Lyft Analysts Largely Bullish As Quiet Period Ends

Multiple sell-side analysts issued buy recommendations on LYFT Inc LYFT Tuesday with the expiration of a waiting period for banks that worked on Lyft's IPO to offer advice on the stock.

Lyft is down nearly 20 percent from its opening price of $72 in late March, so buy ratings from most of the investment firms following the close of the 25-day waiting period will be welcomed by the ride-hailing company, which was trading below $60 Wednesday morning. 

KeyBanc Capital Markets was the only firm to offer a more muted take on Lyft Tuesday, issuing a Sector Weight recommendation while raising concerns that the ride-hailing service won’t see its biggest profit potential until drivers are taken out of the mix — an autonomous car scenario that KeyBanc said may still be several years away.

Ratings

Here's how some of the sell-side came down on Lyft on Tuesday:

• Credit Suisse initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and $95 target price.
• Raymond James started coverage with an Outperform rating and $85 price target.
• UBS initiated with a Buy and $82 price target. 
• Piper Jaffray started the stock at Overweight with a $78 price target.
• JMP Securities initiated with a Market Outperform rating.
• Jefferies initiated coverage with a Buy rating and $86 price target. 
• Stifel initiated coverage with a Buy rating and $68 price target. 
• JPMorgan started coverage with an Overweight and $82 price target.  
• Canaccord Genuity initiated with a Buy rating and $75 price target.
• Cowen started Lyft at Outperform.

Previous Initiations 

Early sell-side recommendations on Lyft included those from Guggenheim and Wedbush, both of which were Neutral. Seaport Global initiated coverage earlier in April with a Sell rating and $42 price target. 

Lyft is slated to report its first post-IPO earnings May 7 after the market close.

Price Action 

Lyft stock was down more than 2 percent at $59.04 at the time of publication Wednesday. 

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Photo courtesy of Lyft.