Key Highlights
- First quarter earnings per share of $0.42 exceeded Wall Street’s $0.36 forecast
- Quarterly revenue totaled $4.04B, falling short of the anticipated $4.15B
- Platform gross order value reached $31.6B, slightly above the $31.5B consensus estimate
- Shares climbed approximately 11% during premarket hours on Thursday
- Second quarter GOV forecast of $32.4B–$33.4B aligns with Street expectations
Shares of DoorDash (DASH) surged approximately 11% during Thursday’s premarket session, climbing to $184.50, following the delivery platform’s better-than-expected first quarter earnings report, even as topline sales fell short.
The food delivery giant reported earnings of $0.42 per share, comfortably beating analyst projections of $0.36. However, quarterly revenue registered $4.04 billion, missing the Street’s $4.15 billion target.
The platform’s gross order value — representing the aggregate dollar amount of all customer orders — totaled $31.6 billion, marginally surpassing the $31.5 billion Wall Street consensus while landing within management’s prior guidance.
Notably, the average value per order also increased, rising from $31.52 during the first quarter of 2025 to $33.87 in the most recent period. This represents a modest but meaningful uptick in customer spending behavior per transaction.
Management attributed the performance to “continued product improvements and healthy consumer demand trends,” acknowledging that shoppers remain active despite facing an elevated cost landscape.
Second Quarter Outlook: Steady as She Goes
Looking ahead to Q2, DoorDash projected gross order value between $32.4 billion and $33.4 billion, a range that encompasses the analyst consensus of $32.75 billion.
The company’s adjusted EBITDA guidance of $770 million to $870 million landed slightly below the $828 million midpoint expectation from analysts — not impressive, but reasonably close.
Analysts at Citi highlighted that market participants were especially attentive to the GOV outlook, particularly considering DoorDash’s current $50 million quarterly initiative to compensate drivers for elevated fuel expenses.
Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan identified increasing DashPass membership adoption as an additional positive factor, fueled by improved conversion rates and reduced subscriber attrition.
Artificial Intelligence Generates Two-Thirds of Platform Code
During the quarterly conference call, CEO Tony Xu revealed that approximately two-thirds of DoorDash’s codebase is currently generated by artificial intelligence — a disclosure that captured attention amid the financial discussion.
Xu explained the company is leveraging AI-enabled efficiency improvements while working to consolidate acquired platforms Wolt and Deliveroo onto a unified technology infrastructure.
“We’re seeing productivity gains, we’re trying to figure out how do productivity gains now translate to what team setups should look like,” Xu said.
He additionally mentioned that DoorDash is integrating logistics capabilities from European non-grid urban environments with its U.S. retail catalog knowledge base.
Prior to Thursday’s trading, the stock had declined 26% year-to-date, making the premarket rally a substantial though incomplete recovery.
DoorDash’s first quarter gross order value of $31.6 billion landed within management’s previously issued range of $31.4 billion to $32.4 billion.
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