1stDibs Reports Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results

NEW YORK, Nov. 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 1stdibs.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: DIBS), a leading online marketplace for luxury design products ("1stDibs" or the "Company"), today reported financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2023.

Third Quarter 2023 Financial Highlights

• Net revenue was $20.7 million, a decrease of 9% year-over-year.
• Gross profit was $15.2 million, a decrease of 2% year-over-year.
• Gross margin was 73.3%, compared to 68.0% in the third quarter 2022.
• GAAP net loss was $3.3 million compared to a net loss of $9.0 million in the third quarter 2022.
• Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin was $(1.8) million and (8.7)%, respectively, compared to $(5.5) million and (24.0)%, respectively, in the third quarter 2022.
• Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $143.0 million as of September 30, 2023.

“While softness in the luxury housing market weighs on business, our recent actions have put us in a strong competitive position for when demand rebounds,” said David Rosenblatt, 1stDibs Chief Executive Officer. “We’ve reduced our cost structure, increased our testing velocity, and are focused on a small number of projects with the highest potential for solid returns.”

Tom Etergino, Chief Financial Officer of 1stDibs said, “Over the past year we have made significant efforts to reengineer our cost structure and streamline our operations. The payoff showed up in the third quarter, with operating expenses down 20% year-over-year and adjusted EBITDA margins improving 15 percentage points year-over-year. Our strong balance sheet and low cash burn give us confidence that we will successfully navigate the choppy demand environment.”

Other Recent Business Highlights and Third Quarter Key Operating Metrics

• In November 2023, we entered into a lease agreement, as the lessee, for 13,671 square feet for a new office space in New York City which is expected to have a commencement date of January 15, 2024 with a five year term and an initial seven month rent abatement period.
• In August 2023, we entered into a sublease agreement as the sublessor for our office space in our New York City headquarters which will commence on October 1, 2023 for approximately 78% of the rentable square feet and expand to 100% of the rentable square feet on January 15, 2024. The sublease agreement ends on December 31, 2029.
• In August 2023, 1stDibs' Board of Directors approved a new stock repurchase program authorizing the Company to repurchase up to $20.0 million of its common stock. As of September 30, 2023, the Company repurchased 334,959 shares of common stock for a total of $1.4 million.
• GMV was $89.0 million, a decrease of 10% year-over-year.
• Number of Orders was approximately 31K, a decrease of 11% year-over-year.
• Active Buyers was approximately 63K, a decrease of 7% year-over-year.

Financial Guidance and Outlook

The Company’s fourth quarter 2023 guidance is below.

Actual results may differ materially from our Financial Guidance and Outlook as a result of, among other things, the factors described under “Forward-Looking Statements” below.

A GAAP reconciliation to our non-GAAP guidance measure (adjusted EBITDA) is not available on a forward-looking basis without unreasonable effort due to the uncertainty regarding, and the potential variability of, expenses that may be incurred in the future. Stock-based compensation expense is impacted by the timing of employee stock transactions, the future fair market value of our common stock, and our future hiring and retention needs, all of which are difficult to predict and subject to change. We have provided a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures in the financial statement tables for our historical non-GAAP financial results included in this press release.

Webcast Information

1stDibs will host a webcast to discuss its third quarter 2023 financial results today at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Investors and participants can access the webcast at the 1stDibs Investor Relations website (investors.1stdibs.com). A replay of the webcast will be available through the same link following the webcast, for one year thereafter.

Disclosure Information

In compliance with disclosure obligations under Regulation FD, 1stDibs announces material information to the public through a variety of means, including filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, press releases, company blog posts, public conference calls and webcasts, as well as the investor relations website.

About 1stDibs

1stDibs is a leading online marketplace for connecting design lovers with highly coveted sellers and makers of vintage, antique, and contemporary furniture, home décor, art, jewelry, watches and fashion.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Miller
jennifer.miller@1stdibs.com

Investor Relations Contact:
Kevin LaBuz
investors@1stdibs.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable federal and state securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements in this press release other than statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as: "accelerate," "anticipate," "believe," "can," "contemplate," "continue," "could," "demand," "estimate," "expand," "expect," "focus," "intend," "may," "might," "objective," "ongoing," "opportunity," "outlook," "plan," "potential," "predict," "progress," "project," "should," "target," "will," "would," or the negative of these terms, or other comparable terminology or similar expressions intended to identify statements about the future.

These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the following: (1) our continued efforts to lay the foundation for future growth; (2) our focus on efficiency and steps to align our expenses to current demand and the impact thereof; (3) our progress towards reaccelarating growth, reducing our cost, and re-engineering our cost base; (4) the implementation of our stock repurchase program; and (5) our future results of operations and financial position, including our financial guidance and outlook. We cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will be accurate. Forward-looking statements are based on current of future events and if these prove to be inaccurate, actual results could vary materially from our expectations and projections. Investors are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from those discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the following: (1) our ability to execute our business plan and strategies to achieve our strategic initiatives; (2) our ability to achieve future growth; (3) our ability to enhance GMV growth and shareholder value; (4) our ability to effectively manage costs; (5) our ability to execute our stock repurchase program; (6) our ability to reduce operating costs and realign investment priorities following our workforce reduction; and (7) macroeconomic conditions or geopolitical events or similar risks, as well as other risks, uncertainties, and other factors discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 and other periodic reports and filings we make with the SEC. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.

Key Operating Metrics Definitions

Gross Merchandise Value

We define GMV as the total dollar value from items sold by our sellers through 1stDibs in a given month, minus cancellations within that month, and excluding shipping and sales taxes. GMV includes all sales reported to us by our sellers, whether transacted through the 1stDibs marketplace or reported as an offline sale. We view GMV as a measure of the total economic activity generated by our online marketplace, and as an indicator of the scale and growth of our online marketplace and the health of our ecosystem. Our historical growth rates for GMV may not be indicative of future growth rates in GMV.

Number of Orders

We define Number of Orders as the total number of orders placed or reported through the 1stDibs marketplace in a given month, minus cancellations within that month. Our historical growth rates for Number of Orders may not be indicative of future growth rates in Number of Orders.

Active Buyers

We define Active Buyers as buyers who have made at least one purchase through our online marketplace during the 12 months ended on the last day of the period presented, net of cancellations. A buyer is identified by a unique email address; thus an Active Buyer could have more than one account if they were to use a separate unique email address to set up each account. We believe this metric reflects scale, engagement and brand awareness, and our ability to convert user activity on our online marketplace into transactions. Our historical growth rates for Active Buyers may not be indicative of future growth rates in new Active Buyers.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

In this press release, we provide Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure that represents our net loss adjusted to exclude: (1) depreciation and amortization; (2) stock-based compensation expense; (3) other income, net; (4) provision for income taxes; and (5) strategic alternative expenses. We also provide Adjusted EBITDA Margin, a non-GAAP financial measure that presents Adjusted EBITDA divided by net revenue. Below is a reconciliation of net loss, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure, to Adjusted EBITDA.

We have included Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin, which are non-GAAP financial measures, because they are key measures used by our management team to help us to assess our operating performance and the operating leverage in our business. We also use these measures to analyze our financial results, establish budgets and operational goals for managing our business, and make strategic decisions. We believe that Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin help identify underlying trends in our business that could otherwise be masked by the effect of the income and expenses that we exclude from Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin. Accordingly, we believe that these metrics provide useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our results of operations, enhances the overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects, and allows for greater transparency with respect to key financial metrics used by our management in their financial and operational decision-making. We also believe that the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures provides an additional tool for investors to use in comparing our core business and results of operations over multiple periods with other companies in our industry, many of which present similar non-GAAP financial measures to investors, and to analyze our cash performance.

The non-GAAP financial measures presented may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies due to differences in the way that these measures are calculated. The non-GAAP financial measures presented should not be considered as the sole measure of our performance and should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, comparable financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. Further, these non-GAAP financial measures have certain limitations in that they do not include the impact of certain expenses that are reflected in our condensed consolidated statements of operations. Accordingly, these non-GAAP financial measures should be considered as supplemental in nature, and are not intended, and should not be construed, as a substitute for the related financial information calculated in accordance with GAAP. These limitations of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin include the following:

• The exclusion of certain recurring, non-cash charges, such as depreciation of property and equipment and amortization of intangible assets. While these are non-cash charges, we may need to replace the assets being depreciated and amortized in the future and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect cash requirements for these replacements or new capital expenditure requirements;
• The exclusion of stock-based compensation expense, which has been a significant recurring expense and will continue to constitute a significant recurring expense for the foreseeable future, as equity awards are expected to continue to be an important component of our compensation strategy;
• The exclusion of other income, net, which includes interest income related to our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, interest expense, and realized and unrealized gains and losses on foreign currency exchange;
• The exclusion of gain on sale of Design Manager, which is a one-time sale of our wholly owned subsidiary; and
• The exclusion of strategic alternative expenses in connection with capital return strategies, buy- and sell-side mergers, acquisitions and partnerships, sale of a business or subsidiary, business optimization costs related to revisions of operational objectives and priorities, cost saving initiatives related to one-time restructuring charges and integration costs, in all cases outside the ordinary course.
  

Because of these limitations, you should consider Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin alongside other financial performance measures, including net loss and our other GAAP results. The information in the tables below sets forth the non-GAAP financial measures along with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.