Can Lyft Catch a Ride on Uber’s Q4 Results?

By Chris Lange Published Feb 11, 11:00AM EST

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Can Lyft Catch a Ride on Uber’s Q4 Results? — © Wikimedia Commons

Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT | LYFT Price Prediction) is scheduled to release its most recent quarterly results after the markets close on Tuesday. For the most part, analysts seem optimistic about ride-sharing in general going into this report, especially after rival ride-sharing company Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) reported stellar results last week.

For the fourth quarter, analysts expect to see a net loss of $1.39 in earnings per share (EPS) and $984.17 million in revenue.

One thing that differentiates Lyft from Uber is that many consider it a pure-play ride-sharing company. Uber offers a food delivery service, Uber Eats, but this has not been profitable, even with a 21% market share in the food delivery industry.

Beginning January 1, a new California law (AB 5) required ride-hailing firms like Lyft and Uber to treat drivers as employees, not independent contractors. The law applies to delivery firms like Postmates, Instacart and DoorDash as well. Not having to pay a minimum wage or overtime, or unemployment insurance or paid sick leave, was a huge benefit for these firms. Drivers also paid their own expenses, including maintenance and fuel.

However, analysts remain upbeat on Lyft’s stock. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told Barron’s that Lyft faces a headwind of $8 to $10 a share if California’s AB 5 is not revised in favor of the ride-hailers. Even so, the stock remains rated Buy or Strong Buy by 24 of 36 analysts.

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Here’s what a few other analysts had to say about Lyft ahead of the report:

JMP Securities has a Buy rating with an $88 price target.
Northcoast Research rates it at Buy with a $60 price target.
RBC’s Buy rating comes with an $82 target price.
SunTrust Banks has a Buy rating and a $75 price target.
UBS has a Buy rating with a $64 price target.

Excluding Tuesday’s move, Lyft stock had outperformed the broad markets with a gain of 24% in the past quarter. However, in the past six months, the share price was down 9%.

Shares of Lyft traded at $53.47 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $37.07 to $88.60. The consensus price target is $65.63.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.