A traveler arriving at Los Angeles International Airport seeks ground transportation during a day of action across the state to demand that ride companies Uber and Lyft follow California law and give drivers “basic employee rights” in Los Angeles , California, USA, August 20, 2020.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Rideshare company Lyft released fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday, exceeding Wall Street’s top expectations and financial results, but disappointed when it comes to active drivers.
The company’s shares rose more than 8% on the floor after hours, thanks to the drop in revenue and signs that the business is recovering slightly from the pandemic.
Lyft is also still on track to become profitable EBITDA in the fourth quarter, with a chance that can be reached in the third quarter, said CFO Brian Roberts on the company’s earnings conference call.
Here are the key numbers:
- Loss per share: 58 cents versus 72 cents expected in a Refinitiv survey of analysts
- Recipe: $ 570 million versus $ 563 million expected by Refinitiv
- Active Knights: 12.55 million versus 13.2 million expected in a FactSet survey
- Revenue per active passenger: $ 45.40 vs. $ 42.20 expected by FactSet
The company’s revenue and passenger numbers increased compared to the previous quarter’s results of $ 499.7 million and 12.51 million passengers, suggesting that the company continues to recover from the headwinds of Covid-19. However, it is still considerably below the same quarter last year. For the full year, Lyft reported revenue of $ 2.4 billion, compared to $ 3.6 billion in fiscal year 2019.
The company said that demand towards the end of the quarter was also negatively affected by an increase in coronavirus cases and efforts to slow the spread of the virus.
Roberts said in a statement that Lyft expects “an inflection of growth starting in the second quarter, which strengthens in the second half of the year.”
Lyft reported a net loss of $ 458.2 million in the quarter, up from a net loss of $ 356 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. The company said its loss in the fourth quarter includes $ 138.1 million in stock-based compensation and expenses related to payroll taxes. The company said its net loss margin for this quarter was 80.4% compared to 35% a year ago.
Its fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA loss was $ 150 million, an increase of $ 19.3 million over the previous year. It is better than the company’s most recent forecast for an adjusted EBITDA loss of less than $ 185 million. The company said its fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA loss margin was 26.3% compared to 12.9% a year ago.
Lyft also reported $ 2.3 billion in unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.
The company failed to grow its additional segments in the same way as its main competitor, Uber, did last year. In an effort to replace lost revenue from the coronavirus pandemic, Uber focused on its food and delivery segment, Uber Eats, and abandoned some of its travel-related segments.
Lyft has yet to develop a food delivery business. The company said in the last quarter that it is working on expanding delivery and is advising restaurants and retailers.
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