For Wayfair, It's Like the Pandemic Never Happened
Wayfair (NYSE: W) pioneered the art of losing gobs of money selling furniture and other home goods online before the pandemic. While the company's revenue was growing at a brisk pace prior to early 2020, every other metric was moving in the wrong direction. In 2019, Wayfair posted a net loss of nearly $1 billion on $9.1 billion of revenue, and free cash flow was just shy of -$600 million.
The pandemic temporarily reversed those trends. People were stuck at home with limited avenues to spend, and stimulus payments kept rolling in. Revenue accelerated, and for a brief moment in time, Wayfair was turning sizable profits. Free cash flow in 2020 was $1.1 billion, a positive swing of roughly $1.7 billion.
This prolific consumer spending on online furniture turned out to be an ephemeral phenomenon, and Wayfair was not prepared for the party to end. Revenue began sinking in 2021, and that decline hasn't let up.
Source Fool.com
