Uber's First Earnings Report Shows Bigger Than Expected Loss, But Revenue Tops Estimates

Uber Technologies Inc UBER had a bigger earnings loss than expected, but narrowly beat the Street on revenue in its first-ever earnings report as a public company.

Uber reported a first-quarter EBITDA loss of $869 million, down 210 percent year over year. The per-share loss of $2.26 missed Street expectations of $1.46 by 55 percent.

Revenue, however, came in ahead of estimates at $3.099 billion, slightly beating estimates of $3.08 billion.

Uber had earlier projected a net loss of at least $1 billion in the first quarter in an unaudited report filed with securities regulators ahead of its IPO.

The company said its most important metric, though, how many people are taking Uber rides, was “higher than ever.” First-quarter trips came in at 1.55 billion, up 36 percent year over year.

“Earlier this month we took the important step of becoming a public company, and we are now focused on executing our strategy to become a one-stop shop for local transportation and commerce,” said CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. “In the first quarter, engagement across our platform was higher than ever, with an average of 17 million trips per day and an annualized gross bookings run-rate of $59 billion.

"Our global reach continues to be an important differentiator, and we maintained leadership of the ridesharing category in every region we serve,” Khosrowshahi said.

Shares of Uber were volatile but little changed in after-hours trading. The stock closed at $39.80 per share.

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