Lyft Grows Ridership, Beats Revenue Estimate In Q4, But Stock Drops

Lyft, Inc. LYFT shares were down in after-hours trading Tuesday despite beating Street estimates on revenue and the number of active riders, with expectations for the ride-hailing company likely bumped up by a strong report a few days earlier from its main competitor. 

Lyft reported fourth-quarter sales of $1.017 billion, beating Street expectations of $984.17 million by more than 3%.  Sales were 52% higher than the same quarter a year ago.

Analysts and investors were also closely watching the company's report for user growth numbers, and the company said it grew active riders to more than 22.9 million, an increase of 23% year-over-year. Sales per active rider also grew 23% over the same period last year.

But investors seemed disappointed, as the stock stock dropped more than 4% in after-hours trading.

Investors were looking for hints of a profitability timeline, coming after Lyft's main competitor, Uber Technologies Inc. UBER said when it reported earnings last week that it was speeding up its expectations for turning a profit. 

Like Uber, Lyft is trying to reel in spending as it pushes toward profitability. Last month, San Francisco-based Lyft announced 90 layoffs in its 5,500-strong operations and marketing staff — and last year CEO Logan Green said Lyft expected to turn a profit by late 2021.

Highlights From Lyft's Q4

• The fourth-quarter net loss was $356 million. 
• The adjusted EBITDA loss was $130.7 million versus the Street expectation of $163.2 million.
• Lyft said it sees first-quarter sales of $1.055 billion to $1.06 billion, which would be in-line to slightly above Street estimates, and fiscal 2020 sales of $4.575 billion to $4.65 billion, topping the mid-line of analysts' expectations.
• Revenue per active rider was $44.40, also ahead of expectations.

Lyft Price Action

Shares of Lyft had traded below their IPO price of $72 per share, but the stock is up almost 20% over the most recent three months — and up nearly 25% year-to-date.

On Tuesday, Lyft closed slightly higher, but was down 4.43% in after-hours trading to $51.55 at the time of publication.

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Photo courtesy of Lyft.