Beyond, Inc. second-quarter results exceeded Wall Street expectations as the company advanced its strategy of becoming a multi-banner retail operation with both destination and value attributes.
Net loss was $42.6 million, or 93 cents per diluted share, versus a net loss of $73.5 million, or $1.63 per diluted share, in the year-before period. Adjusted for one-time charges, net loss was $34.8 million, or 76 cents per diluted share. In the year-past period, when the company still operated as Overstock and shortly after it acquired the intellectual property of Bed Bath & Beyond, net loss was $790,000, or two cents per diluted share.
Beyond came out ahead of a Zacks Investment Research analyst consensus estimate for a loss of 89 cents per adjusted diluted share. Zacks noted that Beyond’s revenues beat its forecast by 4%.
Net revenue was $398.1 million versus $422.2 million in the year-prior quarter, Beyond noted. Operating loss was $47 million versus $4.2 million in the year-earlier period.
According to Beyond, company orders delivered in the quarter were 1.9 million, an increase of 8% year-over-year, while its active customers total came in at 6.2 million, an advance of 35% year-over-year.
“I not only believe but expect this company to do great things,” Marcus Lemonis, Beyond chairman, said in a conference call. “My conviction is around this company’s ability to operate multiple brands profitably all while growing revenue and file size.”
He added returning the company to profitability is an imperative and, once that’s accomplished, the focus will be to maintain a rigor that supports ongoing profitable operation
About Bed Bath & Beyond, Lemonis (pictured above at The Inspired Home Show 2024) said plans call for a push to a billion dollar e-commerce operation while finding creative ways to expand the brand, to generate cash flow off the IP and to raise the brand presence further. As for the Overstock relaunch, he said the banner has been rebuilding relationships with key vendors as it reestablishes the operation’s position as a closeout, factory-direct and reverse logistics retailer, that, while focused a product core of furniture, furnishings and rugs, will also advance secondary and new product categories.
Then, plans call for a Zulily relaunch on September 10 as Beyond onboards past and new vendors and completes internal tests of the platform.
Lemonis added Beyond will boost customer engagement using technology in search and customized experiences. he said the company plans to grow its loyalty programs, providing rewards through unique content, information and inspiration initiatives using streaming, YouTube and social media among other channels.
In announcing the financial results, Dave Nielsen, Beyond president, said, “During the second quarter we delivered on our commitments as we increased our active customer base while improving average order value. We believe that further calibration of our operating systems, technology and data analytics, specifically customized to each of our three brands, will yield efficiencies and, ultimately, the growth and results I expect.”
Adrianne Lee, Beyond chief financial and administrative officer, pointed out the second quarter saw Beyond improve results in several key areas.
“On a sequential basis, we improved our gross margin profile and continued to reduce our fixed cost base, ultimately delivering a material improvement in adjusted EBITDA,” Lee said. “We are now more than two-thirds of the way through our plan of reducing fixed expenses by $45 million on an annualized basis. We made meaningful progress during the second quarter and expect our financial performance to improve across the balance of the year.”
Lemonis added, “We have made significant progress in the past 150 days and will continue to execute on our plan to achieve growth and profitability. We are building each of our brands to leverage their legacy strengths while leaning into vast white space, which will allow us to incrementally monetize these assets. We intend to utilize our intellectual property, vendor relationships and technology platforms to generate significant capital returns through strategic and financially accretive partnerships and joint ventures.”
