Lyft turns EBITDA profitable for the first time in Q2

Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT) said on Tuesday it turned EBITDA profitable in the fiscal second quarter for the first time since it went public. The Uber rival saw a sharp increase in riders and reported better-than-expected results for the fiscal Q2.   

Earlier this year, Lyft sold its autonomous driving technology unit to Toyota Motor. Shares of the company were more than 5% up in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

Lyft added 3.6 million active riders in Q2

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Lyft noted a sequential increase of 3.6 million active riders to 17.1 million in the second quarter. In comparison, FactSet consensus stood at a lower 15.5 million. Revenue per active rider came in at $44.63 versus $45.36 expected.

The Nasdaq-listed company is expected to give its guidance for the future on its earnings call scheduled for 04:30 p.m. ET. You can listen to it live at this link.

Bernie McTernan’s remarks on CNBC’s “Closing Bell”

Commenting on what to look for in the earnings call, Needham’s Bernie McTernan said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell”:

“We’ll look at how supply and demand is trending on the platform. They did mention record earnings for drivers in Q2 that continued into July, which means there’s still a supply and demand imbalance. About 7.5 million could potentially come off federal unemployment about a month from now, so we’ll see if that could be a catalyst that adds more drivers to the platform.”

Second-quarter financial performance

The ride-hailing company reported $23.8 million of adjusted EBITDA profit in Q2. Originally, it had expected to turn EBITDA profitable in the third quarter. Its net loss registered at $251.9 million that translates to 76 cents per share. In the comparable quarter of last year, it had posted a higher $437.1 million of net loss or $1.41 per share.

On an adjusted basis, the San Francisco-based company lost 5 cents per share. Lyft generated $765 million of revenue in the second quarter that represents an annualised growth of about 125%. According to FactSet, experts had forecast $700 million of revenue and 24 cents of adjusted per-share loss.