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Shares in Lyft Inc. plunged in late trading after the ride-hailing company missed on earnings, revenue and rider numbers in its fiscal third quarter.
For the quarter that ended Sept. 30, Lyft reported an adjusted earnings per share loss of $1.18, down from a loss of 30 cents per share in the same quarter of 2021. Revenue rose 22% from a year ago, to $1.05 billion. Analysts had been expecting a profit of nine cents a share on revenue of $1.06 billion.
Active riders in the quarter rose 7%, to 20.3 million. Analysts had expected 21.1 million riders. In a rare bright spot, revenue per active rider was $51.88, up 14% year-over-year and above an expected figure of $49.94.
Despite Lyft’s recovery from the dark days of the pandemic and related lockdowns, Lyft has managed to increase the amount of money it’s burning, with a net loss in the quarter of $422.2 million versus a loss of $99.7 million in the same quarter of 2021 and $377.2 million in the second quarter. The figure did include $224.1 million in stock-based compensation and related payroll expenses and $135.7 million in impairment charges for a nonmarketable equity investment and other assets.
Exactly what the impairment charge entailed was not specified by Lyft but could be related to Argo AI LLC, a self-driving car startup backed by Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG that shut down late last month. Lyft owned a 2% stake in the company and may have written off its investment in the third quarter ahead of the official announcement that Argo AI was closing down.
Although Lyft may be burning through money, the Uber Technologies Inc. competitor is not about to run out anytime soon, with $1.8 billion of unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments on hand as of Sept. 30.
“We are seeing material progress and organic tailwinds and feel very well positioned for the road ahead,” Logan Green, co-founder and chief executive officer of Lyft, said in a statement. “We have taken decisive steps to ensure we can deliver profitable growth, and we are even more confident in our ability to achieve our 2024 financial targets.”
The decisive steps Green refers to include laying off workers, with Lyft announcing on Oct. 3 that it would cut 13% of its workforce — about 700 people.
“We’re facing a probable recession sometime in the next year and ride-share insurance costs are going up,” Green and fellow co-founder John Zimmer wrote in an internal memo to staff when the layoffs were announced. “We worked hard to bring down costs this summer: we slowed, then froze hiring; cut spending; and paused less-critical initiatives. Still, Lyft has to become leaner, which requires us to part with incredible team members.”
For the quarter ahead, Lyft is predicting revenue of $1.145 billion to $1.165 billion and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $80 million to $100 million.
With misses in key metrics, investors were not kind to Lyft, particularly given that Uber managed to beat expectations in its latest earnings report last week. Lyft shares were down almost 13% after-hours.
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