Carvana Co. said Thursday it recorded a net loss of $806 million in the fourth quarter, bringing its overall financial losses in 2022 to $1.6 billion.
The company’s rising tide of red ink caps off a year of inflationary pressures, rising interest rates, reductions in profit per vehicle and fluctuations in consumers’ used-vehicle demand, all of which were a collective blow to the company.
The online used-vehicle retailer reported revenue of $2.8 billion in the fourth quarter, down 24 percent compared with the same period a year earlier. For all of 2022, Carvana reported revenue of $13.6 billion, up 6.2 percent from 2021.
The Tempe, Ariz., company sold 86,977 vehicles in the fourth quarter, down 23 percent. The profit it made per vehicle retailed tumbled to $2,219, down $2,347 a vehicle from fourth quarter 2021.
For the full year, Carvana sold 412,296 vehicles, down 3.0 percent from 2021. Its yearly per-vehicle profit was $3,022, down $1,515 from 2021.
“From a short-term perspective, it was clearly a very difficult year,” Carvana CEO Ernie Garcia and CFO Mark Jenkins wrote in a letter to shareholders. “After eight consecutive years of annual improvement, it was the first year we stepped back on the key metrics of retail units sold, total GPU, net income margin and adjusted EBITDA margin.”
Carvana shares were flat in after-hours trading Thursday. The stock closed at $10.08 a share.
Carvana ranks No. 2 on Automotive News’ most recent list of the top 100 retailers ranked by used-vehicle sales, retailing 425,237 used vehicles in 2021.