Why DoorDash's Investment Plan Is Easier to Swallow This Time - Heard on the Street -- WSJ

Dow Jones02-20

By Dan Gallagher

DoorDash still expects to spend a lot this year. But giving investors an endgame is proving valuable.

The food delivery provider's shares roseThursday following its fourth-quarter report. The report itself was mixed, with orders and gross order value topping Wall Street estimates while the company's forecast for adjusted pre-tax earnings in the first quarter fell well below those targets.

Part of the disappointing earnings projection stems from investments DoorDash is making on new initiatives such as food-delivery robots, as well as unifying its recent spate of acquisitions onto a single technology platform. The company first outlined that plan in its third-quarter report three months ago, but it didn't go over well with investors.

At the time, investors were starting to recoil at the sight of massive capital investments by tech companies. That report triggered the worst single-day selloff DoorDash has ever seen. The stock has stayed underwater since, losing more than one-quarter of its value ahead of the latest results.

But, unlike tech giants spending hundreds of billions on AI infrastructure with no end in sight, DoorDash made clear this time around that investment mode is not a permanent setting. The company said it expects its adjusted pre-tax earnings to be "significantly higher" in the second half of the year versus the first and that the majority of its planned platform investments should take place this year.

The company also added that its grocery and retail delivery businesses are expected to be "gross profit positive" in the second half. For investors scared by tech's blowout spending, that's an appetizing prospect.

This analysis comes from the Journal's Heard on the Street team. Subscribe to their free afternoon newsletter here.

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February 19, 2026 13:00 ET (18:00 GMT)

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