Uber Drops Despite Solid Q3 Forecast

Shares of Uber Technologies (UBER:US) witnessed a price drop on Tuesday even after the ride-sharing business offered a solid forecast for the ongoing quarter.

Uber sees Q3 gross bookings in the range of $34 billion to $35 billion, helping yield an adjusted Ebitda of $975 million to $1.03 billion. Analysts were looking for gross bookings of $34 billion and adjusted Ebitda of $919 million. 

For Q2, Uber reported gross bookings of $33.60 billion as it generated $16.7 billion in Mobility bookings and $15.60 in Delivery bookings. Freight bookings fell 30% year-over-year to $1.30 billion. Overall, Uber’s Q2 revenue rose 14% YoY.

On a sequential basis, Uber guided for a 2.7% jump in gross bookings based on the midpoint of the Q3 guidance range. 

The company also reported a surprising profit per share of $0.18 as analysts were looking for a loss per share of $0.01.

“Robust demand, new growth initiatives, and continued cost discipline resulted in an excellent quarter, with trips up 22% and a GAAP operating profit, for the first time in Uber’s history,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO. “These results also translated into strong driver and courier engagement, with 6 million drivers and couriers earning a record $15.1 billion during the quarter.”

“The unique power of the Uber platform and the team’s relentless focus on profitable growth was on full display in Q2, with record profitability and over $1 billion of quarterly free cash flow,” said Nelson Chai, CFO.

Uber announced earlier that Chai will leave the company on January 5, 2024.

Congressman Josh Gottheimer has been trading UBER shares throughout 2023.