Uber Delivers One of Its Best Quarters Ever… Shares Slip 5% After Analysts Dig Into the Fine Print

Uber posted one of its strongest quarters ever Tuesday morning… but Wall Street’s reaction was surprisingly cold.

The company’s third-quarter numbers blew past expectations, yet the stock fell more than 5% after the report. Investors liked what they saw, but they clearly wanted more.

Uber pulled in $13.47 billion in revenue, up 21% from last year, and beat analyst forecasts. Earnings per share came in at $1.20, well ahead of the expected $0.70, while adjusted EBITDA climbed 33% to $2.3 billion. Net income jumped to $6.6 billion, but most of that (about $4.9 billion) came from a one-time tax adjustment, not day-to-day business growth.

The rest of the report looked strong too. Monthly active users hit 189 million, up 17% year-over-year, and gross bookings rose 21% to almost $49 billion. Uber also guided for another solid quarter ahead, forecasting bookings between $52.25 billion and $53.75 billion, right around what analysts were expecting.

So why the pullback? Investors appear to have set a higher bar. In an environment where traders reward anything tied to artificial intelligence, Uber’s steady results may have simply lacked the “wow” factor.

That said, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi tried to deliver some. He called the quarter “one of the largest trip-volume increases in Uber’s history” and said the company is doubling down on AI and autonomy to drive its next wave of growth.

And to be fair, Uber has been busy. It’s teaming up with Nvidia to build 100,000 semi-autonomous vehicles by 2027, partnering with Lucid and Nuro on electric robotaxis, and expanding its deal with Joby Aviation so users can book helicopter and seaplane rides directly through the app next year. (Because why sit in traffic when you can just fly over it?)

Still, the market’s not ready to treat Uber like a pure tech stock. Shares are already up about 65% this year, easily beating the Nasdaq, but some investors think it’s priced about right given its profit margins and uncertain economy.

“Uber’s done a great job tightening up operations,” one portfolio manager said. “The question now is whether these bets on autonomy and delivery can actually take growth to the next level.”

Khosrowshahi says he sees “blue skies ahead,” thanks to rising demand around the world. But Uber’s in a weird in-between phase… no longer the scrappy startup that upended taxis, yet still trying to prove it belongs in the same conversation as Amazon, Google, and Nvidia, the huge names it’s now partnered with. The challenge now is if they can keep profits steady while building what comes next.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Uber, Amazon, and Google as mentioned in the article.