Lyft shares slump after Q4 profit misses estimates

Investing.com -- Lyft Inc shares were down around 7% at $13.4 in aftermarket trading on Tuesday after the ride hailing company reported fourth-quarter earnings that missed Wall Street expectations, even as revenue topped estimates.

The company posted earnings per share of $0.15, falling short of analysts' average estimate of $0.21. Revenue for the quarter was $1.6 billion, slightly above expectations of $1.56 billion.

Lyft’s is navigating a competitive ride-hailing market, where pricing strategies and driver incentives remain key factors in revenue and profitability trends.

“Our biggest competition is inertia,” CEO David Risher said in a statement, as the company navigates a competitive ride-hailing market where pricing strategies and driver incentives remain key to growth and profitability.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) said it expects rides growth in the mid-teens percentage year over year, for the first quarter of 2025.

The company forecast gross bookings growth of 10% to 14% year over year, reaching approximately $4.05 billion to $4.20 billion, despite what it called the "recent pricing environment" in the U.S. market.

Adjusted EBITDA are expected to be between $90 million and $95 million, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 2.2% to 2.3% as a percentage of gross bookings.

Shares of rival Uber (NYSE:UBER) were also down more than 1%.