Lyft Stock Down After Earnings Report That Tops Estimates

Lyft stock was down late Wednesday despite an earnings report that topped expectations.

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Lyft (LYFT) reported adjusted third-quarter earnings of 24 cents per share on $1.16 billion in sales. On average, analysts polled by FactSet expected the ride-hailing company to earn an adjusted 15 cents a share with $1.14 billion in sales.

During the year-earlier period, Lyft earned 11 cents per share on an adjusted basis. Also, the company reported $1.05 billion in sales for the quarter ending Sept. 30.

In recent after-hours trading on the stock market today, Lyft stock is down 2.5% at 10.45.

Lyft Stock: Serving More Riders

For the fourth quarter, Lyft expects revenue to grow in the mid-single-digits quarter over quarter. Analysts expected $1.2 billion in sales, according to FactSet, representing roughly 3.5% growth.

Further, Lyft projects adjusted earnings between $50 million and $60 million for the fourth quarter. Analysts were expecting $50 million, according to FactSet.

In the third quarter, active riders using Lyft climbed 10% year over year to 22.4 million. The active riders total fell slightly short of expectations of 22.6 million, according to FactSet.

The company routed 187 million rides, up 20%. That number includes ride-share and bike and scooter rentals. This is the first quarter Lyft has broken out total rides as a separate category.

Further, Lyft is now disclosing total bookings. The statistic represents the total value of transactions invoiced to ride-share riders and other users of Lyft products.

Bookings were $3.55 billion in the third quarter, up 15% year over year.

Lyft vs Uber

Ride-hail rival Uber (UBER) on Tuesday morning reported earnings that topped estimates, with a strong outlook that boosted shares nearly 4% on the day.

While Uber has nearly doubled its share value this year, Lyft stock is down just under 4%.

Uber operates on an international scale while Lyft is focused in North America. Further, Uber operates a food-delivery and freight division whereas Lyft is focused in ride-hailing.

Uber captured an estimated 74% of U.S. ride-share sales in September to Lyft’s 26%, according to research from Bloomberg Second Measure.

Under new Chief Executive David Risher, Lyft has cut costs and lowered fares in a bid to catch up to Uber.

“We had another quarter of solid execution — we saw strong driver and rider growth and our marketplace health continued to improve,” Lyft Chief Financial Officer Erin Brewer said in the Q3 news release. “Our Q4 outlook calls for continued progress, and the updates we are making to our key business metrics today better align our reporting with our strategic priorities.

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