5 Uber Analysts Hail Q4 Revenue Beat, Omicron Rebound

Uber Technologies Inc UBER reported a fourth-quarter sales beat Wednesday and said business is bouncing back from the omicron outbreak.

Uber reported a fourth-quarter adjusted EPS loss of 26 cents on revenue of $5.78 billion. Both numbers exceeded consensus analyst estimates of a 35-cent loss and $534 billion, respectively. Revenue was up 83% from a year ago.

Uber reported gross mobility bookings of $11.3 billion, up 67% year-over-year. Delivery gross bookings came in at $13.4 billion, up 34% from a year ago. Freight revenue was up 245% year-over-year to $1.08 billion.

Looking ahead, Uber guided for gross bookings of between $25 billion and $26 billion and adjusted EBITDA of between $100 million and $130 million in the first quarter.

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Uber's Margin Expansion Outlook: Bank of America analyst Justin Post said Uber is well-positioned for the economic reopening and had plenty of margin expansion opportunities.

"Big picture, Uber remains a recovery stock, and with mobility demand rebounding, Uber is positioned to benefit from scale, efficiency, and cross platform tailwinds missing during COVID," Post wrote.

Needham analyst Bernie McTernan said Uber's non-restaurant delivery business continues to gain momentum.

"We expect to hear more about this at the investor day, particularly the potential from grocery, which is the largest category in the new verticals," McTernan wrote.

Profitable Growth For Ride-Sharing Company: KeyBanc analyst Edward Yruma said Uber's quarter was strong across the board.

"We think UBER’s commitment to profitable growth while investing in new verticals presents a compelling opportunity especially as the Mobility business recovers," Yruma wrote.

Wedbush analyst Ygal Arounian said the quarter was a step in the right direction for Uber.

"While Omicron headwinds were not a surprise and in-line with Lyft's commentary, it appears mobility bookings are off to a strong start so far in 2022 with the reopening story a clear tailwind for Uber looking into the rest of the year," Arounian wrote.

Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak said Uber has clear cross-platform and subscription advantages.

"We look for more details around subscription go to market, product learnings and refinement, next key executional areas, bookings targets and mathematical benefits of Uber’s budding cross platform offering," Nowak wrote.

Uber Ratings, Price Targets:

• Bank of America has a Buy rating and lifted its price target from $53 to $55.
• Needham has a Buy rating and $75 target.
• KeyBanc has an Overweight rating and $75 target.
• Wedbush has an Outperform rating and $57 target.
• Morgan Stanley has an Overweight rating and $72 target.