Lyft is falling behind its competition. Lackluster second-quarter guidance sent its shares reeling after the bell Thursday and the company’s earnings call did little to assuage concerns, according to a Wedbush analyst.
“Lyft’s business model faces an Everest-like uphill climb to show growth while profitable in a stark contrast to big brother Uber which is moving in the opposite direction of balanced fundamentals,” analyst Daniel Ives said in a note to clients.
Wedbush downgraded the stock to 'Neutral' from 'Outperform' and lowered its price target to $13 from $17.
The firm wasn’t alone, either. At least eight analysts downgraded Lyft following its results, according to FactSet data.
Ives didn’t mince words.
“In 22 years on the Street as a tech analyst we have listened to 1,000s of conference calls with many highs and lows,” Ives said.
“Last night’s Lyft call was a top three worst call we have ever heard as in our opinion as management is trying to play darts blindfolded with the expense structure going forward and gave an EBITDA outlook which was a debacle for the ages.”
Lyft projected second-quarter revenue between $1 billion and $1.02 billion, well short of Street expectations between $1.05 billion and $1.13 billion, per Zacks Investment Research.
The company’s shares tumbled more than 20% to $8.49 on Friday.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
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