Apparently if I arrange a couple more deliveries by Ocado (OCDO) over the rest of the year, I will get a free box of chocolates. I guess that might be a nice Christmas present for someone, but it might be a slightly expensive one too. Ocado always offers a nice food delivery option, but it is an expensive one too. What happened in today’s Q3 trading statement then?
Thursday was a busy day with a thousand (and one) corporate names reporting and the European Central Bank finally seeing common sense and raising interest rates after 14 years to (wait for it!) 0%. What a world we live in… And talking about the excitable world out there brings me back (again) to Ocado (OCDO). Last month - despite being an occasional user – I noted it is still bonkers that the grocery technology name has a c. £6.5 billion market cap (even if it continues to sign various global deals). What did Ocado’s first half 2022 numbers say yesterday then? No surprise it is still talking about losses (and hopes for the future).
I do quite like receiving a food delivery from Ocado (OCDO). It is not cheap but the quality is good and it is certainly better than going to a restaurant or something like that. However - as I last detailed HERE three months ago - it is a “good job I prefer Ocado’s food delivery to its shares”, especially as the nearly £6 billion market cap company has felt the need to raise nearly £600 million in an equity raise. What is going on?
Since I observed in mid-December that “I like Ocado (OCDO) delivery but I am keeping on avoiding the shares”, I have personally used the company twice and remain completely unsurprised to see the share price down over 10% today and nearly 20% year-to-date. Life is always tough when you have a market cap of nearly £9.5 billion, revenue of just shy of £2.5 billion (up 7.2% year-on-year) and - despite some clever software and robots technology - still make a loss. Striking a deal here with M&S (MKS) was smart here in the UK and ‘unveiled the next leap of game-changing technology underpinning the unique and proprietary Ocado Smart Platform’ may be very exciting, but my top tip would be to make some actual proper profit. I guess that means (1) I will put another food and related order in later this month and (2) I will keep on avoiding the shares. Meanwhile, how is one of my ‘tips of the year’ plays DCC plc (DCC) getting along?
Once a month or so we do have a household food delivery from Ocado (OCDO) and, as observed back in September, I am a bit of a fan. Helped by its M&S (MKS) link, the quality is a little better in my opinion than our normal delivery faves Morrison and J Sainsbury (SBRY) but the cost is somewhat higher. Still, it is better than going to a rip-off restaurant and - let’s face it - cooking your own food is hardly impossible. However good luck if you fancy a few Christmas specials from the Ocado delivery range because when I last looked the next deliveries are in 2022. Today’s Q4 trading statement was hardly shabby either as it observed ‘strong underlying demand trend…conviction to invest and accelerate growth’, even before the Christmas demand.
