Food delivery giant DoorDash announced Wednesday that its fourth-quarter revenue climbed 38% as the company attracted additional U.S. customers and expanded into new areas like restaurant booking services.
However, Wall Street appears concerned about the company’s increasing expenditures on emerging technologies, such as self-driving delivery robots and experimental drone services.
Shares of DoorDash dropped 3% during after-hours trading Wednesday following the earnings announcement.
The San Francisco-headquartered company posted quarterly revenue of $3.96 billion for the final three months of 2024. This figure fell short of the $3.99 billion projection from analysts surveyed by FactSet.
The platform processed 903 million total orders during the quarter, representing a 32% increase and surpassing analyst expectations of 884.8 million orders, FactSet data showed. The company reported maintaining over 56 million active users throughout the period, with 35 million subscribers paying monthly fees for DashPass, Wolt+, and Deliveroo Plus membership programs.
However, the company’s spending increased substantially during the same timeframe. Research and development expenses surged 41%, while sales and marketing expenditures jumped 31%.
Company CEO and Co-founder Tony Xu explained Wednesday that DoorDash is currently constructing a unified technology platform designed to integrate its various international operations. The company purchased Finnish delivery service Wolt in 2022 and acquired British competitor Deliveroo in the previous year.
“This is a massive and expensive undertaking and honestly one you shouldn’t do if you thought your best days were behind you,” Xu stated in his message to investors.
DoorDash’s net profits increased 51% to reach $213 million, equivalent to 49 cents per share. This earnings figure came in below Wall Street’s anticipated 59-cent per-share profit.
