Lyft shares rise as company reports impressive second-quarter earnings

Shutterstock

Partnership content presented by Market Buzz

As the world slowly returns to normal after the pandemic, travel continues to ramp up. But it’s not just air travel that’s increasing. Particularly in US cities where stay-at-home orders have been the norm up, ridesharing has risen dramatically since restrictions have eased.

Case in point—ridesharing giant Lyft (ticker: LYFT), who reported on Tuesday, during its second-quarter earnings call, that it had added millions of additional riders since the pandemic has eased.

See also:

In fact, according to FactSet, the company had 3.6 million more users in its recent quarter than in its previous, beating analysts’ expectations of 15.5 million. The good news seems to have pushed the company’s share price up, with shares trading at $58.60 in late trading on Tuesday, up 5.8%.

However, despite impressive earnings reports, on Wednesday, the company’s disappointing third-quarter forecast then drove down any increase in share price, declining 8.6% to $50.59. The San-Francisco based company said it predicts its next quarter will only bring $850 to $860 million in revenue—while analysts had expected $869.1 million.

Despite the disappointing forecast, though, the company’s executives see growth ahead, with predictions that once federal unemployment benefits run out in September that it will see an increase in drivers returning to the workforce, as well as passengers ready to return to ridesharing, as vaccinations continue to increase.

On the company’s earnings call, Logan Green, Lyft’s co-founder, said that pivoting its business during the pandemic is what’s responsible for the company’s financial resiliency. “We beat our outlook across every metric and we have growing momentum,” Green said.

Lyft stock has soared 13% this year so far, an impressive figure compared to competitor Uber (ticker: UBER), which has fallen 15%. Investors looking for a pure-play ridesharing stock might learn more towards Lyft in comparison to Uber, which has a more diversified revenue due to its food delivery service. Investors can wait and see on Wednesday afternoon, when the competitor reports its results.

Lyft also seems like a much safer bet than Chinese competitor DiDi (ticker: DIDI), who, due to strict Chinese regulations, recently tanked upon its highly-anticipated debut.

In partnership with Market Buzz. Subscribe to receive market investment stock news.