Ride-hailing company Lyft projected higher-than-expected gross bookings and core profit for the current quarter on Tuesday, driven by robust demand for its services and benefits from new user and driver features.
It also reported first-quarter revenue and core profit above expectations, sending its share up 10% in extended trading.
Lyft has been luring consumers with shortened wait times for some pre-scheduled rides and drivers with minimum wage guarantees while trimming costs to boost profitability.
Since CEO David Risher took charge last April, the company has cut hundreds of jobs, reduced the firm’s losses, and managed to keep fare increases in check.
Lyft slashed costs by 13% and narrowed its net loss by 78% in 2023.
The company’s shares rose 36% over the last year.
Lyft is benefiting from the industry-wide trend of a pickup in ride-hailing demand and its strong execution of new functionalities, Risher told Reuters in an interview.
“Our pickup times now are better than they’ve been in four years,” he said.
The company estimated gross bookings, representing the total value of transactions on its platform, to range from $4.0 billion to $4.1 billion in the current quarter ending June, compared to estimates of $3.96 billion, per LSEG data.
Lyft forecast adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) between $95 million and $100 million, surpassing analysts’ average expectations of $81.1 million.
Lyft’s primary competitor, Uber Technologies, is scheduled to release its quarterly earnings before the market opens on Wednesday.
For the quarter ending March 31, Lyft’s revenue increased 28% to $1.28 billion, outperforming analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. Adjusted core earnings stood at $59.4 million, exceeding forecasts of $55 million.
The San Francisco, California-based firm said it had benefited from heightened demand during morning work commutes and weekend evening trips. It also gained from further expanding its service in Canada and growth in its advertising business.
The number of active riders and completed rides grew by 11.7% and 22.7%, respectively.
—Yuvraj Malik, Reuters
Login to add comment
Other posts in this group
Inbox fatigue is real. According to one analysis, the average person receives more than 120 emails a day, with some o
Tech nostalgia runs strong among Gen Z. The retro movement has made long-outdated devices desirable
For much of the AI era, intelligence has been on-demand: a user issues
Every so often, Microsoft design director Diego Baca boots up an old computer so he can play around with Windows 95 again.
Baca has made a hobby of assembling old PCs with new-in-box vin
Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey is back with a new app that tracks sun exposure and vitamin D levels.
Sun Day uses location-based data to show the current UV index, the day’s high, and add
