Lyft Stock Plunges As Earnings Fall Short

Lyft (LYFT) got pounded Friday as 19 equity analysts either cut their price targets or lowered ratings after the company reported fourth-quarter results that fell below expectations and offered a first-quarter outlook below views. Lyft stock lost more than a third of its value in early trades.

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The provider of ride-hailing services reported an adjusted loss of 74 cents a share on revenue of $1.2 billion. Analysts expected Lyft to report adjusted earnings of 13 cents on revenue of $1.15 billion, according to FactSet. For the first quarter, Lyft expects revenue of $975 million, below Wall Street estimates of $1.1 billion.

Lyft stock plummeted 36.4% to close at 10.31 on the stock market today, near its all-time low.

The company said it had 20.4 million active riders during the quarter, below estimates for 23 million. But revenue jumped 21% from the year-ago period.

Lyft Stock: Fewer Prime Time Customers

“Our Q1 guidance is the result of seasonality and lower prices, including less Prime Time,” Lyft Chief Financial Officer Elaine Paul said in a statement with the news release.

Prime Time, as Lyft calls it, refers to the busiest morning and evening periods for passenger rides.

The Lyft earnings report follows that of its chief competitor Uber (UBER), which reported earnings on Wednesday. Thanks to double-digit growth in bookings, Uber managed to report a gain instead of an expected loss.

For the year, Lyft reported revenue of $4.1 billion, up 28% percent, vs. estimates of $4.07 billion.

Please follow Brian Deagon on Twitter at @IBD_BDeagon for more on tech stocks, analysis and financial markets.

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