On Wednesday before the markets open, Blue Apron (NYSE:APRN) will release its third quarter results — and Wall Street is far from bullish on the prospects. Keep in mind that the shares have essentially been in free-fall. For the year so far, Blue Stock is off a grueling 70% to $1.20. Consider that the company went public in June 2017. The offering price on APRN stock? It was $10.

OK then, what might we see for Q3? Well, there should be some improvement on the bottom line — yet the loss will still likely be hefty. For the quarter, the net loss is forecast to come in at 22 cents a share. As for revenues, they are expected to plunge by over 25% to $157.4 million.

Now there were some notable events during the quarter. Here’s a look:

• The company refinanced its revolving credit facility, which was led by Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS). The commitment was reduced to $85 million, the interest rate was raised by 2% and the maturity was extended from August 2019 to February 2021.
• APRN announced the on-demand availability of its offerings in various zip codes in New York City. This was part of a deal with GrubHub (NYSE:GRUB). The service will provide delivery within 30 minutes.
• Blue Apron rolled out The September Whole30 offering. It is an easy-to-use 30-day lifestyle program.

Yet the biggest event for the quarter — which gave a boost to Blue Apron stock — was a deal announced with Walmart (NYSE:WMT). That is, the company’s meal kits will be sold on the Jet.com platform. There will also be same-day and next-day shipping in New York.

But the deal may ultimately prove more to the advantage of WMT as the company will get better pricing. It could also be an opportunity to learn about the dynamics of the market. In other words, WMT may ultimately look at this is a way to evolve its own meal-kit business.

Note that APRN has formed several other distribution partnerships, such as with Costco (NASDAQ:COST) and Airbnb. Unfortunately, these deals have not done much to move the needle.

Bottom Line On Blue Apron Stock

With expectations so glum, there’s a chance that APRN stock could still jump when earnings are reported. The bar is fairly low right now. Besides, about 25% of the float is in short sell positions. So if there is any inkling of good news, there could be some buying that comes into Blue Apron stock. We already saw this with the Jet.com deal.

Yet these gains are likely to be temporary. The fact is that Blue Apron is facing major competitive headwinds. Just some of the rivals include Hello Fresh, Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Kroger (NYSE:KR), Albertsons and Weight Watchers (NASDAQ:WTW).

Another big-time issue is the rapid deterioration of the customer base. As of the end of June, it was at 717,000, down from 943,000 in the same period a year ago. This is certainly a breathtaking plunge, especially since the company still spends considerable amounts on marketing (the expenses came to $34.6 million during the latest quarter). This shows the impact of the competitive environment as well as the lack of customer loyalty.

In light of this awful trend, it is hard to see that the company can be viable for the long haul. So for now, buying Blue Apron stock is really more of a speculation.

Tom Taulli is the author of High-Profit IPO Strategies, All About Commodities and All About Short Selling. Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.