For example, the number of orders placed soared 22% over the first quarter to 2.125 million, well ahead of even the 2.048 million orders placed last year. Average order value and orders per customer were all higher over both periods while average revenue per customer rocketed to $331, more than Blue Apron has ever recorded, even back before it went public when its business was on a major growth trajectory.
That led the meal kit leader to post a profit of $1.1 million, or $0.08 per share, a huge reversal from the $7.7 million, or $0.59 per share loss it recorded last year.
The question investors need to ask is, can Blue Apron keep the momentum going now that restaurants have reopened?
