Shares in Uber Technologies Inc. surged 38% today after Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said the company has plenty of cash to ride out the COVID-19 pandemic and is looking at delivering medicine and other vital supplies.

“We are very fortunate to have a strong cash position with about $10 billion of unrestricted cash as of the end of February,” Khosrowshahi (pictured) said on a call with analysts. “In any crisis, liquidity is key.”

Khosrowshahi admitted upfront that Uber has seen its ride-hailing volume drop as much as 60% to 70% in recent days as cities across the U.S. go into lockdown. Khosrowshahi added that the drop was being somewhat counterbalanced by growth in UberEats deliveries. Although various jurisdictions may have closed restaurants and bars to the general public, many still allow for food takeout and delivery.

“Our Eats business is an important resource right now,” Khosrowshahi said. “Even in Seattle, our Eats business is still growing.”

Khosrowshahi also said the company is in discussions to leverage its network to deliver medicine and other vital supplies. “We already have contact in the health sector, we’ve got all of the processes that we need,” he said.

Uber drivers may be having a hard time, but Uber’s own expenses are also down, giving the company more room to last through the dark days of the coronavirus pandemic. “About two-thirds of our cost of revenue and operating expense, excluding stock-based compensation, is variable,” he said. “If a trip doesn’t happen, many of these costs go away.”

Looking forward, Uber surviving the pandemic may leave it in a stronger position with less competition. “We believe that this kind of event will lead to weaker players dropping out of the market and Uber maintaining its dominant market share coming out of the crisis,” KeyBanc Capital Markets analysts wrote in a note reported by Reuters.

Ubers shares closed regular trading at $20.49, the highest price in a week but still down by nearly half from a high of $41.27 Feb. 11.

On a day when the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.3% and the Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector tech stock tracker rose 2.6%, Uber’s main competitor Lyft Inc. also had a stellar day of trading, up 29%, to $20.70. Other than following in Uber’s footsteps, there was seemingly no other reason why Lyft’s stock rose.

Photo: The Presidential Office of Ukraine/Wikimedia Commons