By Elsa Ohlen
Lyft stock was among the best performers early Thursday after the ride-hailing company posted sales above expectations, upbeat guidance, and unveiled a new partnership for self-driving cars.
Lyft posted third-quarter sales after the bell Wednesday of $1.52 billion, above estimates of $1.44 billion. It reported a loss per share of 3 cents, in line with expectations.
The stock was up 24% to $17.91 in premarket trading Thursday, adding to a 4.4% gain Wednesday amid wide market cheers of a second Trump administration.
Lyft sales show that its efforts to attract more users are working. "Our team delivered one of the strongest quarters in Lyft history, following the many new innovations we've brought to drivers and riders so far this year," said CEO David Risher.
Amid increased focus on self-driving vehicles, including Tesla's plans to launch robotaxis, Lyft announced a partnership with Mobileye, a self-driving tech and advanced driver assistance systems company. Together, they plan to bring autonomous vehicles to the Lyft network, they said in a statement. Mobileye stock rose 4.9% ahead of the open.
Lyft has had a bumpy few years, trailing its main rival Uber. So far this year and excluding Thursday's gains the stock is down 4%.
Uber, a much larger company with almost eight times the revenue of Lyft in the previous quarter, also has a similar partnership with Waymo in several U.S. cities for self-driving cars.
However, analyst Lenny Zephirin at the advisory firm The Zephirin Group increased his price target on the stock to $18 from $3, maintaining a Buy/High Risk rating on shares, in a research note Thursday. He cited strong bookings in the fourth quarter and an expected 11% increase in active riders in the year.
Lyft sees fourth-quarter bookings in the range between $4.28 billion and $4.35 billion, up 17% from last year.
Write to Elsa Ohlen at elsa.ohlen@barrons.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 07, 2024 07:37 ET (12:37 GMT)
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