Overstock.com Records Q4 Profit as Revenues Rise 9.6%

February 1, 2017  by Larry Thomas in Financial Reports, Industry   

The black ink was well ahead of the $110,000 profit in the previous year’s fourth quarter, but the retailer recorded an operating loss of $342,000 in the current quarter due largely to higher sales, marketing and technology expenses.

The company was able to eke out a profit due largely to income of $2.1 million from expired and unused gift cards for its Club O rewards program, and a $521,000 decrease in the unrealized loss from its precious metals holdings.

Fourth-quarter revenue totaled $526.2 million, up from $480.3 million in the comparable quarter. The company said the revenue increase was driven by a 12% jump in the average order size.

For the 2016 calendar year, revenues totaled $1.8 billion, an increase of 8.6% from $1.66 billion in 2015.

The full-year profit totaled $12.5 million or 49 cents per share, including income of $19.5 million from settlement of a long-running lawsuit against several brokerage firms. That compares with a profit of $2.45 million or 10 cents per share in 2015.