Research archive for UBER

Last week Uber released their Q1 results. For very obvious reasons, this is a company heavily impacted by a pandemic. Bookings for the quarter came in at $15.8bn, ahead of expectations of $15.7bn. This was because of a massive increase in Uber Eats (up 54%) while rides declined 3%. Here is the breakdown of their quarter.

Uber has been one of the companies that have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. The ride-hailing giant announced that it will be writing down about $2 billion of their investments and withdrew their 2020 guidance as operations stall due to a global shutdown, implemented by almost all of their operating countries.

Uber listed on the new York Stock Exchange back in May last year. It traded at around $42 on its first day as a public company, and we bought them at that level for a group of risk-tolerant clients.

You may have noticed headlines yesterday that London did not renew Uber's licence to operate in the city. This is not good news, London is Uber's biggest European market. The problem, according to Transport for London, is that over 14 000 rides took place whereby Uber drivers let someone else drive the car. Basically unlicensed drivers were taking citizens on illegal trips.

Uber likes to connect people who need a service. It started as a ride hailing app but has moved into food delivery in a big way. The company has recently announced a new service called Uber Works, which aims at connecting casual workers such as cleaners and bar staff with jobs.

When Uber listed in May 2019 I got stuck in, and encouraged a group of 58 risk-tolerant clients to do so too. It has not gone well so far. Our entry prices range from a high of $46.93 to a low of $33.44. The current share price is $31.02 so everyone is underwater. Uber results were out last night, and I was keen to see how they would do. I had to stay awake until well after 11 pm.

Last week Uber reported its second quarter numbers, which disappointed traders. The stock is down around 14% since reporting after the market closed on Thursday. The drop is mostly driven by slower revenue growth than expected and losses being bigger than expected. For the quarter the company posted a loss of $5.2 billion, of which $3.9 billion came from stock options. Wow, that is a big number! Stock options might not be a cash expense for the company, but it does mean that you, as a shareholder, have been diluted. On the revenue side, Uber showed growth of 14% to poste $3.2 billion for the quarter.

It's been at least two weeks since I wrote about Uber, so here goes, again! As you know, we have been accumulating Uber shares for Vestact customers since their rather muted listing on the 10th of May. The share price has been idling at around $44 per share.

I am now heavily invested in Uber. After its rather muted listing earlier this month, there was plenty of opportunity to load up on stock at around the $40 per share. It's now the third most valuable holding in my portfolio, which should tell you something considering how long I have been an equity investor.

When it comes to public markets, growth sells. Uber lists on the New York Stock Exchange later today, and we will buy the shares in the full knowledge that they will lose lots of money this year, and next year too. The focus is on the top line. They sell a service which has changed the way that we live.

Regular readers of our Vestact newsletter will know that I am eagerly awaiting the listing of ride hailing giant Uber on the New York Stock Exchange. We are told that the initial public offering (IPO) might be slated for the next few months.

We've been writing about Uber a lot lately because of their imminent listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange. On Friday, news emerged that Uber generated $14.2 billion in bookings of which $3 billion was revenues for the quarter ended on the 31st of December. Bookings include ride hailing, UberEats orders, and other ad hoc Uber services.

To my great delight, Uber has finally filed to go public in early 2019. Its common stock will be available to buy and sell on the NYSE or the Nasdaq, so we can all choose to add a holding in Uber to our portfolios. Uber was able to stay private for so long because it raised billions of dollars from investors at public-company-like valuations from private sources. Companies like these are called unicorns.

Uber just canned it's self-driving car project in Pittsburgh. The company suspended the driverless-car testing at all of its secret locations in Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Toronto, and Tempe after a fatal accident earlier this year, that caused an uproar about autonomous vehicles. The humans are just not ready!