Dive Brief:

• Casper reported fourth quarter net revenues increased 29% year over year to $127 million, while full-year revenues increased 23% to $439 million.

• The mattress brand’s net loss narrowed slightly in the fourth quarter to $25.6 million, according to a company press release. Marketing expenses in the quarter grew 21% from the year-ago period to $40.6 million, while general and administrative costs expanded 23% to $43.4 million.

• Casper, noting uncertainty around the impacts of the coronavirus, provided first quarter guidance of net revenues between $108 million and $112 million, and adjusted EBITDA to be between -$30 million and -$27 million.

Dive Insight:

Casper, which made its public debut last month, posted relatively strong fourth quarter results in line with analysts’ expectations.

“[W]ith our IPO behind us, we now have a strong balance sheet and cash position, and we have the ability to monitor changes and quickly adapt to the evolving landscape,” CEO Philip Krim said in a statement.

A particularly bright spot during the quarter was revenue from partnerships, partially driven by new partnerships with Wayfair, Rooms2Go and Raymour & Flanigan, as well as from those not yet annualized like Costco, according to Wedbush analysts led by Seth Basham.

Basham also noted that while Q4 revenue was in line with the firm’s projections of $125 million to $129 million, Casper’s expected earnings for the first quarter was “well below” the -$14 million the analysts anticipated.

The company reiterated steps it has taken in response to the situation around COVID-19, including temporarily shuttering its retail stores until March 27, instructing corporate staff to work remotely and working with its supply chain to limit disruption.

“[O]ver the past several weeks, we have worked with our manufacturing, logistics and other supply chain partners to build communication and monitoring processes for all aspects of our product and delivery supply chain. To date, we have not seen a material impact on our supply chain, inventory availability or delivery capacity,” the company said.

Casper noted in its release that it does believe the coronavirus will “impact our revenues, results of operations and financial condition.”

The company is monitoring consumer shifts from its physical retail to its online operations during this period, though as a digital native, it still may not be able to fully escape the impacts of changing shopper behavior. According to performance agency Within, revenue for pureplays fell some 63% on March 18 compared to its pre-virus benchmark period.