Lyft loses 5% in the stock market despite an upbeat earnings report for the fourth quarter

The
American ridesharing company, Lyft, announced its quarterly performance results
on Tuesday. The company posted better than expected revenue in the fourth
quarter and beat the analysts’ estimate for active riders. Loss per share was
also reported to have contracted for Lyft in the recent quarter.

Despite
the optimism, Lyft’s stock was seen trading 5% lower in extended trading on
Tuesday. Experts attributed the decline to Lyft’s failure to highlight its
profitability timeline similar to what Uber
did last week in its earnings report.  

Lyft’s
Results Versus Analysts’ Estimates

According
to Refinitiv, analysts were expecting the company to print $984 million in
revenue in the recent quarter. In terms of loss per share, they had anticipated
$1.39 in Q4. Other estimates included $164 million in adjusted EBITDA loss.
StreetAccount had also accentuated its forecast for active riders in the fourth
quarter at 22.8 million for Lyft with $43.19 of revenue per active rider.
Contributed margin, as per StreetAccount, was expected at 52%.

Lyft’s
earnings report on Tuesday highlighted the company to have generated a much
higher $1.02 billion in revenue. The loss per share in the fourth quarter
contracted to $1.19 for Lyft. The American ridesharing company also reported a
significantly lower $130.7 million in adjusted EBITDA loss. Compared to
StreetAccount’s estimate, active riders were announced marginally higher at
22.9 million in the recent quarter with a greater than expected $44.40 of
revenue per active rider. Lyft also posted its contributed margin in Q4 at 54%.

Lyft’s
Guidance For Fiscal 2020

Lyft’s
guidance for fiscal 2020 revealed the company to be expecting $4.575
billion to $4.650 billion in revenue this year compared to what Refinitiv
announced as the analysts’ estimate of $4.59 billion. The company also
anticipated its adjusted EBITDA loss to post at $490 million to $450 million in
fiscal 2020 compared to the experts’ forecast of $503 million.

Guggenheim
Securities currently has a buy rating on Lyft with a target price of $60. Following
the decline in after-hours trading on Tuesday, the stock is currently exchanging
hands at around $51 per share that marks just under 20% growth for the stock in
2020 so far. The American ridesharing company, however, is trading
significantly lower than its IPO price of around $80 in March 2019. Lyft’s
market capitalization is currently just above $16 billion.