(Bloomberg) — While much of the Western world is cheering the waning effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, some companies whose businesses were most affected by global lockdowns are seeing a return to normal in a different light.
Roblox Corp., a social platform that enables players to create their own online games and worlds, captured the attention of as much as two-thirds of U.S. kids ages 9 to 12 during the pandemic. Its shares soared 130% last year. That success also made the company vulnerable when tweens were called back to classrooms, sports and other activities.
Reality caught up with Roblox this week when it reported financial results that missed analyst’s estimates and acknowledged it’s tough to compare growth rates with last year when certain metrics doubled or even nearly tripled. The stock on Wednesday fell the most since the company went public last March, tumbling as much as 26% in New York.
“The whole reopening thing is somewhat of a drag” for Roblox, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh. Time spent on the internet increased about 25% in the last three years compared with pre-pandemic levels. “You’re not going to see that with reopening,” he said.
Shopify Inc., a Canadian e-commerce company that provides software and other services that underpin the websites of many small businesses, told a similar story. The company grew dramatically during the early stages of the pandemic, with sales jumping 86% in 2020. But its business started to stumble last year. Results failed to meet estimates in the third quarter, the first time it disappointed analysts since its 2015 initial public offering, as merchants did less business across its platform than expected.
Fourth-quarter results were better, but the company projected a reset in online spending this year.
“The Covid-triggered acceleration of e-commerce that spilled into the first half of 2021 in the form of lockdowns and government stimulus will be absent from 2022,” Shopify said Wednesday. “There is caution around inflation and consumer spend near term, for the full year.”
Airbnb Inc. has experienced success on both sides of the pandemic, but that outcome wasn’t obvious in the early days of 2020. When global travel came to a halt two years ago, the vacation-rental platform cut thousands of jobs and considered delaying its initial public offering. In May of 2020, Airbnb forecast revenue for the year to be less than half of what it was in 2019.
But after the initial shock, business boomed as workers no longer had to be in traditional offices five days a week and could work from anywhere. “As a result,” Airbnb said in a letter to shareholders on Tuesday, “people are spreading out to thousands of towns and cities, staying for weeks, months or even entire seasons at a time.”
Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky said 2021 was “the best year in our company’s history,” and that Airbnb was able to weather the pandemic because of its highly adaptable business model. Fourth-quarter revenue and profit beat analysts’ estimates and the company is starting the year stronger than before the pandemic. Shares jumped as much as 6.5% Wednesday.
DoorDash Inc. is another company that has seen its fortunes ebb and flowed with the pandemic. The meal-delivery company flourished when restaurants were forced to shutter, delivering favorite dinners — and lunches — to people cooped up at home and helping keep restaurants afloat. But even as dining out has become an option again, DoorDash has found that those Covid-habits have stuck.
In the third-quarter, DoorDash revenue increased 45%, beating estimates. The company, which now comprises 58% of the U.S. food-delivery sales, has parlayed its success with restaurants into other delivery categories like convenience and grocery, elevating its ambitions to becoming a logistics giant.
The company reports fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday after the market closes.
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