What happened
Eyeware retailer Warby Parker (WRBY 1.33%) disappointed investors with its latest quarterly report, causing shares to tumble Thursday morning. After an early drop of more than 13%, the stock recovered some of that loss, but remained down 5.5% as of 10:45 a.m. ET today.
So what
While fourth-quarter revenue grew 18% compared to the prior-year period, the company said it lost sales in the final weeks of 2021 due to the spread of the COVID-19 omicron variant. It also reported a net loss of almost $46 million, compared to a net loss of just $4.3 million in the year-ago quarter. That additional loss was attributed to increased stock-based compensation expenses and related employer payroll taxes.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
While fourth-quarter sales were slightly shy of analyst estimates, the net loss was much larger than expected. Additionally, the company disappointed investors with its estimates for 2022. It sees a revenue range of $650 million to $660 million for the current year, which would represent an increase of 21% above full-year 2021 revenue. That would mark a substantial decrease from the 37.4% revenue growth the company achieved in 2021 compared to 2020.
Warby Parker said it has already experienced the loss of about $15 million in sales early in 2022 due to the omicron variant. Its 2022 projection also was below analyst expectations for almost $690 million in full-year sales.
The company ended the year with $256.4 million in cash and cash equivalents, and plans to bring its total store count above 200 this year after opening an additional 40 stores. Warby Parker shares are down more than 45% year to date, including today's drop.
