Lyft Stock Is Hitting The Brakes Wednesday: What's Going On?

Lyft Inc LYFT shares are trading lower Wednesday after the company reported fourth-quarter financial results. Multiple analysts also lowered price targets following the print.

What Happened: Lyft reported fourth-quarter revenue of $1.6 billion, beating analyst estimates of $1.56 billion, according to Benzinga Pro. The company reported fourth-quarter net income of $61.7 million, and adjusted EBITDA of $112.8 million.

Total revenue was up 27% on a year-over-year basis. Gross bookings totaled $4.3 billion in the quarter, up 15% year-over-year. Active riders totaled 24.7 million in the fourth quarter, up 10% year-over-year. Total rides came in above 219 million, up 15% year-over-year.

Lyft guided for first-quarter gross bookings of approximately $4.05 billion to $4.2 billion, representing growth of 10% to 14% year-over-year. The company also said it sees first-quarter rides growth in the mid-teens year-over-year.

“2024 was a record-smashing year for Lyft. Thanks to our industry-leading service levels, we helped 44 million people across the U.S. and Canada get off their tuchuses,” said David Risher, CEO of Lyft. 

“But we’ve got more to do. Our biggest competition is inertia. 2025 will be the year we show millions of riders and drivers: You’ve now got a better rideshare choice.”

Lyft’s board authorized a share repurchase program of up to $500 million of the company’s common stock. The company ended the quarter with $759.32 million in cash and cash equivalents.

See Also: SoftBank Q3 Earnings: Revenue Rises, Vision Fund Takes $2.33 Billion Hit As Investments Falter

Analyst Changes:

• Barclays analyst Ross Sandler maintained Lyft with an Equal-Weight and lowered the price target from $20 to $19.

• BofA Securities analyst Michael McGovern maintained Lyft with a Buy and lowered the price target from $21 to $17.50.

• Needham analyst Bernie McTernan reiterated Lyft with a Hold rating.

LYFT Price Action: Lyft shares were down 14.2% at $12.35 at the time of publication Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: courtesy of Lyft.