GrubHub beats quarterly revenue estimates on diner growth
Feb 5 (Reuters) - GrubHub Inc beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue on Wednesday, as the online food delivery company attracted more diners through increased restaurant partnerships.
Chicago-based GrubHub said it had 22.6 million active diners in the fourth quarter, above analysts' average estimate of 22.2 million diners. The company defines active diners as the number of unique customer accounts from which orders have been placed.
Revenue rose 19% to $341.3 million, above analysts' average estimate of $325.3 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
It was a reversal from the company's disappointing third-quarter earnings, which GrubHub blamed on slowing growth as customers opted to choose from a growing pool of rival providers to get better deals. The results had wiped off $2 billion in market value.
Following the fiasco, GrubHub, though a strong advocate of restaurants partnerships, said it will also include non-partnered restaurants on its platform by the end of 2020.
Restaurant partnerships for GrubHub, which has been facing competition from UberEats, DoorDash, and Postmates, more than doubled in the fourth quarter from just a quarter ago. It's latest partnerships include Dine Brands and McDonald's .
However, net loss widened to $27.7 million, or 30 cents per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, from $5.2 million, or 6 cents per share, a year earlier.
Total costs rose 26% to $366.1 mln.
Excluding items, the company reported a loss of 5 cents per share. (Reporting by Chinmay Rautmare in Bengaluru and Hilary Russ from New York; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
