Lyft shares fall after disappointing revenue, active rider miss

KEY POINTS

• Lyft shares tumbled Tuesday.
• The rideshare company reported third-quarter revenue that fell short of estimates, and active riders came in below Wall Street's forecast.

An empty Lyft pick-up area is shown as rideshare drivers hold a rally as part of a statewide day of action to demand that ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft follow California law and grant drivers "basic employee rights'', in Los Angeles, California, U.S., August 20, 2020. 

Mike Blake | Reuters

Shares of Lyft closed down 22% on Tuesday, a day after the company reported worse-than-expected revenue for the third quarter, and active riders missed analysts' estimates.

Here's how the company did:

• Earnings: 10 cents per share, adjusted, vs. 7 cents per share, according to analysts surveyed by Refinitiv
• Revenue: $1.05 billion, vs. $1.06 billion, according to analysts surveyed by Refinitiv

The rideshare company recorded 20.3 million active riders in the third quarter, short of Wall Street's projected 21.2 million, according to StreetAccount. The number of people using its service also remains below pre-pandemic levels. Lyft had 22.9 million active riders in the fourth quarter of 2019, for example.

Revenue of $1.05 billion also came in below analysts' expected $1.06 billion. That represented year-over-year growth of 22%, marking the slowest revenue expansion in more than a year.

The lackluster results come after Uber last week beat analysts' estimates for revenue and said passenger numbers were higher than before than pandemic, putting pressure on its rideshare rival to prove it can recover from its pandemic slump.

Lyft recently joined a slew of tech companies in slashing costs amid a worsening economic outlook. The company said last week it would cut 13% of its workforce, citing expectations of a looming recession in the next year and rising rideshare insurance costs.

Lyft CEO Logan Green said on the company's earnings call that it is not seeing any concerning macro trends in the fourth quarter. For the current quarter, Lyft said it expects to report revenue between $1.15 billion and $1.17 billion, which is in line with consensus estimates of $1.16 billion, according to StreetAccount.

WATCH: Lyft beats EPS but misses on revenue and active riders