Lyft shares slide 11% to all-time-low on steep quarterly loss

Ride-hailing firm Lyft’s shares plunged to an all-time-low on Wednesday to US$52.91 after it reported a steep quarterly loss with loss per share far below analysts’ expectations.

Lyft’s shares closed the day’s trading on Nasdaq 10.84% or US$6.43 lower, at US$52.91, the lowest pricing since it went public on March 29. Since its debut, the stock has fallen by 27%.

The firm posted a loss per share of US$9.02 for the quarter, steeper than the estimated losses of between US$0.63 and US$4.73 per share analysts in a Refinitiv poll had expected.

The latest earnings result seconded investors’ opinion on Lyft’s track to profitability, causing some investors to exit the stock and punters to take advantage of the situation, even though the firm had said it made improvements in growing its active ridership and revenue.

The firm reported a quarterly revenue of US$776 million, almost doubling the revenue earned a year ago. The revenue also beat analyst’s expectations of a US$738.5 million sum.

Lyft’s initial public offering (IPO) was priced at the top end of its IPO price range in March, which assigned it a valuation of US$24 billion in an offering that raised US$2.34 billion. However, concerns from investors on the start-up’s profitability have caused the stock to trade poorly since it debuted.

In a conference call with analysts following the report, Lyft’s chief executive Brian Roberts said the firm anticipates that losses will peak in 2019, CNBC said.

The firm expects to report revenue of between US$800 million and US$810 million for the second quarter. Total annual revenue is at a guidance of between US$3.28 billion and US$3.3 billion.

However, analysts think that Lyft’s long-term prospects are still perky, due to growth in revenue and active riders. Ridership has improved with 20.5 million active riders in the quarter compared to 14 million in the same period a year ago.

With Lyft’s latest earnings in a ditch, Uber’s IPO could potentially be affected as it is the firm’s larger rival, although Uber has presence in more markets and a diversified business.

Uber is expected to debut at a market value of US$84 billion this week.