MW Lyft offers $1 billion buyback, but stock is tumbling after mixed results and outlook
By Bill Peters
CEO says Lyft will put more autonomous vehicles on the streets this year as it tries to keep up with Uber against a shaky ride-hailing and delivery backdrop
Lyft reported quarterly earnings on Tuesday.
Ride-hailing platform Lyft on Tuesday announced a new $1 billion stock-buyback program, spurred by management's confidence in the business, but mixed results and forecasts sent the stock 17% lower in after-hours trading.
Lyft $(LYFT)$ said it expects first-quarter gross bookings - or the total dollar value of the transactions made on the platform, excluding tips for drivers - of $4.86 billion to $5 billion. The midpoint of that range is $4.93 billion, compared with FactSet forecasts for $4.928 billion.
For the fourth quarter, Lyft's revenue rose 3% year over year to $1.59 billion, missing analyst forecasts for $1.75 billion. Gross bookings jumped 19% year over year to $5.074 billion, helped by business travelers and incentive-laden partnerships, but the figure just topped estimates for $5.072 billion.
Lyft's stock has risen 18.2% over the past 12 months. But the results and forecast arrived as some analysts worry about the state of the market for ride-hailing and food delivery, as consumers stay cautious on spending and as autonomous vehicles threaten to disrupt how people get around.
In Lyft's earnings release on Tuesday, CEO David Risher said that 2026 would be "the year of the AV with deployments in the U.S. and overseas." Investors believe autonomous vehicles will play a bigger role for the ride-hailing industry in the years ahead.
But Wedbush analyst Scott Devitt, in downgrading Lyft in December, said investors had lost some confidence in Lyft's ability to hit longer-term targets. He also said that autonomous-vehicle operators might not want to work with the ride-hailing apps as more of their self-driving cars hit the streets.
To compete with its larger rival Uber $(UBER)$, Lyft has collaborated with May Mobility and Tensor in an effort to put more autonomous vehicles on roads. Lyft, in prepared remarks, said it was preparing for AV deployments this year in London as well as in Dallas, Nashville and elsewhere.
Lyft has also partnered with companies like DoorDash $(DASH)$ and United Airlines $(UAL)$ to offer riders incentives such as discounts and airline miles. It has tried to move into luxury-tier services via the acquisition of a chauffeuring company and to expand abroad. The company has also launched services geared specifically toward teenagers, families and older adults.
-Bill Peters
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 10, 2026 20:37 ET (01:37 GMT)
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