Etsy stock fell by 14% on Thursday after the online marketplace projected slowersales growth on its platform.- First-quarter earnings of $1 per share beat expectations of $0.88 per share.
- Revenue of $550.6 million was ahead of Wall Street's estimate of $530 million.
Etsy shares tumbled to their lowest price in nearly five months Thursday as the online marketplace said it expects quarterly sales on its platform to slow, with the warning accompanying first-quarter financial results that surpassed estimates from Wall Street analysts.
"We currently expect Q2 2021 [gross merchandise sales] to decelerate along with the rest of e-commerce as we lap the tremendous 2020 growth rates," said Josh Silverman, chief executive of
Etsy projected gross merchandise sales to increase by 5%-15% on a year-over-year basis and for those sales to come in between $2.8 billion-$3.1 billion. The company was facing tough comparisons with a year earlier when the COVID-19 pandemic forced millions of people to spend more time indoors and online working and studying from home.
Etsy fell 14% to $158.11 during the session. Before the drop to the lowest price since mid-December, shares of the company, which hosts small businesses selling arts and crafts and other items, have more than doubled over the past 12 months.
"Last year the world took notice of Etsy's highly differentiated value proposition, and that incredible momentum has continued into the first quarter of 2021," said Silverman. First-quarter consolidated GMS climbed 132% to $3.1 billion from a year earlier and Etsy marketplace GMS surged 144% to $2.9 billion.
Etsy did not provide guidance for full-year 2021, citing ongoing uncertainty stemming from the pandemic.
First-quarter earnings were $1 per share, soaring from $0.10 per share a year earlier and higher than the $0.88 per share expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv.
Consolidated revenue was $550.6 million, more than double from $228.1 million a year ago and more than the $530 million projected on Wall Street.