Someone pinch me, because Lyft just pulled off a quarter that didn’t suck. In fact, it was so not-bad that Wall Street is treating the company like it’s the second coming of Uber—minus the scandals and the whole “losing money forever” thing. Lyft stock shot up 23% on Thursday, leaving analysts scrambling to update their price targets and investors wondering if they’ve once again “accidentally” added another zero to beef up numbers LOL (read: February 2024 earnings). 

(Source: Giphy) 

For starters, Lyft clocked in $1.52 billion in revenue for Q3, blowing past the $1.44 billion that analysts were expecting. Yeah, the company took a 3-cent loss per share, but that’s exactly what the nerds at FactSet predicted. So, no one’s crying about that.

What really got investors all hot n’ heavy was Lyft’s 16% jump in gross bookings to $4.1 billion. That’s a smidge better than the $4.08 billion Wall Street was hoping for, and a miraculous beat for Lyft that again, resulted in shares catapulting. 

(Source: Seeking Alpha) 

Speaking of miracles, Lyfts active riders grew 9% year-over-year to 24.4 million. Yeah, that’s 24.4 million people who thought, “Sure, I’ll take the pink mustache app over Uber this time.”  And it’s not because Lyft suddenly got cool—it’s because they’re rolling out new features like “Price Lock”, which lets riders freeze fares for $2.99 a month. So now you can pay a little extra for the privilege of knowing exactly how much you’re getting ripped off. Genius.

(Source: Speaksly) 

As expected,  as soon as Lyft shows a pulse, the analysts are all over it like it’s the next big thing. Piper Sandler’s Thomas Champion did a complete 180 and jacked up his price target from $17 to $23. Translation: Champion is basically saying buy the dip, ride the wave, and pretend you saw this coming all along. 

(Source: Market Beat) 

Hell, even Morgan Stanley’s Brian Nowak couldn’t resist getting in on the action. He’s out here hyping Lyft’s 33 new products and features this year like they just reinvented the wheel. Newsflash: they didn’t. But hey, if you throw enough new bells and whistles at riders, eventually something sticks. Price Lock, for example, seems to be a hit with 200K active users already signed up. That’s 200K people who are forking over $3 a month to avoid surge pricing at 2 AM when they’re too drunk to care. Which honestly is smart. Life comes at you fast, so you better come prepared, even if you’re blacked out of your mind. 

(Source: Giphy) 

But, but, but… given all the hype, not everyone is all horned up over Lyfts numbers. For instance, Evercore ISI’s Mark Mahaney is still sitting on the fence, keeping his neutral rating. His big concern? Lyft’s ability to keep the growth going while actually making money. Shocking, I know—someone’s actually worried about profitability in Silicon Valley.

However, Lyft did gain some momentum after their guidance numbers. In short, they’ve upped their Q4 bookings forecast to $4.32 billion. That’s more than the $4.23 billion that analysts had penciled in, so naturally, everyone’s optimistic. But the real story is Lyft’s adjusted EBITDA margin, which they’re now expecting to hit 2.3%, up from the previous 2.1%. 

(Source: Lyft) 

Oh and ICYMI, Lyft’s teamed up with DoorDash’s DashPass to offer discounted rides to people who are already paying $9.99 a month for unlimited restaurant delivery. Because nothing says synergy like a partnership between a struggling rideshare company and a food delivery service that’s trying to convince people to stop cooking at home. If this works, Lyft could see a nice little bump in ridership from people too lazy to drive themselves to pick up their takeout. Welcome to 2024, friends.

(Source: DoorDash) 

In the end, let’s not forget Lyft's other problem: Uber (a.k.a. The company that’s been eating Lyft's lunch for the better part of the decade). Uber is still out here, growing bookings and moving ever closer to a world where drivers are optional (read: autonomous vehicles). Meanwhile, Lyft is still figuring out how to keep its human drivers happy while squeezing out a profit.

(Source: Giphy) 

But hey, for now, Lyft seems to be riding high with investors and analysts stoked. However, unless  they can keep this momentum going, Lyft might be back in the gutter by next quarter. But until then, let’s give them their moment in the sun. After all, it’s not every day Lyft gets to leave Uber eating dust—even if it’s only for a minute.

In the meantime, keep an eye on Lyft and as always stay safe and stay frosty, friends! Until next time… 

P.S. Lyft mooned 22% yesterday, but so what? Especially since our last Wild Friday Alert popped off with a 116% jump in minutes—and we’ve been hitting at least one 100%+ winner every single week on average since we started.The best part? We just dropped a brand new alert that’s set to explode right here. 

Stocks.News holds positions in Uber as mentioned in the article.