MW Lyft shares struggle to keep up with Uber following mixed results. 'Comparison is the thief of joy,' analyst says.

By Bill Peters

Lyft reports second-quarter results as it uses partnerships to expand internationally and into robotaxis

Lyft reported quarterly results on Wednesday.

Ride-hailing platform Lyft Inc. on Wednesday forecast key demand metrics that were better than Wall Street expected, but sales and rides for the second quarter came in below estimates.

Those results followed strong quarterly earnings from its larger rival, Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER), which came out earlier in the day.

Shares of Lyft $(LYFT)$fell 7.1% after hours. At least one analyst said investors may have been comparing the performance of the two.

Lyft said it expects year-over-year growth in rides in the "mid-teens" in the third quarter. FactSet forecasts called for 13.5%.

The company sees gross bookings - or the total dollar value of transactions on the platform - of around $4.65 billion to $4.8 billion over that period, a bit above the $4.59 billion forecast by FactSet. Lyft said the third quarter would partly reflect its acquisition of German taxi app Freenow, which closed on July 31.

During the second quarter, revenue rose 11% year over year to $1.59 billion, but that was a tad below FactSet estimates for $1.61 billion. Rides grew 14% year over year to 234.8 million, also below estimates. Gross bookings of around $4.5 billion were roughly in line.

On a GAAP basis, Lyft earned 10 cents a share. Wall Street was expecting 4 cents.

Lyft reported the results as it uses partnerships to expand internationally and expand its fleet of robotaxis - a growing area of competition for the ride-hailing industry.

The company this week partnered with Baidu Inc. $(BIDU)$ to roll out autonomous rides in Europe, with initial plans to offer them in Germany and the U.K. next year. Late last month, Lyft acquired Freenow, a company in Germany that offers ride-hailing services. Through a partnership with May Mobility, Lyft is testing out autonomous vehicles in Atlanta.

Lyft has also struck up incentive-laden partnerships with Hilton $(HLT)$, Chase $(JPM)$, United Airlines $(UAL)$ and others.

Andrew Rocco, a stock strategist at Zacks Investment Research, said that Uber was still the favorite in the ride-hailing wars, thanks to its size, ability to compete on price, institutional-investor backing and more diverse business overall.

"They say that 'comparison is the thief of joy' and that is the theme for Lyft today," he said in emailed commentary on Wednesday. "The stock dumped during the regular session after its biggest competitor, Uber, delivered faster growth and better overall results."

He added: "While Lyft's results were robust, investors are likely selling off the stock because it is growing far slower than Uber, owns less of the ride-share market, and is far less aggressive in grabbing a piece of the robotaxi market - which will eventually dominate the space."

Uber's stock is up nearly 48% so far this year, as of Wednesday's close. By comparison, Lyft's is up around 8.5%. "Lyft is a laggard from an innovation, growth and price-action perspective," Rocco said.

-Bill Peters

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August 06, 2025 18:23 ET (22:23 GMT)

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