A sign is a meeting place for Lyft and Uber users at San Diego State University in San Diego, California, May 13, 2020.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Shares of Lyft rose to 11% on Wednesday when investors rallied the company after saying that the recovery of the shares was faster than expected.
Lyft’s recovery also brought optimism to Uber shares, which rose 5.8% on Tuesday on an otherwise weak day for technology stocks. This comes despite CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s cautious remarks at the Morgan Stanley Tech conference on Monday, saying he expects his mobility industry to see some signs of recovery in the US and Europe, although it’s too early to do so. tell.
Lyft now expects to manage its adjusted EBITDA loss in the first quarter to $ 135 million, from the $ 145 million to $ 150 million it previously forecast, according to a Tuesday filing with the SEC. The company also said that the last week of February was the best week in terms of volume since the closure of pandemics began in March 2020, and expects the recovery to continue until this month.
The company’s growing recovery comes as more states begin to lift Covid-19 restrictions and vaccines continue to spread across the country.
“We believe that LYFT intends to show a trend towards positive year-on-year growth from the week of March 21, which we believe will accelerate into the summer months, and thus any setbacks with “vaccine deployment will be a positive, especially given the still uncertain landscape of the pandemic and weather problems in certain regions,” CFRA analysts said Wednesday.
Trust analysts said Tuesday that the company’s update on business trends gives the firm “increasing confidence that business trends should continue to improve as local governments ease restrictions on social activities and work people back with C-19s.”
“We believe that the further easing of restrictions, especially in Texas, which has been completely reopened, could accelerate the Y / Y trends through the spring,” they add.
Uber and Lyft continued to maintain optimism that they would be profitable on an adjusted EBITDA basis at the end of this year.
“At this stage, LYFT is seeing encouraging question marks and was able to handle the demand while leading to improved profitability while having a good execution,” Needham analysts wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday.
CNN’s Michael Bloom reported.
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