Petco Health And Wellness Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:WOOF) shares are trading lower Thursday after the company reported mixed first-quarter financial results on Wednesday after the market closed.

Q1 Highlights

Petco reported a loss of 5 cents per share, missing the consensus estimate of a 1 cent-loss. Meanwhile, it reported revenue of $1.49 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion.

Petco said ending cash balance increased by $33.5 million year-over-year to $166.8 million. Inventory declined 1.9% from the prior-year period, while total debt decreased to $1.482 billion from $1.593 billion a year earlier.

Cash used in operating activities was $31 million, compared to $15.5 million in the year-ago quarter. Free cash flow was an outflow of $69.1 million versus an outflow of $43.9 million last year.

"Our strong first-quarter results, highlighted by positive comparable sales and profitability that exceeded our outlook, provide clear, early validation that our Phase 3 ‘Reach for the Sky' strategy is working," said Joel Anderson, CEO of Petco.

CFO Sabrina Simmons said the company’s first-quarter results marked a return to positive comparable sales growth and that Petco remains focused on strengthening its retail and financial fundamentals while reducing its leverage ratio to 2x.

Guidance

Petco affirmed its fiscal-year 2026 revenue guidance of $5.96 billion to $6.05 billion, versus the consensus estimate of $6.00 billion. The company sees second-quarter revenue of $1.493 billion, versus the consensus estimate of $1.496 billion.

Long-Term Trend Remains Bearish

At $2.71, Petco is back under its short- and intermediate-term trend lines, trading 2.6% below the 20-day SMA ($2.73), 4.9% below the 50-day SMA ($2.80), and 12.4% below the 200-day SMA ($3.04). That positioning matters because rallies have had trouble sticking while price remains below the 200-day, and the longer-term "death cross" (50-day SMA below the 200-day SMA) that formed in December 2025 still frames the bigger picture as bearish.

Momentum is the more interesting part of the setup right now: MACD is above its signal line and the histogram is positive, which points to improving momentum versus the prior downswing even if the trend hasn't fully flipped. In plain English, MACD being above the signal line suggests selling pressure is easing, but bulls still need price to reclaim key moving averages to confirm a more durable turn.

The stock is also sitting in the lower half of its 52-week range ($2.24 to $4.50), with the most recent swing low in May and a swing high in March acting as the most relevant reference points for where supply and demand have recently shown up. If the premarket weakness holds into regular trading, traders will be watching whether this pullback becomes another "lower high" sequence or a base-building attempt.

  • Key Resistance: $2.80 — lines up with the 50-day SMA and a level the stock needs to reclaim to improve the near-term trend
  • Key Support: $2.24 — the 52-week low zone and the clearest downside reference if selling accelerates

Petco Shares Slide

WOOF Price Action: At the time of publication, Petco shares are trading 16.72% lower at $2.54, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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