Lyft's first-quarter bookings forecast pressured by fierce competition with Uber

By Akash Sriram

Feb 11 (Reuters) - Lyft LYFT.O forecast current-quarter gross bookings below estimates on Tuesday, as its jostles for more riders with larger rival Uber Technologies UBER.N, while wildfires and extreme weather events disrupted its business in some key markets.

Lyft said it was expecting gross bookings between $4.05 billion and $4.20 billion in the first quarter, below estimates of $4.26 billion.

Uber also projected bookings below estimates for the same period last week.

Lyft is locked in fierce competition with Uber to attract riders, prompting it to match prices with the larger rival to grab more market share.

"Our strategy is this: we price competitively and reliably, and we compete on service ... It's working and we are going to stick with it," CEO David Risher told Reuters.

He added that competitive pricing had helped Lyft hit all-time highs in rides and driver hours every quarter.

The company has been boosting its efforts to expand its presence in the robotaxi space by partnering with several companies in the industry.

On Monday, Lyft said it would partner with Japanese conglomerate Marubeni 8002.T to roll out robotaxis with Mobileye MBLY.O hardware on its platform as early as 2026.

Lyft's December-quarter revenue was at a record high, rising 26.6% to $1.55 billion, and was in line with the estimates of $1.56 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The company also recorded its first full year of positive free cash flow and profit in 2024.

It forecast current-quarter adjusted core earnings of about $90 million to $95 million, the midpoint for which is slightly below expectations of $92.9 million.

The company's adjusted core earnings of $112.8 million in the fourth quarter beat expectations of $104.1 million.