BUZZ-Lyft rises as Benchmark upgrades to 'buy'

** Shares of ride-hail platform Lyft LYFT.O jump 5.5% to $15.06 in premarket trading

** Brokerage Benchmark upgrades stock rating to "buy" from "hold"

** Brokerage says co's Flexdrive platform is particularly well-suited to allow them to be an autonomous vehicle (AV) participant regardless of how the market evolves

** "Lyft is just getting started with their expansion via partnerships, both on the traditional and AV fronts, with prior partnerships also likely to produce near-term upside to metrics" - Benchmark

** 16 of 48 brokerages rate the stock "buy" and 32 "hold"; their median PT is $19

** Stock had risen 10.6% in 2024

(Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru)

((Kritika.Lamba@thomsonreuters.com))