What happened
Wayfair (W -2.54%) grew more optimistic about the company today after it reported third-quarter financial results that were slightly better than Wall Street's expectations.
While the quarter wasn't all good news, Wayfair beat analysts' consensus top and bottom line results, sending the e-commerce stock up 5.2% at the end of the trading day.
So what
Wayfair's total sales fell by 9% from the year-ago quarter to $2.84 billion, but were a bit better than analysts' consensus estimate of $2.82 billion for the quarter.
Image source: Getty Images.
The company's bottom line results also topped expectations, with Wayfair's non-GAAP (adjusted) loss per share of $2.11 beating Wall Street's average estimate of $2.15 per share.
But some of Wayfair's other quarterly results were mixed. The company's active customers decreased by 22.6% to 22.6 million in the quarter. Additionally, the number of orders per customer fell to 1.82, down from 1.92 in the year-ago quarter.
One bright spot was the fact that the average order value increased from $283 a year ago to $325 in the third quarter.
Now what
Wayfair's adjusted EBITDA came in at a loss of $124 million in the quarter, and non-GAAP free cash flow was a loss of $538 million. Management addressed these financial metrics, with Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah saying that the company is "focused on taking the steps needed to reach adjusted EBITDA profitability and cash flow neutrality in short order."
He added: "We have direct visibility to over half a billion dollars of savings, with work well underway to deliver this target in 2023," and said that management will continue to find more ways to run the company efficiently.
Investors appeared to agree with Shah today and reversed some of the pessimism that they've had toward Wayfair's stock over the past year.
