The rideshare wars hit an inflection point on Wednesday as Uber’s latest earnings announcement showed its revenue more than doubled from this time last year. That news came just hours after Lyft announced a quarterly outlook that missed investor expectations by more than $US50 ($69) million and its stock price went into freefall.
In Q1 2022, Uber reported its revenue grew from $US2.9 ($4) billion to $US6.85 ($10) billion. The company expects continued growth as ride demand in April matched the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, and places the value of bookings in Q2 between $US28.5 ($40) billion and $US29.5 ($41) billion.
“Our results demonstrate just how much progress we’ve made navigating out of the pandemic and how the power of our platform is differentiating our business performance,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in a press release. “In April, Mobility Gross Bookings exceeded 2019 levels across all regions and use cases.”
The Wall Street Journal pointed to Uber’s pivot to food delivery as a major driver of revenue. During the pandemic, consumers stopped calling for rides and started using other apps to order food and groceries. Uber, however, was able to incentivise drivers and customers to stay with the company as Uber pivoted into UberEats. This expansion of the company’s services seems to be worth it as delivery bookings grew 157% from last year. The company also said that revenue per active rider was at the second-highest it’s ever been and its total number of active drivers was up more than 40% year over year.
Lyft is not faring so well as the company’s adjusted earnings caused shares to fall 2.4% on Tuesday and 26% in after-hours trading. Lyft said it expected adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in Q2 between $US10 ($14) million and $US20 ($28) million in an earnings call transcribed by Motley Fool. Lyft also saw a 10% decrease in revenue from last quarter. The company said it’s going to invest in incentives to attract drivers that are increasingly choosing to go with competitors.
While Uber seems to be having a better morning than Lyft, the Journal highlighted the fact that both companies are down around 30% this year. And, as always, remember that both companies’ financials are mostly fake.