A traveler arriving at Los Angeles International Airport seeks ground transportation during a day of statewide action to require Uber and Lyft travel companies to comply with California law and grant drivers “basic employee rights” in Los Angeles. Angeles, California, USA, August 20, 2020.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Rideshare Lyft reported earnings in the fourth quarter on Tuesday, exceeding expectations at the top and bottom of Wall Street, but disappointed when it came to active riders.
The company’s shares increased by more than 8% in trading after hours, due to high income and signs that the business is recovering slightly after the pandemic.
Lyft is also on track to make EBITDA profitable by the fourth quarter, with a chance that could be reached by the third quarter, said chief financial officer Brian Roberts in the company’s earnings call.
Here are the key numbers:
- Losses per share: 58 cents versus 72 cents expected in a final analyst survey
- Income: $ 570 million compared to $ 563 million expected by Refinitiv
- Active riders: 12.55 million compared to 13.2 million expected in a FactSet survey
- Income per active rider: $ 45.40 versus $ 42.20 expect on set of invoices
The company’s revenue and passengers increased from a previous quarter’s results of $ 499.7 million and 12.51 million pilots, suggesting that the company continues to recover from the headwinds of Covid-19. However, it is still considerably lower than the same quarter last year. For the full year, Lyft reported revenue of $ 2.4 billion, compared to $ 3.6 billion in fiscal year 2019.
The company said demand at the end of the quarter was also negatively affected by an increase in coronavirus cases and efforts to slow the spread of the virus.
Roberts said in a statement that Lyft expects “a growth inflection that begins in the second quarter consolidating in the second half of the year.”
Lyft reported a net loss of $ 458.2 million for the quarter, up from a net loss of $ 356 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. The company said its fourth-quarter loss includes stock compensation of 138.1 million and payroll tax expenses. The company said its net loss margin for this quarter was 80.4%, up from 35% a year ago.
Adjusted EBITDA loss for the fourth quarter was $ 150 million, up $ 19.3 million from last year. It is better than the company’s latest forecast for an adjusted EBITDA loss of less than $ 185 million. The company said the adjusted EBITDA loss margin for the fourth quarter was 26.3%, up from 12.9% a year ago.
Lyft also reported $ 2.3 billion in unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.
The company failed to expand its additional segments in the same way as its main competitor, Uber, in the last year. In an effort to replace lost revenue from the coronavirus pandemic, Uber has focused on its food and delivery segment, Uber Eats, and eliminated some of its travel-related segments.
Lyft has not yet developed a food delivery business. The company said last quarter that it is working to expand delivery and is consulting with restaurants and retailers.
Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.