DoorDash plans to buy back $750 million (€705.3 million) worth of stock and projected a key profit measure above analyst estimates, following strong fourth-quarter growth thanks to a surge in orders for food, groceries and pet care items.
DoorDash and its rivals such as UberEats benefited from the pandemic-led trend of people ordering in, a habit that has lingered as these companies offer deals and free deliveries with subscription passes.
Gross Order Value
DoorDash expects gross order value – the total value of all app orders and subscription fees – to rise to between $60 billion (€56.43 billion) and $63 billion (€59.25 billion) in 2023, from $53.4 billion (€50.2 billion) in 2022.
It expects adjusted EBITDA, a measure of profitability, between $500 million (€470 million) and $800 million (€752.3 million), well ahead of analysts' expectations of $591.8 million.
'Non-Restaurant Categories'
The company is gaining market share in the United States, "driven by increasing scale in non-restaurant categories," said Angelo Zino, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research.
"DoorDash is seeing sustained elevated orders in its core food delivery business, showing the stickiness of that business and the value consumers place on that service despite more challenging macro trends."
Fourth-Quarter Performance
The top U.S. food delivery company said orders in the fourth quarter surged 27% to $467 million (€439.2 million) from the prior year.
Revenue in the fourth quarter jumped 40% to $1.82 billion (€1.71 billion) in the quarter ended Dec. 31, beating estimates of $1.77 billion, according to Refinitiv.
However, net loss widened to $642 million (€603.7 million), or $1.65 per share, from $155 million (€145.8 million), or 45 cents a year earlier, due to costs related to stock-based compensation and staff cuts announced earlier in November.
The company named Ravi Inukonda as its new chief financial officer, effective March 1. Current finance chief Prabir Adarkar will take over as chief operating officer from Christopher Payne, who is retiring.
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