Well, it wasn't pretty. But on the bright side, it wasn't all that unexpected, either.
Friday morning, online discount retailer Overstock.com
Gross margins were up to 14.6% from 13.3% in last year's Q3, but they were down sequentially from 14.7% in the second quarter. And while gross profits grew 80% to $24.8 million, non-tech general and administrative expenses climbed 96%, and technology expenses jumped 257% because of IT projects. At the same time, the customer acquisition cost rose 25% to $22.92 from $18.30 last year, and up from $22.10 in the second quarter.
On the bright side, the gross profit per transaction was up 19% year over year to $13.88, though roughly flat with the second quarter.
Overall, the company posted an operating loss of $11.2 million and showed a net loss (going by generally accepted accounting principles) of $14.2 million, or $0.75 per share. That loss compares poorly with the analyst expectation for a loss of $0.51 per share, and it's also significantly wider than last year's $0.16-per-share loss.
But after all of that, the stock was up 2% in early Friday afternoon trading. I think that has a lot to do with this stock having already been whacked by more than 50% off its 52-week high -- thanks in part to its having been overvalued at its high, in part to the distractions related to the lawsuit and conspiracy theories, and in part to execution problems -- so the stock was already out of favor. In addition, disappointing results from Amazon.com
Earlier this week, the company announced that President Patrick Byrne's father, former GEICO and White Mountains
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Overstock is a Motley Fool Rule Breakers recommendation. Amazon and eBay are Motley Fool Stock Advisor picks.
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Fool contributor Jeff Hwang owns shares of Overstock.com and eBay. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.