New York, May 20, 2026, 04:15 EDT
Chewy Inc. shares tumbled Tuesday. CEO Sumit Singh said U.S. consumers are feeling more financial pressure now than early this year, stirring new worries about demand for pet supplies.
Chewy shares finished at $19.66, down 9.1%. The stock dropped to $19.46 at its low for the day, according to Google Finance. That brings Chewy close to its 52-week low and leaves the stock trailing the wider consumer discretionary group.
Chewy will report its fiscal first-quarter numbers before the bell June 10, coming after Tuesday’s comments that put more focus on whether regular food, medicine and subscription sales are enough as shoppers pull back. Chewy said Monday its earnings call is set for 8 a.m. ET.
Chewy is “continuing to see and interpret the consumer as being more stretched than we were when we entered the year,” Singh said at the J.P. Morgan Technology, Media & Communications Conference. He also noted “no shortage of data points” for that view. Investing.com UK
Market focus was already on softening consumer mood. Early May data from the University of Michigan showed U.S. consumer sentiment at a record low, pulled down by higher gasoline prices, according to Reuters last week.
Chewy tells investors that pet spending holds up better than most retail. Autoship, its auto-delivery program, made up 83.3% of net sales in fiscal 2025. Active customers increased 4% to 21.3 million, according to the annual report.
J.P. Morgan analyst Douglas Anmuth, speaking at the same event, called Chewy “the largest pure-play online pet retailer in the U.S.” He put projected net sales at about $13.7 billion for this year, with around 85% expected from Autoship customers. Anmuth highlighted management’s 6.7% EBITDA margin target at the midpoint. EBITDA—earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization—is a standard operating profit metric. Seeking Alpha
Singh said Chewy has some protection against macro pressure. “The emotive nature of the category, alongside these durable levers that we bring to market, puts us in a category which is relatively much more inert to some of these macro headwinds,” he told Barron’s. Barron’s
Pet supply stocks traded in different directions after the news. Petco Health and Wellness dropped roughly 2.9%. BARK jumped 7.5%. Amazon, competing in pet goods, slipped 2.1%. The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF was down 1.1%. SPDR S&P 500 ETF edged lower by 0.7%.
Chewy is moving further into pet health, betting the higher-touch space could help if product spending drops. In April, Chewy said it will buy Modern Animal, a move the company said will take Chewy Vet Care locations from 18 to 47 and bring more than $125 million in annualized run-rate revenue. CEO Sumit Singh called Modern Animal a “perfect” fit with plans for a pet health ecosystem. investor.chewy.com
The risk for the “defensive” pet story is that shoppers start trading down, putting off nonessential buys or cutting back on services. Food and medicine could fare better than toys and hard goods, but Chewy still needs steady orders, new customers and healthy margins. If the first-quarter numbers due in June come in soft, Tuesday’s drop won’t look like just a quick reaction, but more like a reset.
Citigroup analyst Steven Zaccone kept his Buy on the stock last week, even as he lowered his target to $37 from $40. Sahm Capital reported the change, saying Zaccone is more cautious on retail but sees room above where shares closed Tuesday.
