Lyft stock falls sharply in post-market trading despite revenue beat

Ride-hailing giant Lyft reported stronger-than-expected Q1 2022 earnings results after the bell on Tuesday. Lyft’s revenue of $875.6 million in Q1 beat the analyst consensus estimate of $845.5 million as rideshare ride volumes reached a new COVID-era high. The company’s Q1 2022 revenue of $875.6 million represents an improvement of 44% over Q1 2021’s $609 million. 

Despite the revenue beat, shares of Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) were down sharply in the early hours of post-market trading. The stock dipped more than 15% after the company reported lower-than-expected guidance for the following quarter on its earnings call.

Lyft also posted a third consecutive quarter of positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, recording adjusted-EBITDA of $54.8 million. That’s $127.8 million greater than Q1 2021’s figure, and it beats the high end of Lyft’s own projection by around $40 million.

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The company reported around 17.8 million active riders this past quarter. While that’s a slight decline compared to Q4 2021 — when the company had about 18.7 million active riders — it’s still a nearly 32% improvement over the first-quarter 2021. 

Lyft also made more money off those riders than it did a year ago — revenue per active rider for Q1 2022 came in at $49.18, compared with $45.13 in Q1 2021.

Active drivers, meanwhile, also saw significant year-over-year growth. The number of drivers who made at least one trip during Q1 2022 was 40% higher than it was during the same period last year. And new driver activations grew 70% this quarter compared with the same quarter a year prior.

“Q1 was better than we expected and rideshare ride volumes reached a new COVID high,” said co-founder and CEO Logan Green.

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CFO Elaine Paul added: “Our Q1 results meaningfully exceeded our outlook. This outperformance was driven by increased demand and resilient driver levels. We will continue improving service levels to benefit our business in the near term and put us in the best position to support increasing demand over the long term. We also expect to strategically invest in key business initiatives to support our continued growth.”

Q1 2022’s earnings results are a positive sign for Lyft. Despite a dip in ridership at the beginning of 2022 due to COVID outbreaks, volumes recovered in February and March to drive a strong quarter for the company in terms of revenue growth.

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Editor: Jack Daleo