Uber shares dropped nearly 7% on Wednesday after the company's third-quarter bookings guidance missed Wall Street's estimate, even though second-quarter profit and bookings both beat forecasts. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi used the earnings call to lean harder into Uber's robotaxi push, pledging more than $10 billion to autonomous-vehicle partnerships in the coming years.
Uber shares tumbled 6.92%, to $67.01, on Wednesday after the ride-hailing company's third-quarter bookings guidance came in below expectations. The stock is now down about 17% this year.
Guidance falls short despite a beat
Uber forecast third-quarter gross bookings of $58.25 billion to $60.25 billion. The midpoint of that range, $59.25 billion, missed the $59.32 billion analysts had penciled in, according to Bloomberg data.
CFO Balaji Krishnamurthy pointed to a roughly one-percentage-point currency headwind expected to weigh on year-over-year growth. Uber also forecast adjusted earnings of 84 cents to 88 cents a share, compared with analyst expectations of 87 cents.
Second-quarter results topped forecasts
Uber's quarterly revenue rose to $14.19 billion, up 12% year over year, though slower than the pace it had notched last quarter. Gross bookings for the quarter reached $58.0 billion, up 24% year over year and above the $57.17 billion analysts expected. Adjusted earnings per share of $0.81 matched estimates, while adjusted EBITDA of $2.82 billion beat the $2.79 billion consensus, up 33%.
Khosrowshahi doubles down on robotaxis
According to Yahoo Finance, Khosrowshahi said in a statement that Uber is investing to "build the world's largest platform for autonomous vehicles." The company plans to commit more than $10 billion to robotaxi partnerships over the coming years.
Uber is currently running autonomous-vehicle service in eight markets. Khosrowshahi has said the company is on track to reach as many as 15 cities by the end of the year.
Earlier Wednesday, Uber said its partnership with autonomous-software firm Wayve reached a milestone, with London granting licenses for testing to begin this summer. Uber's relationship with Waymo is unwinding, which Yahoo Finance suggests may be why the company is also working with Lucid, Rivian, and Nissan on their own robotaxi networks.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance, Crypto Briefing
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