Uber Earnings Q2 2021

Uber beat estimates for sales and earnings and posted an unexpected one-time gain in the second quarter.

The shares lost more than 4% in after-hours trading.

Here’s how Uber performed compared to the expectations of analysts surveyed by Refinitiv:

• Earnings per share: 58 cents versus an expected loss of 51 cents
• Revenue: $ 3.93 billion versus an expected $ 3.75 billion

Uber reported net income of $ 1.1 billion for the quarter. This was mainly due to unrealized gains of $ 1.4 billion at Didi and $ 471 million at Aurora. Didi’s shares are down about 37% last month, but that shrank Uber’s stake in the company by $ 2 billion last week. Uber’s operating loss was still $ 1.19 billion.

Adjusted EBITDA loss was $ 509 million, down $ 150 million from the previous quarter, but an improvement of $ 328 million year over year. EBITDA relates to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Uber reiterated its expectation of achieving profitability on an adjusted EBITDA basis by the end of this year.

“As we make progress toward this important milestone, we expect our adjusted EBITDA loss to improve to less than $ 100 million in the third quarter on top of record gross bookings of between $ 22 billion and $ 24 billion,” said CFO Nelson Chai in a letter to investors.

So far, Uber’s Eats segment has strengthened the company to withstand many of the Covid headwinds. When people stopped traveling, they turned to food and goods deliveries. Uber said its delivery business has remained strong despite the easing of Covid restrictions around the world.

Here’s how Uber’s largest businesses performed in the second quarter of 2021:

• Mobility (gross bookings): $ 8.6 billion, 184% more than a year ago
• Delivery (gross postings): $ 12.9 billion, 85% more than a year ago

Delivery revenue continued to outperform the core ride-hailing business at $ 1.96 billion versus $ 1.62 billion. In an update to shareholders, the company said the number of delivery companies rose to more than 750,000 in the quarter.

The company struggled with supply and demand imbalances due to the pandemic, leading to price hikes and longer waiting times. When the company called with investors, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said prices and waiting times are not meeting company goals.

“In the second quarter, we invested in the recovery by investing in drivers, and we’ve made great strides, with monthly active drivers and couriers in the US increasing nearly 420,000 from February to July,” Khosrowshahi said in one Explanation.

The company didn’t provide an exact number of drivers, but Khosrowshahi said he was optimistic about growth rates after the company made heavy investments in employee return. The company added 30% more drivers in the US from June to July.

“The good news is that we are now in a good place to withdraw this investment,” said Khosrowshahi. “The investments were big, but the investments have paid off.”

Uber reported 1.51 billion trips on the platform, up 4% over the first quarter and 105% over the year-ago quarter. Uber said its drivers and couriers made a total of $ 7.9 billion for the quarter.

Uber’s largest American competitor Lyft also reported financial results this week. The company reported its first quarterly adjusted EBITDA profit of $ 23.8 million, a quarter earlier than expected. It also beat Wall Street guidance on both sales and earnings.