Lyft raised its full-year guidance on Wednesday after reporting third-quarter revenue that surpassed analysts’ expectations.
Shares of LYFT Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT) surged more than 20% in premarket trading on Thursday.
For the quarter ending September 30, Lyft posted a loss of $0.03 per share, in line with analyst forecasts, but its revenue of $1.52 billion exceeded the expected $1.44 billion.
The company also reported that ride-sharing activity reached an all-time high during the period.
Active riders on the platform rose 9% year-over-year to 24.4 million, while total rides increased 16% to 217 million.
Looking ahead to Q4, Lyft expects adjusted EBITDA to range between $100 million and $105 million, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 2.3% to 2.4%.
For 2024, Lyft revised its outlook, now projecting an adjusted EBITDA margin of around 2.3%, up from the previous forecast of 2.1%. The company also expects gross bookings to grow by approximately 17% year-over-year.
Following the release, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) maintained its “Buy” rating on LYFT shares.
The bank’s analysts noted that the strong results help ease concerns on Wall Street about volume growth potentially being driven by pricing or discounting tactics.
“With Uber (NYSE: UBER) reporting a 17% increase in U.S. bookings for Q3, Lyft appears to be limiting further market share losses, while focusing on its core customer base and commuters, who are still increasing their order frequency,” the analysts wrote. As a result, they raised their price target for the stock from $16 to $19.
Meanwhile, analysts at Wolfe Research expressed that they are “slightly more optimistic” following Lyft’s strong beat-and-raise performance.
