DoorDash stock staged a dramatic turnaround in after-hours trading, falling 7% just after reporting earnings and revenue that missed Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, but then reversing those losses and climbing 14%.
The company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 48 cents a share on revenue of $3.96 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected the company to report earnings of 59 cents a share on revenue of $3.99 billion.
It wasn't all bad news for DoorDash. Earnings were up from last year's 33 cents a share and revenue jumped 38% from the prior year's $2.87 billion.
Fourth-quarter gross order value, or the total dollar value of orders completed, including taxes, tips, and consumer fees, rose 39% to $29.7 billion. That came in above Wall Street estimates of $29.2 billion.
DoorDash also said it expects first-quarter gross order value to be between $31 billion to $31.8 billion, which is higher than analyst estimates of $30.8 billion.
DoorDash stock has fallen 19% over the past 12 months and 28% since its previous earnings report released Nov. 5. It was up 6.8% during regular trading on Wednesday.
In November, DoorDash said it planned on investing several hundred million dollars more in new initiatives and platform development in 2026 compared with 2025. Some of the investment was planned for building autonomous delivery vehicles and updating the tech that powers DoorDash's apps. This increased spending spooked investors.
CEO Tony Xu said in a letter to shareholders on Wednesday that some of that spending is going toward combining the company's three different tech platforms -- DoorDash, Deliveroo, and Wolt -- into one.
"This is a massive and expensive undertaking and honestly one you shouldn't do if you thought your best days were behind you," Xu said. "On the contrary, one of the lessons we've learned in building DoorDash is that to build systems that endure, you must also think and invest in the long term."
Another risk to DoorDash that Wall Street is paying attention to is competition. Delivery apps like Maplebear's Instacart and Uber Technologies' Uber Eats give consumers multiple options for food delivery. Competition also continues to grow, as Amazon.com expands its same-day grocery delivery.
Still, many analysts like DoorDash stock. Of the 50 analysts surveyed by FactSet, 38 say the stock is a Buy, 12 say it's a Hold, and none say it's a Sell.