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shares are gaining ground in late trading Thursday after the food-delivery service posted better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.
DoorDash stock (ticker: DASH) in late trading is up 7.1%, at $123.69.
For the quarter, DoorDash posted revenue of $1.1 billion, up 198% from a year earlier and ahead of the Street consensus forecast at $999 million. Marketplace gross order value, or GOV, was $9.9 billion, up 222% and well ahead of the Street consensus forecast of $9 billion. Total orders were 329 million, up 219%. Adjusted Ebitda, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, was $43 million, up from a loss of $70 million a year ago and ahead of the Street consensus forecast of $23 million.
For the second quarter, DoorDash sees adjusted Ebitda ranging from break-even to positive $100 million; at the midpoint of $50 million, that would be ahead of the Street at $22 million. For the full year, the company sees adjusted Ebitda ranging from zero to $300 million, with the Street consensus at $120 million. DoorDash sees GOV for the quarter of $9.4 billion to $9.9 billion, at the midpoint down modestly on a sequential basis but ahead of the Street consensus at $7.7 million. For the full year, DoorDash projects GOV of $35 billion to $38 billion, above the Street consensus at $32.6 billion.
The company noted that the outlook for both the second quarter and 2021 “anticipates the successful rollout of Covid-19 vaccines and an associated increase in in-store dining rates, as well as a seasonal decline in order rates associated with the warmer summer months.” DoorDash added that while it “observed encouraging trends in Q1…the outlook for 2021 remains highly uncertain” due to the unpredictable nature of the pandemic.
“We are proud of the progress we made in Q1, as we increased the number of partner merchants we support across multiple categories, generated more earnings for more Dashers than in any previous quarter, and served more consumers than we ever have,” the company said in a statement.
DoorDash said that the impact on order volume as markets continued reopening and in-store dining increased across the U.S. was smaller than it had expected. “We believe stimulus checks were partially responsible for this, as their issuance increased consumer demand on our platform at the same time as in-store dining rates accelerated in many markets,” the company said.
But DoorDash also said that the reopening had had a “negative impact on new consumer growth, order rates, and average order value,” adding that it expects the impact to grow through the summer as markets continue to reopen.
“The pace of reopening has had a larger impact on consumer behavior than the absolute level of openness,” the company said. “Changes to consumer behavior in markets like Northern California, which is transitioning from a more closed state, are likely to be more severe than changes in markets like Florida, which is very open but transitioning more slowly since it was never as closed as markets like California.” The company added that reopening had has a larger impact on behavior among newer consumers who order less than on DashPass subscribers.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at eric.savitz@barrons.com
