As the Omicron variant starts to take over the headline feed around Covid, investors are left with the need to diversify back into stories that work in pandemic restricted world.
The data is unclear, but the broad market sell-off has yet to surface into the divide that defines the Covid winners versus the Covid losers. But, rest assured, any sense that this new variant might present the harrowing notion of “vaccine escape” will likely drive capital back into the stocks that work gangbusters when we have to live the pandemic life.
That implies a fresh engine behind the delivery plays. With that in mind, we take a look below at some of the most interesting delivery stocks.
Delivery Hero SE ADR (OTC US:DELHY) engages in the operation of online food ordering portals. It develops an online platform, providing users with information on local restaurants and their delivery services.
The firm offers consumers access to online menu cards, order placement, and payment processing applications. It operates through multiple geographic segments in Asia, Middle East & North Africa (MENA), Europe, Americas, and Integrated Verticals.
Delivery Hero SE ADR (OTC US:DELHY) recently announced it has invested $235 million in Berlin-based grocery delivery company Gorillas, as the race to dominate the rapid delivery service sector picks up speed. The purchase means Delivery Hero owns 8% of the fast-growing startup, which operates more than 180 warehouses in nine countries and has coveted ‘unicorn’ status little more than a year after its foundation.
The third, most recent round of investment has raised close to $1 billion and saw participation by China’s Tencent, DST and Coatue Management, all of which had also been party to the last funding round, which raised $287 million. Gorillas is now valued at about $2.1 billion in pre-money valuation, according to Delivery Hero. “Delivery Hero is on a mission to advance quick commerce globally, and we see Gorillas as one of the leaders in Europe and the U.S.,” Delivery Hero CEO Niklas Oestberg said.
While this is a clear factor, it has been incorporated into a trading tape characterized by a pretty dominant offer, which hasn’t been the type of action DELHY shareholders really want to see. In total, over the past five days, shares of the stock have dropped by roughly -10% on above average trading volume. All in all, not a particularly friendly tape, but one that may ultimately present some new opportunities.
Delivery Hero SE ADR (OTC US:DELHY) managed to rope in revenues totaling $2.5B in overall sales during the company’s most recently reported quarterly financial data — a figure that represents an astounding rate of top line growth of 381%, as compared to year-ago data in comparable terms.
Two Hands Corp. (OTC US:TWOH) is another small emerging growth stock in the delivery space that has started to show some eye-popping growth.
TWOH is an up-and-coming player in the grocery delivery space, competing for market share with Instacart, which is now worth an estimated $39 billion. The company is seeing accelerating growth and plans to expand to new regions. It’s main operating segment, Gocart.city, bills itself as an online grocery delivery market that services the Greater Toronto Area and beyond. It curates and delivers the freshest produce and specialty foods in Southern Ontario, with plans on expanding to other major markets.
Two Hands Corp. (OTC US:TWOH) has made a number of recent key announcements. In August, TWOH announced that it had reduced its current debt by 67.7%.
TWOH most recently announced that it has reduced its Total liabilities by an additional 23.05%. “Management continues to work with its debt holders to reduce and eliminate the company’s liabilities. As we continue to grow, we need to plan for our future, over the past few days we have eliminated just over $320,300 of debt.”, commented Nadav Elituv, Chief Executive Officer. “We will continue to work on reducing our overall obligations over the next few quarters in order to become more attractive to institutional investors in 2022.”
Nadav Elituv continues, “Our focus on Gocart.city, Grocery Originals, and Cuore Food Services continue to improve our sales. A new university partnership has just ordered 600 – $50 vouchers for their students to receive their groceries from Gocart.city demonstrating the value of our programs.”
Two Hands Corporation, (OTC Pink: TWOH) is a food distribution company through three on-demand food brands, Gocart.City, Grocery Originals, and Cuore Food Services. It has recently seen rapid growth, including orders in October exceeded all orders in the company’s prior quarter.
Just Eat Takeaway.com (Nasdaq:GRUB) owns and manages food delivery websites, including the well known Grubhub online restaurant delivery service.
In short, GRUB connects consumers and restaurants through its platform in European countries and Israel. It offers consumers a wide variety of food choice.
Just Eat Takeaway.com (Nasdaq:GRUB) recently announced that it is deploying Yandex Self-Driving Group’s robot delivery technology, also called rovers, on the University of Arizona’s campus. This will be the second campus rolling out this delivery option from Grubhub and Yandex this fall, following Ohio State University.
More than 35,000 Wildcats will be able to order their favorite foods from on-campus dining locations – including IQ Fresh, Einstein Bros Bagels, On Deck Deli and Sabor – via the Grubhub app and have it delivered by one of the rovers. Yandex’s third-generation robots autonomously navigate pavements, campus crosswalks and pedestrian areas at speeds between 3 to 5 miles per hour during daytime and after dark and in various weather conditions, including rain, wind and heat. The rovers operate seven days a week, and students can request delivery to popular locations on campus including the dormitories, Main and Weaver library, McKale Center and more.
“We’ve been working with the University of Arizona’s dining team on efforts that drive the dining experience forward for the last eight years – from rolling out on-campus pickup and delivery to smart food lockers and our Ultimate ordering technology,” said Travis Price, senior manager, strategic partnerships at Grubhub. “The deployment of this robot delivery technology is an exciting way we’re providing innovative solutions to our partners, and we look forward to continuing to support the university’s dining operations.”
The stock has suffered a bit of late, with shares of GRUB taking a hit in recent action, down about -8% over the past week.
Just Eat Takeaway.com (Nasdaq:GRUB) managed to rope in revenues totaling $1.8B in overall sales during the company’s most recently reported quarterly financial data — a figure that represents a rate of top line growth of 885.7%, as compared to year-ago data in comparable terms. In addition, the company has a strong balance sheet, with cash levels exceeding current liabilities ($1.5B against $1.2B).
Other key names in the Delivery space include Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE:UBER), Lyft Inc. (Nasdaq:LYFT), and DoorDash Inc. (NYSE:DASH).
