Uber’s Q2 Earnings Under Threat From Increased Competition, Rising Costs
Investing.com | Aug 07, 2019 02:47AM ET
* Reports Q2 2019 results on Thursday, Aug. 8, after the close
* Revenue expectation: $3.31 billion
* EPS expectation: -$2.1
The equation that investors in the world’s largest ride-hailing company, Uber Technologies Inc . (NYSE:UBER), want to see is very simple: growing sales and narrowing losses. But the situation on the ground suggests it’ll be a hard combination to show for Uber when it releases its second-quarter earnings tomorrow.
The company is likely to report a $2.1 a share loss on sales of $3.31 billion amid signs rising competition and costs are eroding profitability. Uber, which went public in May, is struggling to satisfy investors in a tough and competitive environment where consumers remain highly price conscious, HSBC analysts Masha Kahn and Henning Cosman wrote in a note last month.
The main rival in North America, Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) often prices 20-25% below Uber in New York while Daimler AG (OTC:DMLRY)-backed Bolt is now doing the same in London, they wrote.
The uncertain business environment has hurt Uber's stock, which has languished since trading began on May 10. The stock has fallen 16% from the $45 offering price. The shares rose slightly yesterday, after six straight days of losses, gaining 0.3% in New York, to close at $39.15.
After growing 95% in 2017 from the previous year, the revenue growth from this segment dropped sharply to 33% last year. Uber lost $3.04 billion on an operating basis in 2018 on revenue of $11.3 billion, bringing total operating losses over the past three years to more than $10 billion.
h2 Ugly Numbers/h2In the first-quarter earnings released in May, Uber showed a similar trend. Uber’s loss from operations was $1.03 billion, wider than the $478 million reported a year earlier, while its revenue growth continued to shrink. Its revenue from ride-hailing and delivery—minus some incentive payments to drivers and other costs—was $2.62 billion, up 10% from a year ago. By contrast, in the year-earlier quarter, this core revenue on an adjusted basis grew by about 80%.
These numbers are ugly, and that’s why Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi doesn’t want investors to focus on them.
Instead, he wants them to value the strength of the company’s evolving “platform,” that he says will one day create the largest modern transportation ecosystem, including its ride-hailing service, its fast-growing food-delivery business, Uber Eats, electric scooters, freight delivery, driverless vehicles and even flying cars.
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In his first earnings call in May, he again shared his vision of accelerating growth by integrating Uber with the public transportation, and upselling Uber’s other customers who buy food from Uber Eats or ride its scooters. He said about half of Uber Eats customers don’t use the company’s ride-hailing service.
That all looks great and doable for a tech-driven company that's changed the way people move from to another place. But after the IPO, Uber has to quickly find a way to improve its core business and show investors it’s on the right path to eliminate losses and grow its sales. So far it seems there is a long ride ahead.
Bottom Line
With competition growing and costs rising, it’s hard to get excited about Uber shares at this point. Investors would be better off waiting on the sidelines and closely watching the company’s performance in 2019 before making a long-term bet.
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