Overstock.com 2013 Annual Report Download - page 26

Table of Contents
The price of our securities may be volatile and you may lose all or a part of your investment.
The market price of our common stock historically has been subject to significant fluctuations. These fluctuations could continue. It is possible that
in future periods our results of operations may be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors. If this occurs, the market price of our
securities may decline.
Our quarterly operating results are volatile and may adversely affect the market price of our securities.
Our future revenues and operating results have varied in the past and may continue to vary significantly from quarter to quarter due to a number of
factors, many of which are outside our control, and any of which could harm our business. As a result, we believe that quarterly comparisons of our
operating results are not necessarily meaningful and that you should not rely on the results of one quarter as an indication of our future performance. In
addition to the other risk factors described in this report, additional factors that have caused and/or could cause our quarterly operating results to fluctuate and
in turn affect the market price of our securities include:
•increases in the cost of advertising and changes in our sales and marketing expenditures;
•our inability to retain existing customers or encourage repeat purchases;
•the extent to which our existing and future marketing campaigns are successful;
•price competition that results in lower profit margins or losses;
•the amount and timing of operating costs and capital expenditures relating to the expansion of our business operations and infrastructure;
•the amount and timing of our purchases of inventory;
•our inability to manage distribution operations or provide adequate levels of customer service;
•increases in the cost of fuel and transportation;
•our ability to successfully integrate operations and technologies from acquisitions or other business combinations;
•our efforts to offer new lines of products and services; and
•our ability to attract users to our shopping and other sites.
Our operating results may fluctuate depending on the season, and such fluctuations may affect the market price of our securities.
We have experienced and expect to continue to experience fluctuations in our operating results because of seasonal fluctuations in traditional retail
patterns. Sales in the retail and wholesale industry tend to be significantly higher in the fourth calendar quarter of each year than in the preceding three quarters
due primarily to increased shopping activity during the holiday season. However, there can be no assurance that our sales in the fourth quarter will exceed
those of the preceding quarters or, if the fourth quarter sales do exceed those of the preceding quarters, that we will be able to manage the increased sales
effectively. Further, we generally increase our inventories substantially in anticipation of holiday season shopping activity, which has a negative effect on our
cash flow. Securities analysts and investors may inaccurately estimate the effects of seasonality on our results of operations in one or more future quarters
and, consequently, our operating results may fall below expectations, causing the market price of our securities to decline.
Sales by our significant stockholders could have an adverse effect on the market price of our stock.
Several of our stockholders own significant portions of our common stock. If one or more of stockholders were to sell all or a portion of their
holdings of our common stock, the market price of our common stock could be negatively impacted. The effect of such sales, or of significant portions of our
stock being offered or made available for sale, could result in strong downward pressure on our stock price. Investors should be aware that they could
experience significant short-term volatility in our stock if such stockholders decide to sell all or a portion of their holdings of our common stock at once or
within a short
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