GrubHub's quarterly results miss estimates as expenses rise

Feb 7 (Reuters) - GrubHub Inc's fourth quarter results missed analysts' estimates on Thursday as the online food delivery company continues to increase spending on marketing and expansion activities to attract more people to its platforms.

Shares of the company fell 13 percent in premarket trading on Thursday.

GrubHub, which has been under heavy pressure from rivals Amazon.com Inc owned Amazon Restaurants and Uber Eats, has been an active player in the acquisitions market and spends heavily on expanding its delivery network and marketing activities.

The company said it spent $69.9 million on sales and marketing in the fourth quarter, an increase of nearly 54 percent.

Uber Eats could also raise the pressure on GrubHub if its deep-pocketed parent Uber Technologies Inc were to use some of the added funding it would get in a potential IPO which it has confidentially filed for with the U.S. SEC.

GrubHub reported a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $5.2 million, or 6 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, compared to a profit of $53.5 million, or 60 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned 19 cents per share, missing analysts' average estimate of 28 cents per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Revenue rose about 40 percent to $287.7 million, also missing analysts estimate of $290.5 million. (Reporting by Shariq Khan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)