Uber’s First Earnings Report Offered No Surprises for Wall Street

Uber said revenue advanced 20% to $3.01 billion in the first quarter of 2019, propelled by a 36% increase in the number of trips and a 34% increase in ride-sharing gross bookings, which totaled $14.6 billion. The company’s net loss was $1.01 billion, or $2.26 a share.

Wall Street analysts had forecast revenue of $3.08 billion and a net loss of $1.01 billion.

“Earlier this month we took the important step of becoming a public company, and we are now focused on executing our strategy,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement. “Our global reach continues to be an important differentiator, and we maintained leadership of the ride-sharing category in every region we serve.”

Uber’s IPO was the most prominent offering among a group of brand-name tech companies going public in 2019. The company raised $8.1 billion for the ride-sharing company on May 10 after offering its stock at $45 a share, a price that was at the low end of the expected range between $44 a share and $50 a share.

Since then, Uber’s stock has largely been seen as a disappointment, trading below its offering price since debuting on the market. It closed official trading Tuesday down 0.3% at $39.80 a share.

After its earnings report Thursday afternoon, Uber’s stock vacillated, rising 1% to $40.20 a share in after-hours trading, before dipping 1% below the closing price to $39.42 a share.

Other well-known tech companies that have gone public in 2019 after staving off their IPOs for years have disappointed investors when posting earnings for the first time.

Earlier this month, Lyft’s stock tumbled after posting a surprisingly large $1.1 net billion loss, raising questions about the outlook for ride-sharing business models. Pinterest’s stock also sank after warning that its earnings may come in under analyst expectations later this year.