Shares of e-commerce company Beyond Inc. (BYON -3.96%) fell as much as 27.8% in trading on Tuesday after the parent of Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock, Zulily, and other brands announced first-quarter results that fell short of already low expectations. At 3:30 p.m. ET today, shares were still down 24.1% on the day and showed no signs of life.
From bad to worse
Revenue was up slightly in the quarter to $382.3 million but fell well short of the $389.3 million that Wall Street analysts were expecting. Worse yet, the net loss exploded from $10.3 million a year ago to $73.9 million, or $1.62 per share. On an adjusted basis, the loss was $1.58 per share, worse than the $0.92 loss that analysts expected.
Nothing seems to be going well for Beyond. Management wanted to highlight the company's increased volume, but you can see below that revenue is falling and losses are piling up. These are terrible trends for any retailer.
BYON revenue (TTM) data by YCharts; TTM = trailing 12 months.
No easy way out
There is still $256.3 million on its balance sheet, but with losses piling up, there's no easy way out for Beyond. The company doesn't seem to have sufficient traction with consumers, and gross margins are on the decline as well.
Unless we see some real momentum for the business, I don't see a bright future for Beyond's stock. Buying the shares of retailers in decline isn't a good bet, and in the modern e-commerce environment, it's the big ad platforms that are extracting the most value.
