DoorDash was one of the market's biggest losers today, losing 5.9% of its value and underperforming both the S&P500 and Dow Industrial composite indices by 0.0%. The large-cap Industrials company ended the day at $75.37, but is still well above its 52 week low of $41.37 and is 20.5% below its average target price of $94.8. Over the last 12 months, DoorDash is up 75.0%, and has outperformed the S&P 500 by 53.0%. The stock has an average analyst rating of buy.
DoorDash does not publish its forward or trailing price to earnings (P/E) ratio because the stock has negative forward and trailing earnings per share (EPS) values at $-0.8 and $-3.27 respectively. Since P/E ratios are share price divided by earnings per share, DoorDash has a negative P/E ratio, which is not meaningful besides the fact that it indicates the company is not currently profitable.
When it comes to new businesses -- especially those operating within the technology sector -- investors are often willing to overlook prolonged periods of negative earnings and inflated valuations. But not so in the Industrials sector, which has an average P/E ratio of 20.49. If DoorDash cannot improve its earnings picture soon, it's unlikely that investors will stay onboard -- unless there are other factors in favor of the business's outlook.
Another metric for valuing a stock is its Price to Book (P/B) Ratio, which consists in its share price divided by its book value per share. The book value refers to the present value of the company if it sold all its tangible assets and paid off all debts today. DoorDash's P/B ratio of 4.63 indicates that the market may be overvaluing the company when compared to the average P/B ratio of the Industrials sector, which is 3.78.
DoorDash is likely to attract many investors on the basis of its strong gross margins, which indicate that it either has an exceptional competitive advantage, or that its particular product or services involve very few direct costs:
| Date Reported | Revenue ($ k) | Cost of Revenue ($ k) | Gross Margins (%) | YoY Growth (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-02-27 | 6,583,000 | -3,588,000 | 45 | -13.46 |
| 2022-03-01 | 4,888,000 | -2,338,000 | 52 | -1.89 |
| 2021-02-10 | 2,886,000 | -1,368,000 | 53 |
- Average gross margins: 50.0 %
- Average gross margins growth rate: 0.4 %
- Coefficient of variability (lower numbers indicate more stability): 8.7 %
Don't let the above fool you. Such high gross margins need to be considered alongside the company's operating margins, which take into account overhead:
| Date Reported | Total Revenue ($ k) | Operating Expenses ($ k) | Operating Margins (%) | YoY Growth (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-02-27 | 6,583,000 | -4,027,000 | -16 | -77.78 |
| 2022-03-01 | 4,888,000 | -3,002,000 | -9 | 40.0 |
| 2021-02-10 | 2,886,000 | -1,954,000 | -15 |
- Average operating margins: -13.3 %
- Average operating margins growth rate: -1.5 %
- Coefficient of variability (lower numbers indicate more stability): 28.4 %
We can see that in fact, DoorDash's significant overhead eliminates its profits from sales entirely. The company is not profitable.
To get a better idea of DoorDash's finances, we will now look at its cash flows. Often touted as a general yardstick for a company's financial health, cash flows represent the sum of inflows and outflows of cash from all sources, including capital expenditures:
| Date Reported | Cash Flow from Operations ($ k) | Capital expenditures ($ k) | Free Cash Flow ($ k) | YoY Growth (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-02-27 | 367,000 | -176,000 | 543,000 | -33.86 |
| 2022-03-01 | 692,000 | -129,000 | 821,000 | 129.33 |
| 2021-02-10 | 252,000 | -106,000 | 358,000 |
- Average free cash flow: $543.0 Million
- Average free cash flow growth rate: 0.0 %
- Coefficient of variability (lower numbers indicating more stability): 732328992.7%
Free cash flow represents the money that DoorDash can use to either reinvest in the business or to reward its investors in the form of a dividend. Despite the company's recent cash flows being in the green, investors do not currently receive a dividend.
DoorDash does not meet the traditional definition of a fairly valued company. Unless the company has strong qualitative factors in its favor, most value investors will probably prefer to avoid this stock.
