Caught in this vortex was online furniture and home furnishings retailer Wayfair (NYSE: W); it didn't help that on the preceding day, an analyst launched coverage of the stock with the equivalent of a sell recommendation. After market close on Monday, Sanford C. Bernstein inaugurated its coverage, tagging Wayfair stock at "underperform." Analyst Nikhil Devnani placed a $45 per share price target on the shares, which at the time was more than 10% below Wayfair's closing price.
John Ballard (Wayfair): Shares of the leading online home goods store have fallen 86% after reaching an all-time high of $369 in 2021. Wayfair's broad selection, investments in logistics infrastructure, and growing supplier base has led to phenomenal growth. In the first quarter of this year, revenue fell 13.9% over the year-ago quarter, which has caused much skepticism on Wall Street over Wayfair's growth prospects.
Other retail companies are giving out troubling commentary about the state of the industry, pulling down Wayfair's shares.