Continuing its relative winning streak, pet supply company Chewy (CHWY +2.08%) beat analyst consensus estimates yet again with its third-quarter earnings report, bringing the total of consecutive revenue beats to six quarters. Zacks Equity Research reports Chewy's loss per share was $0.08, surpassing the $0.15 loss per share Wall Street expected for a 46.7% positive surprise. Revenue surprised positively by approximately 3.5%.
Revenue, or sales, managed to top last year's performance handsomely as well. The $1.78 billion in net sales Chewy posted is a 45% jump from Q3 2019's figure. Additionally, while the company racked up a net loss of $32.8 million for the quarter, this is still a major improvement over last year's $79 million net loss. Net margin went from negative 6.4% to negative 1.8% year over year.
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In its letter to shareholders, filed with the SEC as part of an 8-K Current Report yesterday, the company also provided brief guidance for the fourth quarter of 2020 and expected full-year results. For the current quarter (Q4), Chewy expects net sales of $1.94 billion to $1.96 billion, which surpasses the consensus forecast of $1.79 billion from Wall Street analysts by 8.4% to 9.5%. It projects 43% to 45% quarterly and 45% to 46% annual growth in net sales year over year.
Chewy also highlighted its aggressive push into pet health as one of its key growth areas. With COVID-19 apparently accelerating pet ownership trends, or at least not hindering their rapid expansion, Chewy may well have room for more growth in the coming year, possibly even breaking out of its pattern of net losses -- though events such as Petco's recently announced IPO also signal increased competition in the near future.
