Ride-hail company Lyft showed continued signs of the pandemic’s recovery in its first-quarter earnings report on Tuesday. The company came out on top and bottom, beating Wall Street drivers’ expectations for the quarter.
Lyft’s shares rose more than 7.5% in after-hours trading, according to the report.
Here are the key numbers Lyft reported on:
- Loss per share: 35 cents compared to 53 cents per share, which are expected in a refinitive survey of analysts
- Revenue: $ 609 million versus $ 558.7 million expected from Refinitiv
- Active drivers: 13.49 million versus 12.8 million expected in a FactSet survey
- Revenue per active driver: Expected $ 45.13 versus $ 44.50 per FactSet
It’s difficult for investors to compare the company’s annual figures as the Covid-19 pandemic hit a year ago and travel was severely restricted. For example, sales decreased 36% year over year but increased 7% over the fourth quarter.
Transit companies are starting to recover from their pandemic lows as Covid vaccines and government restrictions are lifted, making people more comfortable returning to work or traveling. The company announced in mid-March that it is expected to see positive weekly hail growth year over year and each additional week through the end of the year, provided coronavirus conditions don’t worsen significantly.
“We still believe that there is still a lot of catching up to do for mobility, the implementation of which will take some time,” said CEO Logan Green in an interview with investors.
The company reiterated its expectation of achieving profitability on an Adjusted EBITDA basis by the third quarter of the year. Lyft’s original goal was to hit the benchmark by the end of the year.
Lyft posted a net loss of $ 427.3 million for the quarter, compared with a net loss of $ 398.1 million for the year-ago quarter. The company said its net loss includes stock-based compensation of $ 180.7 million and related wage tax expenses. According to Lyft, the net loss margin was 70.2% compared to 41.7% a year ago.
Adjusted EBITDA loss was $ 73 million, up $ 62 million on the company’s latest outlook. Adjusted EBITDA loss margin for the quarter was 12% compared to 8.9% in the first quarter of 2020 and 26.3% in the fourth quarter of 2020. EBITDA refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
Lyft also issued guidelines for the second quarter, telling investors that sales are expected to range between $ 680 million and $ 700 million. This corresponds to an increase of 12% to 15% compared to the previous quarter and would mean a growth of between 100% and 106% compared to the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA loss is also expected to be capped at $ 35 million to $ 45 million for the quarter.
With a revitalization of users, the company is facing a growing need for more drivers.
Executives said on the company’s earnings call that it expects supply and demand issues to continue into the second quarter and ease into the third quarter. Lyft will use its cut in increased prices to fund investments and bring back more drivers. Competitor Uber, for example, said last month it would be spending $ 250 million on a one-time incentive to get drivers back on the road.
Lyft reported unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $ 2.2 billion, a slight decrease from the previous quarter.
Lyft last week sold its self-driving car unit for $ 550 million in cash to Woven Planet, a subsidiary of Toyota, in an effort to extend its profitability schedule. The company anticipates the transaction will result in savings of $ 100 million in annualized non-GAAP operating expenses on a net basis, according to the news release.
“With the pending sale of our Level 5 self-driving division, Lyft aims to make the transition to autonomy through our hybrid network of human drivers and AVs, advanced market technology and leading fleet management skills,” said John Zimmer, Lyft co-founder and president, said in the earnings release .
Green added that the sale was “strategically the right move at the right time”.
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