As a venture capital analyst — one who’s even helped raise capital myself — I’m agitated but not shocked by the news coming out of Blue Apron (NYSE: APRN).
The company only IPO’d a few short months ago — back in June. Yet we just learned that the fledgling meal kit-maker will lay off 6% of its employees, or approximately 300 people.
The optics here aren’t good.
It looks like management sold the hype around its IPO, knowing that the business itself was unstable.
As a result, Blue Apron shares are under incredible selling pressure — down 50% since its IPO. CNBC reports:
The company [Blue Apron] has seen a strong onslaught of competition for customers from meal kit brands that range from smaller startups like Sun Basket and Green Chef to behemoths like Amazon, which acquired Whole Foods and sells meal kits or Plated, which was acquired by Albertsons in a deal valued at $200 million.
If you didn’t see the Blue Apron meltdown coming, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
Here are three more impending market disasters…
A Recipe for Destruction
The burritos are safe to eat again at Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG), but their shares are toxic — and still have room to fall.
I said as much last year after the first of Chipotle’s several foodborne illness outbreaks.
And since recommending that investors short the company, the stock is down more than 40%.
Heck, not even a huge investment by activist hedge fund manager Bill Ackman could save the company.
Think you’ve missed out on the downside action?
Not even close…
The company has yet to fully regain the public’s trust since the devastating outbreaks.
In 2016, annual sales fell 13% — to $3.9 billion — from the previous year.
And net income dropped by an eye-popping 95%, to $34.6 million, over the same period.
But it’s not just the outbreaks weighing down the burrito-maker…
