By Kathryn Hardison
Chewy Inc. posted a drop in its first-quarter profit on Wednesday even though sales rose nearly 14%, as margins fell due to higher shipping costs and elevated labor costs hit the bottom line.
The online pet-products retailer logged a profit of $18.5 million during its first quarter, down from $38.7 million a year ago. Earnings per share were 4 cents compared with 9 cents a share during last year’s period. Analysts polled by FactSet expected a loss of 11 cents a share.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was $60.5 million, down from $77.4 million a year ago.
The company said its gross margin of 27.5% fell 10 basis points compared with the same period last year. The net margin was 0.8%, down 100 basis points from last year. Expenses were higher for the period as the company dealt with elevated labor costs and other costs related to new business and growth initiatives.
Revenues rose 13.7% to $2.43 billion. Analysts had expected revenue to be $2.4 billion.
Chewy said it now has 20.6 million active customers, up from the same time last year. Net sales per active customer was $446.
Write to Kathryn Hardison at [email protected]
