Much like Uber, Lyft loses money because it spends more money than it brings in. More specifically, Lyft's operating costs are far higher than its gross profit. What does that mean?
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The pandemic initially walloped Lyft by drying up demand for ride-hailing services, a blow Uber was able to soften through an aggressive expansion in food delivery. That gave people a reason to continue using Uber's app even when they were stuck at home while Lyft fell out of favor.
The loss was better than Wall Street's projections. Lyft's recorded adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of $41 million, better than analysts' forecast of $28 million. Lyft reported a loss of $196.3 million by that measure for the same period a year earlier.
Uber dominates U.S. market shareBy April 2022, Uber sales exceeded their pre-pandemic levels and remained elevated throughout most months of 2022 and into 2023. Meanwhile, sales at Lyft are yet to reach their pre-pandemic levels as of July 2023.
Now, the San Francisco-based company is facing an existential crisis as it trails its much larger competitor, Uber, amid ongoing questions about the long-term viability of ride-hailing as a business. Since the pandemic, some analysts have questioned whether Lyft can survive as an independent company.
In terms of revenue, Uber is about 10 times the size of Lyft. Granted, more revenue means Uber is spending more on variable costs like driver compensation and administrative support. More revenue, however, also means Uber can spend more on research and development, which in turn maintains its technological edge.
On average, Uber paid its drivers more per hour than Lyft in 2022, according to Gridwise. Uber drivers had gross earnings of $21.14 per hour in 2022, while Lyft drivers were grossing $19.90.
In terms of revenue, Uber is about 10 times the size of Lyft. Granted, more revenue means Uber is spending more on variable costs like driver compensation and administrative support. More revenue, however, also means Uber can spend more on research and development, which in turn maintains its technological edge.
Uber's gross bookings reached $33.6 billion in the second quarter, up 16% from $29.1 billion a year ago. Gross bookings represent top-level spending by Uber customers in a period, from which Uber earns a fraction as revenue. In Q2 2023, Uber's revenue totaled $9.23 billion, up 14% from $8.1 billion a year earlier.
LYFT Stock 12 Months ForecastBased on 25 Wall Street analysts offering 12 month price targets for Lyft in the last 3 months. The average price target is $12.15 with a high forecast of $22.00 and a low forecast of $9.00. The average price target represents a 10.15% change from the last price of $11.03.
Uber made a loss of US$8.8 billion in 2022. Lyft, Uber's main competitor in the United States, lost US$1.28 billion. These companies, collectively known as transportation network companies (TNCs), have two options to become profitable.
Finally, a profitIn Q2 2023, Uber's revenue totaled $9.23 billion, up 14% from $8.1 billion a year earlier. As we mentioned above, Uber finally turned an operating profit, reporting $326 million in Q2 compared to an operating loss of $713 million a year earlier.
Is Lyft stock a Buy, Sell or Hold? Lyft stock has received a consensus rating of buy. The average rating score is and is based on 47 buy ratings, 44 hold ratings, and 1 sell ratings.
Despite the record profit, Uber's $9.2 billion in revenue came short of consensus estimates, while its 14% year-over-year revenue growth was its weakest since Q1 2021. Even after its roughly 100% surge over the past year, Uber stock is still down roughly 20% from its early 2021 peak.
Before the pandemic, Uber had far more rides, and worse margins. Uber has diseconomies of scale: when you lose money on every ride, adding more rides increases your losses, not your profits. Meanwhile, Lyft — Uber's also-ran competitor — saw its margins worsen over the same period.
Lyft reported 21.5 million active riders on its platform in the second quarter, up 8% from a year ago — beating analysts' expectations — as more commuters flocked to the app for routine trips and airport rides.