GoodRx Shares Tumble but CEO Says he Never Looks at Stock Price: ‘If I Did, I Would Jump out this Window’
Ben Bergman is the newsroom's senior finance reporter. Previously he was a senior business reporter and host at KPCC, a senior producer at Gimlet Media, a producer at NPR's Morning Edition, and produced two investigative documentaries for KCET. He has been a frequent on-air contributor to business coverage on NPR and Marketplace and has written for The New York Times and Columbia Journalism Review. Ben was a 2017-2018 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economic and Business Journalism at Columbia Business School. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, playing poker, and cheering on The Seattle Seahawks.
By all accounts, Santa Monica-based GoodRx delivered a strong first quarter as a public company. Year-over-year revenue beat analyst expectations, soaring 38%. Monthly active users increased a robust 29%. As the pandemic continued to rage across the United States, a record 4.9 million consumers used GoodRx to fill prescriptions.
"I think across the board I was really happy," said co-founder and CEO Doug Hirsch.
But Wall Street was not as pleased, with the stock closing down more than 6%. After mostly zigzagging since their September debut, shares now trade near where they did the first day of trading.
Asked on a brief Zoom video call if he was surprised by Thursday's drop, Hirsch replied: "I'm not surprised because I don't really look at it to be honest. If I did, I would jump out this window." (A representative for Hirsch later clarified he was joking.)
If there was one thing for investors to nitpick it would be the company's $50 million net loss after recording a $19 million profit in the third quarter of last year. But that mostly due to $98 million of stock-based compensation awarded to Hirsch and his co-founder, Trevor Bezdek, for taking the company public.
The company's margins also decreased slightly from the second quarter as it spent more on advertising to try to entice consumers back into pharmacies after stay-at-home orders ended.
Hirsch shrugged off the loss and said he is focused on growth.
"We're going to continue to invest," he said. "We're doubling down on new products and new services."
In the last quarter, the company expanded its subscription service, GoodRx Gold and its telehealth offering, HeyDoctor. The company also extended a partnership as the exclusive prescription savings program for Kroger, the largest grocery chain in the U.S.
As consumers continue to stay at home for the foreseeable future, the company forecast 40% year-over-year revenue growth next year.
Founded in 2011, GoodRx is a beacon for the Southern California tech community – the rare startup that has gone public and faced the unrelenting scrutiny of Wall Street.
"It's intense," said Hirsch. "It's certainly a journey. I've learned the hard way that I have to take the long view."
Ben Bergman is the newsroom's senior finance reporter. Previously he was a senior business reporter and host at KPCC, a senior producer at Gimlet Media, a producer at NPR's Morning Edition, and produced two investigative documentaries for KCET. He has been a frequent on-air contributor to business coverage on NPR and Marketplace and has written for The New York Times and Columbia Journalism Review. Ben was a 2017-2018 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economic and Business Journalism at Columbia Business School. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, playing poker, and cheering on The Seattle Seahawks.
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