Lyft’s Q2 earnings report sparks short-lived gains…
Lyft released a strong Q2 earnings report on Wednesday. This comes just a few months after the company’s disappointing IPO.
The release revealed stronger-than-expected sales and revenue, which sparked a 13% increase in share prices during after-hours trading.
This surge, however, was short-lived, as news that insiders would soon be able to sell their shares caused investors to pull back. Lyft disclosed this information in a filing with the SEC that stated the share lock-up period would end more than a month earlier than anticipated.
Once this lock-up period ends on August 19, about 257.6 million shares will be eligible for trading.
Lyft’s stock continues to struggle to match its IPO price since going public in March.
The Details Behind Lyft’s Q2 Financials
Lyft’s Q2 2019 highlights include:
- $867.3 million in revenue
- $644.2 million in net losses (adjusted net loss of $197.3 million)
- 21.8 million active riders
- $39.77 in revenue per active rider
After this strong second quarter, Lyft now expects its revenue for the 2019 fiscal year to fall between $3.47 billion and $3.5 billion (up from $3.275 billion and $3.3 billion).
“Lyft’s second quarter was marked by strong execution and important advances in our product and platform,” Lyft CEO and co-founder Logan Green said in a statement. “This translated to record revenue driven by better than expected Active Rider growth and Revenue per Active Rider monetization.”
Can Lyft Become Profitable?
Like its larger competitor, Uber, Lyft continues to struggle with long-term profitability. While the rideshare company’s Q2 earnings report is impressive, a $644.2 million loss is nothing to overlook.
To move toward profitability, Lyft continues its efforts to expand its service offerings. This includes the acquisition of Motivate, a bike-sharing network, as well as a partnership with Alphabet Inc’s Waymo division to bring a self-driving car service to the Phoenix area later this year.
Still, investors remain concerned regarding Lyft’s future. In addition to the company’s significant monetary losses, Lyft is also losing its COO, Jon McNeill, and CMO, Joy Howard.
While Lyft’s Q2 earnings report has a lot for investors to be happy about, there’s still much work to be done for the company to become profitable.
To close his forward-looking statement, Green said, “We remain focused on reshaping transportation and we are pleased with the continued improvement in market conditions. This environment along with our execution is translating to strong revenue growth and sales and marketing efficiencies. As a result of this positive momentum, we anticipate 2019 losses to be better than previously expected and we are pleased to have updated our outlook.”
