Lyft stock plunges 25% after forecast, rider numbers come up short

Lyft Inc. said Tuesday that it had a better-than-expected first quarter, with Chief Executive Logan Green saying ride-hailing volumes hit “a new COVID high,” but shares plunged after executives’ forecast came up short.

Lyft
LYFT,
-2.35%
shares initially increased more than 2% after results beat most analysts’ expectations except for ridership numbers, but then plunged as executives talked on a conference call about increasing investments in drivers and marketing for the second quarter to deal with increased demand. Shares were recently down more than 25%, after ending the regular session with a 2.4% decline in the regular session to $30.76, their lowest close since Nov. 6, 2020.

Uber Technologies Inc.
UBER,
-3.03%
shares were also declining in after-hours trading, falling more than 10%, before the company announced late Tuesday that it would move up reporting its results to Wednesday morning instead of afternoon, as previously scheduled. The stock then recovered a little, and was down less than 5% as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern.

See: Uber moves up earnings report after Lyft forecast sends stock into a slump

In Lyft’s call Tuesday, executives predicted second-quarter revenue of $950 million to $1 billion, shy of the $1.02 billion expected by analysts, and adjusted Ebitda of $10 million to $20 million, well short of the $83 million analysts on average expected, according to FactSet.

The ride-hailing company said it had 17.8 million riders, compared with 13.49 million riders in the year-ago quarter, falling shy of analysts’ expectation of 17.9 million riders. Lyft’s revenue per rider was $49.18, above analysts’ estimate of $47.20.

Lyft reported a first-quarter net loss of $196.9 million, or 57 cents a share, compared with $427.3 million, or $1.31 a share, in the year-ago period. After adjusting for stock-based compensation and other costs, Lyft reported earnings of $24.6 million, or 7 cents a share, up from an adjusted loss of 35 cents a share last year. Revenue climbed…

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