Garden.com (Nasdaq: GDEN) rose 17/32 to 2 1/32 Tuesday after announcing gains in revenue, customer accounts and membership for the fourth quarter and the year ended June 30th.
The Austin, Texas-based garden product e-tailer said revenue for the quarter rose 152 percent to $7.3 million, as gross margin advanced to 22.2 percent from 14.5 percent. The loss for the quarter narrowed to $14.5 million, or 82 cents per share, including a restructuring charge of $888,000, from $11 million, or $9.58, in the same period last year.
For the year as a whole, revenue advanced 187 percent to $15.5 million, while gross margin grew to 25 percent from 15.8 percent.
Membership in the quarter rose to 1.4 million from 645,000 in the same period a year earlier, while repeat customer orders grew to a record 41 percent of total orders from 37 percent. Garden.com had 263,000 customer accounts as of year-end, after adding more than 80,000 during the fourth quarter.
The stock rose despite a downgrade by W.R. Hambrecht to market neutral from buy. Analyst Kristine Koerber said the cut reflects “uncertainty in the company’s strategy and the potential risks associated with obtaining outside financing.”