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Honest Co. Inc.’s first quarterly results as a public company were mixed, with a wider-than-expected loss countered by sales that rose more than Wall Street forecasts thanks in part to hand sanitizers, cleaners and other sanitizing products it introduced amid the pandemic.
Honest
HNST,
late Wednesday said it lost $4.5 million, or 13 cents a share, in the first quarter, contrasting with a profit of $559,000, or one penny, in the year-ago quarter.
Sales rose 12% to $81 million from $72.3 million, which the company pinned on “strong volume growth” for the company’s skin and personal care products and for the sanitization and disinfecting products introduced to its household and wellness line in the second half of 2020. Revenue for that line alone rose 53%, Honest said.
Analysts polled by FactSet had expected the consumer-products company to report a GAAP loss of 6 cents a share on sales of $79.3 million.
“As we look to the future, we will continue to use consumer insights to drive our focus on current and future trends in self-care, clean beauty, and skin care as well as our key product categories of diapers and wipes, household and wellness,” founder and Chief Creative Officer Jessica Alba said in a statement.
Honest filed for its initial public offering in April, and started trading at $21.22 in early May, more than 30% above its IPO price.
Honest bills itself as a maker of “natural” consumer products, from baby diapers to personal-care and household products, that don’t have chemicals the company says are harsh or potentially harmful to health and the environment.
The stock was down 7% premarket Thursday.
