After laying off a number of employees, Lyft reported its Q1 results this afternoon. The company disclosed that it had generated revenue of $955.7 million in the first 3 months of 2020, up 23% from its year-ago Q1 revenue result of $776 million.
Lyft’s net loss of $398.1 million was also an improvement from the previous year, IPO-impacted results. On an adjusted basis, Lyft lost $97.4 million, and its adjusted EBITDA result was slightly better -$85.2 million. Lyft lost $1.31 per share in the first quarter.
Lyft’s preceding guidance of around $1.06 billion in revenue and negative adjusted EBITDA of as much as $145 million now looks somewhat rosy in retrospect; investors’ final expectations for the company as detailed by Yahoo Finance included revenue of $897.9 million and a per-share loss of $0.64.
Investors rejoice
Shares of Lyft were up sharply in after-hours trading following the report. The company’s revenue beat appeared to give investors hope that perhaps coronavirus was not as impactful on its revenue as it anticipated. Indeed, Lyft reported 3% more “active riders” in Q1 2020 than it saw previously year; revenue per active rider also rises to 19% YoY in the first quarter.
The company sacs nearly 1,000 employees last week, as many big firms slashed staff levels in response to the coronavirus pandemic and resulting in economic disruptions. Lyft also furloughed hundreds more to control costs.
After Q1 2020 the company remained well-capitalized, with $2.7 billion of unrestricted cash, according to its release, compared to Q1 operating cash burn of around $207 million. Lyft has enough cash, it would seem, to weather a COVID downturn of several quarters.
What Lyft says on its call about the end of Q1 and what it expects in Q2 and beyond will determine if it can hold onto its gains. Let’s see what the firm has to say.
