Lyft reports uptick in revenue to $956M, keeps losing money in Q3 2019

The road to profitability for Lyft might seem endless, but the San Francisco-based ride-share company showed improvement in the third quarter by beating analyst expectations.

Revenue for the quarter was up 63% year-over-year to $955.6 million, higher than the projected revenue of $915 million.

The company also reports exceeding active ridership expectations: Active riders increased by 28% year-over-year to 22 million, and revenue per active rider grew 27% to $42.82.

During a call with analysts, the company says that the majority of rider growth was driven organically; details regarding revenue per transportation segment were not reported.

Loss leader

The net loss for the third quarter was $463.5 million, up from $249.2 million in the same period of 2018, but less than the analyst projections of $490 million.

Lyft attributes the losses to $246.1 million in stock-based compensation and $86.6 million in changes to liabilities for insurance.

The company spent $1.4 billion in the third quarter, including nearly $300 million on research and development.

Unlike rival Uber, Lyft has also been on a hiring spree, with job postings up 18% this year, specifically in the areas of experience and legal.

Despite the current losses, the company anticipates reaching profitability in terms of adjusted EBITDA by the fourth quarter of 2021.

Lyft also projects that revenue for the upcoming quarter will be between $975 million and $985 million.

Say Logan Green, co-founder and CEO of Lyft: “Our third quarter results demonstrated the significant progress Lyft has made on our path to profitability.

“Our continued focus on consumer transportation is yielding meaningful improvements in monetization and strong operating leverage.”