By Mauro Orru
Shares in HelloFresh SE rose Tuesday after the German meal-kit maker raised its revenue outlook for the third time this year due to strong customer growth and high order rates in the third quarter.
At 0900 GMT, HelloFresh shares traded 14% higher at EUR80.12.
The company said late Monday that revenue for the third quarter climbed to 1.42 billion euros ($1.65 billion) from EUR970.2 million last year, 7.9% ahead of company-compiled consensus and 5% ahead of Visible Alpha estimates, according to Berenberg analysts.
"The actual result, which includes headwinds of circa EUR25 million relating to hurricane damage in the U.S., and Covid-19-related shutdowns in Australia, is also 3% ahead of our above-consensus estimates," Berenberg analysts said in a note to investors.
HelloFresh now targets revenue growth at constant currency for the year between 57% and 62% compared with between 45% and 55% as previously expected.
The company's third revenue guidance upgrade in the year--which stems from strong customer inflow post-summer holidays over September and October along with high order frequency and basket size--sends a positive signal ahead of HelloFresh's capital markets day in December, Bryan Garnier analysts said.
The number of active customers in the quarter increased 39% to 6.94 million, while the number of orders rose 42% to 27.59 million.
"We further expanded our total addressable market by successfully launching HelloFresh in Norway in July and in Italy in October. With all of these investments in place, we remain focused on reaching our mid-term revenue target of EUR10 billion," HelloFresh Chief Executive Dominik Richter said.
HelloFresh still expects an adjusted margin for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of between 8.25% and 10.25% this year.
Adjusted Ebitda, a closely-watched profitability metric for HelloFresh, fell to EUR79.8 million in the third quarter from EUR114.7 million last year, with its corresponding margin down to 5.6% from 11.8%.
"The absence of Ebitda margin guidance upgrade is not surprising as we believe the new preparation centers will continue to weigh on profitability over 2H 2021 and 1H 2022 while cost pressures caused by the tight U.S. labor market and high transportation costs will remain a negative element in the short-term," Bryan Garnier analysts said.
Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com; @MauroOrru94