Lyft Inc. saw active riders, drivers and rides reach a COVID-19 pandemic high in the second quarter, but like the previous quarter, the numbers still failed to meet Wall Streetâs expectations for activity on the platform.
âWe feel great about what we did this quarter,â Lyft
LYFT,
co-founder and President John Zimmer said in an interview with MarketWatch. âWe generated our highest adjusted Ebitda, added more than 2 million riders and saw a recovery in the driver side.â
Zimmer also said the company has seen a pandemic-related recovery across the board in the areas it operates, with the West Coast, which had been the laggard, improving. He said travel has come back strong, with airport rides reaching a record high of 10.2% of all rides.
Lyft shares rose more than 3% after hours, after rising 4% in the regular session to close at $17.39 to extend its positive streak to four days.Â
The ride-hailing company said it had 19.86 million riders, compared with 17.14 million riders in the same period a year ago. Analysts expected 19.9 million riders. Revenue per rider was $49.89, above analystsâ estimate of $49.30.
Lyft reported a second-quarter loss of $377.2 million, or $1.08 a share, compared with a loss of $251.9 million, or 76 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for stock-based compensation and related costs, earnings were 13 cents a share. Revenue increased to $990.7 million from $765 million in the year-ago quarter.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast an adjusted loss of 4 cents a share on revenue of $989 million.
Adjusted Ebitda was $79.1 million, a record high that Zimmer attributed to the companyâs actions to limit costs, primarily by âdramatically slowing hiring.â That represented a 232% increase year over year and was nearly four times analystsâ expectation of $20 million, which they revised after Lyft guided for a range of $10 million to $20 million last quarter. For Lyft, Ebitda, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, excludes additional items such as interest expenses and insurance-liability costs.
On the earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Elaine Paul said the company expects third-quarter revenue of $1.040 to $1.060 billion, just shy of analystsâ forecast of $1.1 billion in revenue. Analysts also expect earnings of 8 cents a share.
Lyft stock has fallen almost 60% year to date, while the S&P 500 index
SPX,
has decreased about 13% so far this year.
This post was originally published on Market Watch
