Nov 7 (Reuters) – Ride-hailing company Lyft Inc (LYFT.O) on Monday forecast current-quarter revenue slightly below Wall Street estimates, hurt by competition from Uber Technologies Inc even while demand for rideshare picks up and prices rise.
Lyft’s shares were down 9% in extended trading. The stock has lost nearly 70% of its value so far this year, underperforming that of Uber, which has declined about 33%.
Uber controls a bigger chunk of the market share and has operations outside of the United States, while also benefiting from its food and grocery delivery business and said it was not seeing any signs of consumer weakness. read more
Lyft on Monday, however, forecast current-quarter operating profit above Wall Street estimates, powered by a resurgence in trips to airports and commutes to office.
“Now as we’re entering a recession, the opposite is true …transportation is durable because we need to get around, but delivery and takeout is less durable,” Lyft President John Zimmer said in an interview.
Active riders rose 7.2% in the third quarter, the smallest quarterly growth recorded so far this year, but revenue per active rider increased 13.7%, the highest growth compared to the prior two quarters.
For the fourth quarter, the company expects revenue between $1.15 billion and $1.17 billion, while analysts expect $1.17 billion.
It forecast adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), a profitability metric keenly watched by investors, between $80 million and $100 million, compared with analysts’ forecast of $84.5 million, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Operating profit for the third quarter was $66.2 million, beating analysts’ estimate of $62 million.
Revenue rose 22% to a record $1.05 billion but fell short of estimate of $1.06 billion.
Lyft’s net loss, however, widened to $422.2 million, or $1.18 per share, from $99.7 million, or 30 cents per share, a year earlier, due to impairment charges related to the closure of Argo AI, the autonomous vehicle startup in which the company had a stake.
Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.