Warby Parker Shares Slide on Slower Revenue Forecast

Warby Parker reported fourth-quarter revenue increased about 18% to $132.9 million, which was shy of FactSet consensus of $133.4 million. Fourth-quarter revenue was negatively affected by the Omicron variant, with disruption heightened in the last weeks of December, the company said. That coincided with peak demand in the optical industry as customers seek to use flexible spending dollars ahead of Dec. 31 expirations, Warby Parker said.

Warby Parker’s stores haven’t fully recovered their productivity from the impact of Omicron, but that slow bounce back matches the pattern the company has seen after the initial spike in Covid-19 infections and again after the Delta variant surge, Neil Blumenthal, co-founder and co-chief executive, told analysts Thursday morning. “We feel like we don’t need to model to get back to 100% or even higher traffic, in order to reach full productivity and achieve our plans,” he said.

The company’s net loss widened to $45.9 million from $4.3 million a year earlier, due to higher stock-based compensation expenses and related payroll taxes.

For the full year, Warby Parker expects net revenue of $650 million to $660 million, representing growth of 20% to 22% versus 2021. Analysts had expected revenue of $688.5 million, according to FactSet. The outlook includes the effect of about $15 million in lost sales related to the disruption caused by Omicron to the start of the year, the company said.

Write to Charity L. Scott at [email protected]