Chewy expects sales will continue to come under pressure through the rest of this year as consumers pull back on discretionary purchases like pet treats.
The online pet-supplies retailer still bumped up its full-year outlook, pointing to a boost from market share gains and recent acquisitions, but its updated forecast is below the initial projection it gave back in March. The company had lowered its expectations in June as consumers grew more cautious.
"We are not assuming a meaningful consumer recovery for the balance of this fiscal year," Chief Executive Sumit Singh said during a Wednesday call with analysts.
While consumers under pressure from inflation and higher gas prices continue to spend on food and medicine for their pets, they are cutting back on categories like treats, he said.
"If you're allocating a budget from a household perspective, you prioritize core food, you prioritize meds, you prioritize categories like supplements," Singh said. "Everything else falls a little bit more towards the discretionary side."
Shares slid 7.7%, to $21.47, on Wednesday. The stock is now down 35% year to date.
Chewy now forecasts net sales of $13.46 billion to $13.57 billion for the year, compared with the range it gave in June for $13.4 billion to $13.55 billion.
Singh said the updated outlook reflects factors the company can control, as well as market share gains and customer growth. He also pointed to help from Chewy's recent acquisitions, with horse health products provider SmartPak and veterinary platform Modern Animal performing ahead of initial expectations.
For the current third quarter, Chewy expects sales of $3.32 billion to $3.36 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet were looking for sales of $3.33 billion.
The forecasts came as Chewy reported higher quarterly profit and sales as it continued to grow its active customer base.
Second-quarter profit came in at $80.5 million, or 20 cents a share, compared with $62 million, or 14 cents a share, a year earlier.
Adjusted earnings per share were 36 cents, in line with analyst estimates, according to FactSet.
Revenue increased 7.3% year over year to $3.33 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $3.32 billion.
Active customers rose 3.8% from a year ago to 21.7 million, while net sales per active customer ticked up 1.9%.
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