“Uber keeps executing, Lyft train wreck continues”
That is the first line from this article about the state of ridesharing after their most recent quarterly earnings.
For years investors have wondered if this business model could ever be profitable. We’re not quite there yet, but Uber seems to be doing all it can to get there (you’ve probably noticed the up tick in prices for Uber rides and UberEATS).
Uber reported that driver and rider numbers are back to all time highs, after taking a couple of years to recover after the initial COVID shock in early 2020. For the quarter, Uber hit 100 million customers and 2 billion rides.
This author has tried to pull out the numbers and compare the profit margins for Uber and Lyft. They estimate that before interest payments, tax, depreciation and amortisation (aka EBITDA) Uber has 4% margins while Lyft has -2%.
As a result of their mixed results, Lyft’s share price fell 30% after reporting while Uber’s rose 7%. Two very similar companies that are right now executing at two very different levels.
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