Lyft's boring 2020 is reflected in its stock price (just look at Uber)
Snacks / Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Napping during the earnings call... Lyft just reported quarterly earnings, which seem to be its only mildly spotlight-worthy event of 2020 — and they weren't so thrilling, either.
- Active riders jumped 44% from the previous (horrible) quarter, signaling a mild recovery in ride-hail. But they were still down 44% from 2019.
- Lyft lost $460M, nearly as much as in the same quarter last year. But it's hoping to be EBITDA profitable next year.
Whip up the scorecard... While Lyft has been doing the least this year, Uber's been aggressively expanding its products and making big moves:
- Food delivery: Uber agreed to buy Postmates for $2.7B, while UberEats orders more than doubled during the pandemic.
- Logistics: Uber Freight's gig trucking business raised $500M and is now worth $3.3B.
- Public Transit: Uber started selling its software for public transport use, and bought public transit-focused Routematch.
- Micromobility: Uber led a big investment in Lime and offers both Lime and its own Jump electric scooters/bikes in-app.
- Aerial mobility: Uber Elevate partnered with GE for "Uber Air" helicopter ride-sharing (ETA: 2023).
- Rides: Uber's launching "Reserve" this week to let riders book their fave drivers in advance.
Lyft's fail is probably reflected in its stock ... Lyft offers bike/scooter sharing and has tested essential deliveries for businesses in a few cities (food, groceries, etc). Besides that, it's a pure-play Rides company — not great during a pandemic (even with the Prop 22 victory). That's likely why Lyft stock is down 16% this year, while Uber is up 49%.