Wayfair furnishes a narrower loss

E-commerce home furnishings company Wayfair continues to lose money, but not as much as analysts had expected.

The company announced it posted a loss of 18 cents per share in the fourth quarter, below the 28-cent loss analysts forecasted. Wayfair generated $1.3 billion in net revenue last year, up 44% over 2013. Sales in its direct-retail segment, which consists of sales from five key brands, surged to $347 million as the number of active customers increased by 54%.

"We're very pleased with the fourth quarter and full year results and the company's continued strong growth," said Niraj Shah, co-founder, CEO and co-chairman of Wayfair, in a statement. "We are particularly excited about the success of our holiday merchandising efforts and our ongoing customer growth. We remain committed to both building the market leading online home brands and to delivering long term value for investors."

Massachusetts-based Wayfair went public in a hotly anticipated IPO in early October.