Lyft Q4 Earnings Preview: Streak Of Revenue, EPS Beats On The Line After Rival Uber's Strong Fourth Quarter

Ride-hailing company Lyft Inc LYFT could highlight more progress on autonomous vehicles when the company reports fourth-quarter financial results after market close Tuesday.

Earnings Estimates: Analysts expect Lyft to report fourth-quarter revenue of $1.56 billion. That’s up from $1.23 billion in last year's fourth quarter, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

The company has beaten analyst revenue estimates in eight straight quarters and nine of the last 10 quarters overall.

Analysts expect Lyft to report fourth-quarter earnings per share of 22 cents, up from 18 cents in last year's fourth quarter. The company has beaten analyst estimates for earnings per share in seven straight quarters and nine of the last 10 quarters overall.

What Analysts Are Saying: Bank of America analyst Michael McGovern reiterated a Buy rating on Lyft. He also lowered the price target from $21 to $19 in a recent note.

The analyst highlighted the appointment of Sean Duffy as Transportation Secretary, Waymo's testing in Los Angeles and Uber's new price lock feature as three notable catalysts for the company.

McGovern said Waymo's testing could be viewed as a threat to Lyft with autonomous ride services competing for customers.

Uber's UBER $2.99 price lock pass allowing customers to secure pricing ahead of time for a one-hour window daily could increase competition with Lyft if the service is rolled out fully. Lyft has a similar price lock feature that has been successful.

While those items are potential negatives for Lyft, Duffy’s confirmation oas Transportation Secretary could be a positive for the company. Duffy has been a proponent of federal regulation for autonomous vehicles, instead of leaving decisions up to states.

Here are other recent analyst ratings for Lyft and their price targets:

UBS: Maintained Neutral rating, lowered price target from $18 to $16
Bank of America: Maintained Buy rating, lowered price target from $21 to $19
Wells Fargo: Maintained Equal-Weight rating, lowered price target from $17 to $14
Wedbush: Maintained Neutral rating, lowered price target from $20 to $18
Benchmark: Upgraded from Hold to Buy, with $20 price target

Key Items to Watch: Lyft's earnings report comes after the recent news the company could launch robotaxis as soon as 2026. Lyft is collaborating with Mobileye Global Inc MBLY on launching a fully autonomous robotaxi service to its app.

The vehicles are expected to be tested in Dallas soon with more markets coming in the following months.

Lyft will likely share more details on its robotaxis. It may also face questions from analysts on the upcoming launch, timetable and various partnerships.

The ride-share company also recently announced a strategic alliance with AI company Anthropic to create AI-powered solutions to help customers.

Lyft is using Anthropic's AI model Claude for its customer service operations already and has witnessed an 87% cut in the average resolution time.

"Lyft is using Claude to both reimagine the future of ridesharing, and at the same time deliver tangible benefits to their community today," Anthropic Vice President of Product Management Michael Gerstenhaber said.

There could be high expectations for Lyft's fourth quarter after the company's most recent third quarter included record active riders, record riders and revenue and earnings per share beat analyst estimates.

The company called the results "one of the strongest quarters in Lyft history."

Lyft's earnings report comes less than a week after Uber reported fourth-quarter financial results. Uber beat analyst estimates for revenue and earnings per share. The company saw double-digit growth for gross bookings, deliveries, trips and monthly active platform consumers.

Uber's strong quarterly report could put increased pressure on Lyft to beat estimates and show double-digit growth in several areas along with positive commentary on robotaxis.

Price Action: Lyft stock is up 1.2% to $15.30 on Tuesday versus a 52-week range of $8.92 to $20.82. Lyft stock is up 10.8% year-to-date and up 21.9% over the past year.

Uber stock trades at $78.30 versus a 52-week trading range of $54.84 to $87.00. Uber stock is up 24.5% year-to-date and up 13.8% over the past year.

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