Uber shares fell around 7% Wednesday after the ride-sharing company reported fourth-quarter results that beat analysts’ expectations for revenue but missed on EPS and offered soft guidance.
Here’s how the company did:
- Earnings per share: 23 cents adjusted vs. 50 cents expected by LSEG.
- Revenue: $11.96 billion vs. $11.77 billion expected by LSEG.
Uber’s revenue grew 20% in its fourth quarter from $9.9 billion a year prior.
The company reported a net income of $6.9 billion, or $3.21 per share, up from $1.4 billion billion, or 66 cents per share, in the same period last year. Uber said its net income includes a $6.4 billion benefit from a tax valuation release, as well as a $556 million pre-tax benefit thanks to gains from revaluations of its equity investments.
Uber’s adjusted earnings per share figure excluded the $6.4 billion benefit, but included the $556 million impact from equity investments, according to LSEG.
The company reported $44.2 billion in gross bookings for the period, which was above the $43.49 billion expected by analysts, according to StreetAccount. Uber said adjusted EBITDA for its fourth quarter was $1.84 billion, up 44% year over year and in line with the $1.84 billion expected by analysts polled by StreetAccount.
For its first quarter, Uber said it expects gross bookings between $42 billion to $43.5 billion, compared with StreetAccount estimates of $43.51 billion. Uber anticipates adjusted EBITDA of $1.79 billion to $1.89 billion, compared with the $1.85 billion expected by analysts.
“Our performance has been powered by rapid innovation and execution across multiple priorities, including the massive opportunity presented by autonomous vehicles,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a release. “We enter 2025 with clear momentum and will continue to be relentless against our long-term strategy.”
Uber on Wednesday announced it is gearing up for the public launch of robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas through its partnership with Alphabet’s Waymo.
Starting Wednesday, customers in the city can open the Uber app and join the “interest list” to increase their chances of being paired with a Waymo at launch, the company said. Uber and Waymo first announced their plans to bring the robotaxis to Austin in September.
During the company’s quarterly call with investors, Khosrowshahi said while autonomous vehicle technology is progressing, it will take a while to commercialize, in part because of the complex regulatory hurdles.
Uber estimates that the autonomous vehicle market in the U.S. alone is a trillion-dollar opportunity, but Khosrowshahi said it will take “many, many years” to build out and scale. Even with the company’s “aggressive investments” in the technology, it is unlikely to impact Uber’s outlook in the near term, he said.
“We have conviction that Uber will be the indispensable go to market partner for AV players,” he said. “This is undoubtedly one of our top priorities, and we’re investing a lot of technical, strategic and management attention to this topic, with lots more to come.”
There were 3.1 billion trips completed on the platform during Uber’s fourth quarter, up 18% year over year. The number of Uber’s monthly active platform consumers reached 171 million in its fourth quarter, up 14% year over year from 150 million.
Here’s how Uber’s largest business segments performed:
Mobility (gross bookings): $22.8 billion, up 18% year over year
Delivery (gross bookings): $20.1 billion, up 18% year over year
Uber’s mobility segment reported $6.91 billion in revenue, up 25% from a year earlier. StreetAccount analysts were expecting $6.77 billion. The company’s delivery segment reported $3.77 billion in revenue, up 21% from the year prior. Analysts were expecting $3.66 billion, according to StreetAccount.
The company’s freight business reported $1.28 billion in revenue for the quarter, in line with the $1.28 billion it reported during the same period last year. StreetAccount analysts were expecting $1.31 billion. Khosrowshahi has repeatedly pointed to freight as a challenging segment for Uber since consumers are spending more on services than on shipping goods following the pandemic.
Uber will hold its quarterly call with investors at 8 a.m. ET.
