American ride-hailing company Lyft announced its financial results for the first quarter of the 2024 fiscal year. According to the report, Lyft's revenue for the first quarter was US$1.3 billion, up 28% from US$1 billion in the same period last year, and also increased compared to US$1.2 billion in the previous quarter; net loss was US$31.5 million, a sharp narrowing compared to net loss of US$187.6 million in the same period last year, and an increase compared to net loss of US$26.3 million in the previous quarter; adjusted net profit not in accordance with US GAAP was US$60 million, an increase compared with the adjusted net profit of US$27.7 million in the same period last year. Compared to the US dollar, it has declined.

Lyft's first-quarter results were better than Wall Street analysts' expectations, and the outlook for total bookings and adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter also exceeded expectations, driving its share price to rise sharply by more than 6% after the market.

Performance summary:

In the fiscal quarter ending March 31, Lyft's net loss was US$31.5 million, a sharp decrease compared to the net loss of US$187.6 million in the same period last year, and an increase compared to the net loss of US$26.3 million in the previous quarter; the diluted loss per share was 0.08 US dollars, which was also a sharp narrowing compared to the diluted loss of $0.50 per share in the same period last year. Lyft's net loss for the first quarter included $87.5 million in equity incentive expenses and related income tax expenses.

Lyft's net loss for the first quarter was -0.9% of total bookings (gross bookings), compared to -6.2% for the same period last year and -0.7% for the previous quarter.

Excluding certain one-time items (not in accordance with US GAAP), Lyft's adjusted net profit for the first quarter was 60 million US dollars, an increase compared to the adjusted net profit of 27.7 million US dollars for the same period last year, and a decrease compared to the adjusted net profit of 71.1 million US dollars in the previous quarter. Excluding certain one-time items (not in accordance with US GAAP), Lyft's first-quarter adjusted earnings per share were $0.05, exceeding analysts' expectations. According to data provided by Yahoo Finance Channel, an average of 17 analysts expected Lyft's first-quarter adjusted earnings per share to reach 0.03 US dollars.

Lyft's adjusted eBITDA (that is, net profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for the first quarter was $59.4 million, up from $22.7 million in the same period last year, but down from $66 million in the previous quarter. Lyft's adjusted EBITDA profit margin for the first quarter (calculated as adjusted EBITDA as a share of total bookings) was 1.6%, up 0.7% from the same period last year, and down from 1.8% in the previous quarter.

Lyft's revenue for the first quarter was US$1.3 billion, up 28% from US$1 billion in the same period last year, and also increased compared to US$1.2 billion in the previous quarter. This performance also exceeded analysts' expectations. According to data provided by Yahoo Finance Channel, an average of 30 analysts expected Lyft's revenue to reach 1.16 billion US dollars in the first quarter.

Lyft's total bookings for the first quarter were $3,693.2 billion, up from $3,500.7 billion in the same period last year, and down from $3,724.3 billion in the previous quarter.

Lyft's total costs and expenses for the first quarter were $1,340 million, up from $1,217 billion in the same period last year. Among them, revenue costs were 755 million US dollars, up from 549 million US dollars in the same period last year; operating and support expenses were 103 million US dollars, up from 98.9 million US dollars in the same period last year; R&D expenses were 100 million US dollars, down from 197 million US dollars in the same period last year; sales and marketing expenses were 145 million US dollars, up from 116 million US dollars in the same period last year; and general affairs and administrative expenses were 236 million US dollars, down from 257 million US dollars in the same period last year.

Lyft's operating loss for the first quarter was $63 million, a sharp narrowing compared to the operating loss of $217 million in the same period last year.

Lyft's free cash flow for the first quarter was $127.1 million, compared to -$120.8 million for the same period last year, compared to $14.9 million in the previous quarter.

As of the end of the first quarter of 2024, the total amount of cash and cash equivalents held by Lyft was $654 million, compared to $739 million as of the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2023, a year-on-year decrease.

Operational highlights:

Lyft's number of active passengers in the first quarter was 21.9 million, up 12% from 19.6 million in the same period last year. This increase reflects both an increase in passenger retention and an increase in new passengers.

Lyft's total number of trips in the first quarter was 187.7 million, an increase of 23% compared to 153 million in the same period last year, and a decrease from 190.8 million trips in the previous quarter. Lyft's increase in total number of trips in the first quarter reflects strong demand across all use cases. The growth in early morning, commuting, and evening weekend trips was particularly strong, indicating that the trend already seen in the second half of 2023 continues.

Lyft has been watching the Canadian market for the past year, and this move has paid off. Lyft is already operating in Canada's 5 largest cities and about 13 smaller cities. The number of trips during this period doubled, and new passenger activation and driving time more than doubled year-on-year in the first quarter.

Lyft Media's revenue in the first quarter increased by about 250% year over year, and about half of its business came from returning customers such as NBC Global. Additionally, the business has added several new customers, including Zillow and Mastercard, among others. A number of new partners were added in the first quarter, including Nielsen and Oracle Advertising, which have ad measurement and data enrichment solutions to expand target targeting, thereby helping Lyft provide more value to customers.

Performance outlook:

Results outlook for the second quarter of fiscal year 2024:

Lyft expects the company's total bookings to reach between US$4 billion and US$4.1 billion in the second quarter of fiscal year 2024; the adjusted EBITDA performance outlook fell short of analysts' expectations. According to data provided by financial market data information and infrastructure provider LSEG (formerly Refinitiv), analysts previously estimated that Lyft's total bookings for the second quarter would reach US$3.96 billion.

In addition, Lyft also expects the company's adjusted EBITDA to reach between 95 million US dollars and 100 million US dollars in the second quarter of fiscal year 2024, and the adjusted EBITDA profit margin will reach about 2.4%. This performance outlook also exceeds analysts' expectations. According to data provided by LSEG, analysts on average expect Lyft's adjusted EBITDA to reach US$81.1 million in the second quarter.

FY2024 full-year performance outlook:

Lyft anticipates that the year-on-year growth rate of the number of trips will be in the middle of the range of 10% to 19% in fiscal 2024, while the year-on-year growth rate of total bookings is expected to be slightly faster than the increase in the number of trips; the adjusted EBITDA profit margin is expected to be around 2.1%; and it still expects the company to achieve a positive inflow of free cash flow in fiscal year 2024. Lyft said that in light of improved visibility in the first half of the year, the company now expects at least 70% of adjusted EBITDA for the full year of fiscal 2024 to be converted into free cash flow.

Stock price reaction:

On the same day, Lyft shares fell $0.92 in regular NASDAQ trading to close at $16.60, or 5.25%. In subsequent after-hours trading up to 7:05 p.m. EST on the 7th (7:05 a.m. on the 8th Beijing time), Lyft's stock price rose sharply by $1.01 to $17.61, or 6.09%. Over the past 52 weeks, Lyft's highest price was $20.82 and the lowest price was $7.85.