As customers spend more time at home, Overstock.com's home furnishings business appears to have been a key beneficiary.
With home goods making up 92 percent of its revenue, the online retailer shocked Wall Street for the second straight quarter when it reported better-than-expected Q3 earnings on Thursday.
"We are really working to delight our customers," Jonathan Johnson, CEO of Overstock.com ($OSTK), told Cheddar after the earnings release.
Overstock.com saw its sales double from the same period last year, leading to a 15 percent spike in the stock price at the start of the trading session, though shares later fell into negative territory.
Overstock Crushes Analyst Expectations in Q3 Earnings Report
"I don't really know why Wall Street does what it does. I think they may have seen the second quarter as a COVID flash-in-the-pan," Johnson said. "We've certainly benefited from the tailwinds of people staying at home and furnishing, but I think it's much more than that."
Since taking over as CEO last September, Johnson has been behind one of Wall Street's most impressive turnarounds. From a stock price of under $7, the value has shot up nearly 1,000 percent in 2020.
Johnson credits the company's constant goal of "efficiency" for Overstock.com's improved profit margins.
"We have always viewed ourselves as a tech company first," Johnson explained. "We try to innovate through automation. That helps us scale where we can grow revenues without growing the cost structure too much."
The retailer estimates that before the pandemic about 23 percent of home furniture purchases were made online. Now, it believes that number has jumped to 35 percent in a matter of months.
"People are focused on improving their living area where they're spending more and more of their time," Johnson said. "For us, this is just right in our wheelhouse."
One of the world's largest renewable energy developers will be getting hundreds of wind turbines from General Electric spinoff GE Vernova as part of a record equipment order and long-term service deal.
A moon landing attempt by a private US company appears doomed because of a fuel leak on the newly launched spacecraft. Astrobotic Technology managed to orient the lander toward the sun Monday so its solar panel could capture sunlight and charge its onboard battery.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has announced that 100,000 businesses have signed up for a new database that collects ownership information intended to help unmask shell company owners. Yellen says the database will send the message that “the United States is not a haven for dirty money.”
A new version of the federal student aid application known as the FAFSA is available for the 2024-2025 school year, but only on a limited basis as the U.S. Department of Education works on a redesign meant to make it easier to apply.
A steep budget deficit caused by plummeting tax revenues and escalating school voucher costs will be in focus Monday as Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature return for a new session at the state Capitol.
The first U.S. lunar lander in more than 50 years is on its way to the moon. The private lander from Astrobotic Technology blasted off Monday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, catching a ride on United Launch Alliance's brand new rocket Vulcan.
Global prices for food commodities like grain and vegetable oil fell last year from record highs in 2022, when Russia’s war in Ukraine, drought and other factors helped worsen hunger worldwide, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday.
Wall Street is drifting higher after reports showed the job market remains solid, but key parts of the economy still don’t look like they’re overheating.
The Biden administration is docking more than $2 million in payments to student loan servicers that failed to send billing statements on time after the end of a pandemic payment freeze.
