Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) is possibly approaching a major achievement in its business, so we would like to shine some light on the company. Lyft, Inc. operates a peer-to-peer marketplace for on-demand ridesharing in the United States and Canada. The US$5.6b market-cap company posted a loss in its most recent financial year of US$340m and a latest trailing-twelve-month loss of US$65m shrinking the gap between loss and breakeven. As path to profitability is the topic on Lyft's investors mind, we've decided to gauge market sentiment. We've put together a brief outline of industry analyst expectations for the company, its year of breakeven and its implied growth rate.

Check out our latest analysis for Lyft

According to the 41 industry analysts covering Lyft, the consensus is that breakeven is near. They expect the company to post a final loss in 2024, before turning a profit of US$50m in 2025. Therefore, the company is expected to breakeven roughly a year from now or less! How fast will the company have to grow to reach the consensus forecasts that anticipate breakeven by 2025? Working backwards from analyst estimates, it turns out that they expect the company to grow 50% year-on-year, on average, which is extremely buoyant. Should the business grow at a slower rate, it will become profitable at a later date than expected.

Underlying developments driving Lyft's growth isn’t the focus of this broad overview, however, bear in mind that typically a high forecast growth rate is not unusual for a company that is currently undergoing an investment period.

One thing we would like to bring into light with Lyft is its debt-to-equity ratio of 153%. Typically, debt shouldn’t exceed 40% of your equity, and the company has considerably exceeded this. A higher level of debt requires more stringent capital management which increases the risk in investing in the loss-making company.

Next Steps:

This article is not intended to be a comprehensive analysis on Lyft, so if you are interested in understanding the company at a deeper level, take a look at Lyft's company page on Simply Wall St. We've also put together a list of essential factors you should further research:

1. Valuation: What is Lyft worth today? Has the future growth potential already been factored into the price? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether Lyft is currently mispriced by the market.
2. Management Team: An experienced management team on the helm increases our confidence in the business – take a look at who sits on Lyft’s board and the CEO’s background.
3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.