Lyft’s stock had a bonkers after-hours rally. Was it due to a mistake in its earnings release?

by | Feb 13, 2024 | Stock Market

When Lyft Inc. put out its earnings release Tuesday afternoon, the ride-hailing platform forecast a gain this year in an adjusted profit metric. But during the company’s earnings call, management issued a correction, saying that increase was, in fact, smaller than what it said the first time around. Shares, in the process, ballooned in value after hours — rocketing upwards of 60% higher at one point — then quickly contracted before settling to still-solid gains of around 18%. Lyft
LYFT,
-2.18%
did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lyft, in its earnings release, forecast adjusted Ebitda margin expansion — or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — of around 500 basis points this year, or around 5%. But during the call, Chief Financial Officer Erin Brewer said the company was expecting a 50 basis-point expansion. When asked by an analyst to reconcile the two figures, she said the correct figure was, in fact, 50. “This is actually a correction for the press release,” she said during the call, “You’re correct in my prepared remarks, I referenced 50 basis points of margin expansion.” Prior to the call, Lyft on Tuesday still said that it expected two key demand metrics to come in above Wall Street’s expectations for the year ahead, and that it expected to turn out positive free cash flow for the first time over that period. The company made the forecasts after carrying out big staff cuts over the past two years, and as it keeps insurance and other costs in line. More people used Lyft more often …

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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnWhen Lyft Inc. put out its earnings release Tuesday afternoon, the ride-hailing platform forecast a gain this year in an adjusted profit metric. But during the company’s earnings call, management issued a correction, saying that increase was, in fact, smaller than what it said the first time around. Shares, in the process, ballooned in value after hours — rocketing upwards of 60% higher at one point — then quickly contracted before settling to still-solid gains of around 18%. Lyft
LYFT,
-2.18%
did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lyft, in its earnings release, forecast adjusted Ebitda margin expansion — or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — of around 500 basis points this year, or around 5%. But during the call, Chief Financial Officer Erin Brewer said the company was expecting a 50 basis-point expansion. When asked by an analyst to reconcile the two figures, she said the correct figure was, in fact, 50. “This is actually a correction for the press release,” she said during the call, “You’re correct in my prepared remarks, I referenced 50 basis points of margin expansion.” Prior to the call, Lyft on Tuesday still said that it expected two key demand metrics to come in above Wall Street’s expectations for the year ahead, and that it expected to turn out positive free cash flow for the first time over that period. The company made the forecasts after carrying out big staff cuts over the past two years, and as it keeps insurance and other costs in line. More people used Lyft more often …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]

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