Services

Is There Any Hope for Lyft's Q1 Report?

Chris Lange

Published: May 6, 2020 11:21 am

Last Updated: May 6, 2020 11:26 am

Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT) is set to report its first-quarter financial results after the markets close on Wednesday. Analysts on average expect a net loss of $0.64 per share on $897.86 million in revenue. In the same period of last year, the ride-sharing service posted a net loss of $9.02 per share and $776.0 million in revenue.

Lyft and Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) may have gotten some of the worst of this global pandemic, as they primarily operate in major metropolitan areas, which have been hit the hardest. With more people staying in, there are fewer customers. Also, these companies were having a problem with their respective bottom lines before that, so the pandemic only made things that much worse.

These companies are facing a tough question about how they will stay afloat when most people are now staying home. Again, this is a question posed to the drivers as well.

In April, Uber reportedly told financial analysts that it couldn’t forecast how much revenue it would generate this year because of the coronavirus crisis. The company had said in February that it expected to post between $16 billion and $17 billion in revenue.

Some analysts have speculated that Uber’s rides dropped about 83% in March, while others are suggesting that major metropolitan areas are down in the range of 70% to 80%. Also, Uber recently announced that it would conduct layoffs to cut costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With Uber under so much duress, it may not be unreasonable to think that Lyft may be going through the same thing.

Look out for Uber earnings on Thursday afternoon.

Excluding Wednesday’s move, Lyft stock had underperformed both the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 with a decline of about 38% year to date. In the past 52 weeks, the share price was down closer to 56%.

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

• CFRA has a Hold rating and a $32 price target.
• SunTrust has a Buy rating with a $45 price target.
• Credit Suisse rates it Outperform with a $75 price target.
• Citigroup has a Buy rating with a $49 price target.
• Needham has a Buy rating and a $41 price target.
• The Raymond James Outperform rating comes with a $40 target.
• UBS has a Buy rating and a $37 target price.
• Argus has a Buy rating with a $39 price target.

Lyft stock traded down about 2% to $26.17 on Wednesday, in a 52-week range of $14.56 to $68.33. The consensus price target is $48.44.