Wayfair
hosted its first investor day on Thursday, and analysts found plenty of reasons to be upbeat on the online furniture retailer.
The presentation detailed the company’s progress toward its longer-term profitability goals, which include mid-single digit adjusted Ebitda margin and eventually, adjusted Ebitda margin of 10% or more. For its second quarter,
Wayfair
(ticker: W) reported a negative adjusted Ebitda margin of 0.7%, and guided to low-singles growth for the third quarter.
UBS analysts wrote in a note Friday that the company “painted a bullish long-term picture at its Analyst Day.” The analysts lifted their rating on Wayfair stock earlier this week to Buy from Neutral and raised their price target to $110 from $72.
That said, now it’s critical for the company to show progress in profits and losses over the next few quarters and years, UBS analysts argued. “This is likely to provide more confidence to the market that these long-term goals are realistic,” they added. “As this happens, its multiple should move higher, unlocking potential meaningful share price appreciation.”
Wedbush analysts, who rate shares as Outperform with a price target of $100, were also bullish, writing in a Friday report that they “remain optimistic” about the company’s “path to sustained profitability” and its ability to snap up market share.
Last week, the company blew past estimates for its second quarter, and in the release, CEO Niraj Shah said that Wayfair has been working to “lower…costs, focus on the basics and earn more customer and supplier loyalty.”
And it’s working. For its second quarter, the company reported adjusted Ebitda, of $128 million and free cash flow of $128 million, compared with Ebitda of negative $108 million and free cash flow of negative $244 million a year ago.
Wayfair stock rose 0.6% to $73.30 in Friday trading. This year, shares have more than doubled.
Write to Emily Dattilo at [email protected]
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