Latest news with #Uber
Time of India
an hour ago
- Automotive
- Time of India
Is Tesla's robotaxi a long-term threat to Uber's business model? Wedbush Securities weighs in
Uber's stock dropped on May 29 after a report from Wedbush Securities that highlighted the potential impact of Tesla's upcoming robotaxi on the ride-hailing giant's business model, as per a report. Wedbush Sees Uber's Long-Term Competitive Threat Wedbush, with a neutral rating and an $85 price target on Uber, views Tesla's robotaxi as an eventual competitive threat, according to The Street. The company pointed out that while Uber's management has performed well in mobility and delivery, the stock is trading at a premium to peers and might have limited upside if demand declines, as per the report. Elon Musk Gives a Robotaxi Update This came after Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote an update on the project's status in a May 29 post on social media X (previously Twitter), "For the past several days, Tesla has been testing self-driving Model Y cars (no one in driver's seat) on Austin public streets with no incidents," adding, "A month ahead of schedule. Next month, first self-delivery from factory to customer," quoted The Street. ALSO READ: Donald Trump's next targets for immigration crackdowns revealed—here's the list BMO Capital: Uber's Drop Was Expected While, BMO Capital maintained an outperform rating on "Top Pick" Uber, with a price target of $101, it revealed that Uber's underperformance after the announced robotaxi launch date was expected, according to the report. According to BMO Capital report, "Uber's shares are oversold at current levels, given Uber continues to expand internationally with the purchase of Denmark's largest taxi company, Dantaxi; continued positive trends for AV adoption in Austin; and ongoing innovation for both Mobility and Eats ," reported The Street. Live Events Uber's Autonomous Future is Already in Motion However, Uber has expanded its partnership with Alphabet's Waymo to include Austin and Atlanta for its autonomous vehicle, and it has been offering rides through Waymo in Phoenix since 2023, as per the report. While, Uber also has a partnership with Chinese autonomous vehicle company WeRide and it recently said that Uber would reach 15 cities in the next five years, including some in Europe as well as the United States, reported The Street. FAQs Why did Uber's stock fall? Investors were reacting to concerns that Tesla's robotaxi could threaten Uber's business in the future, as per The Street. Who raised the alarm about Tesla's impact on Uber? Wedbush Securities published a report saying Tesla could become a long-term competitor in the ride-hailing space, as per the report.
CNBC
7 hours ago
- Automotive
- CNBC
Lyft is starting to make some right moves with urging from activist Engine Capital. What's next
Lyft (LYFT) is a multimodal transportation network in the United States and Canada. It offers access to a variety of transportation options through its platform and mobile-based applications. The Lyft Platform provides a marketplace where drivers can be matched with riders via the Lyft App, where it operates as a transportation network company. Transportation options through its platform and mobile-based applications are substantially comprised of its ridesharing marketplace that connects drivers and riders in cities across the United States and in certain cities in Canada, Lyft's network of bikes and scooters, and the Express Drive program, where drivers can enter into short-term rental agreements with its subsidiary, Flexdrive Services, LLC or a third party for vehicles that may be used to provide ridesharing services on the Lyft Platform. It makes the ridesharing marketplace available to organizations through Lyft Business offerings, such as the Concierge and Lyft Pass programs. Stock Market Value: $6.86 billion ($16.26 per share) Percentage Ownership: 0.81% Average Cost: N/A Activist Commentary: Engine Capital is an experienced activist investor led by Managing Partner Arnaud Ajdler, former partner and senior managing director at Crescendo Partners. Engine's history is to send letters and/or nominate directors but settle rather quickly. On March 25, Engine announced a position in Lyft and stated that they are calling for a strategic review, improved capital allocations and the elimination of the company's dual-class share structure. On April 16, Engine nominated two directors for election to the Board at the 2025 annual meeting, but ultimately withdrew those nominations following productive engagement with the company that led to several capital allocation initiatives, including the company committing to significant share repurchases in the coming quarters. Since David Risher took control as CEO of Lyft in 2023, Lyft has made some major improvements, streamlining operations, enhancing platform functionality, and expanding market presence. These have led to notable material enhancements in the company's operational and financial performance. From 2023 to 2024, revenue increased by 31.39%, EBITDA went from a negative$359.1 million to $27.3 million and free cash flow (FCF) increased from negative $248.06 million to $766.27 million, the latter two of which are in the green for the first time since its IPO. Despite these improvements, Lyft's share price decreased by 30% over the same period. There are a few factors that may help explain the company's current undervaluation. First is the industry's dynamics as Lyft operates in a duopoly with Uber in the rideshare market. In the US, Uber holds approximately 75% percent of the market while Lyft holds 24% with the rest controlled by niche areas (i.e. Curb, Alto, and Waymo). The company is in an inherently difficult strategic position due to Uber's dominance — while Lyft is only in the US and Canada, Uber is diversified across most global markets and has expanded into other synergetic areas like food and alcohol delivery. This makes Lyft particularly vulnerable to Uber's decisions regarding pricing and promotions, as management noted during the company's most recent earnings call. The market has sensed this situation, with Lyft's shares underperforming compared to Uber by 37%, 287%, and 210% over the past 1-, 3- and 5-year periods, respectively. Second to this is Lyft's suboptimal capital allocation practices. The company has experienced excessive share dilution. Since 2019, Lyft's shares outstanding have almost doubled. Currently, dilution is primarily caused by the company's stock-based compensation (SBC) practices, which are currently around $330 million annually, 4.9% of Lyft's market cap. Enter Engine, who is calling for a strategic review, improved capital allocation practices and the elimination of the company's dual-class share structure. These proposals are all worth evaluating. First, there are a few reasons why a strategic review, specifically a potential strategic acquisition, makes sense. As has been already discussed, one of, if not the largest challenge Lyft faces is their inability to scale and diversify at the pace of Uber. As the rideshare industry continues to grow and evolve, this will only become increasingly important to Lyft's potential long-term success. It seems like the most effective way to overcome this is to be either sold to or merged with a larger strategic entity that can give Lyft the scale and diversification it needs to compete with Uber. Large players in the food delivery or automotive industry make sense as potential acquirers. For example, Doordash, with a roughly $80 billion market cap, could easily afford Lyft, has synergies to better optimize both platforms, a global presence, and would create more revenue stream options for drivers. On the other hand, automative companies testing the rideshare autonomous vehicle industry like Google (Waymo) and Amazon (Zoox), which is potentially the next technological evolution in the rideshare space, also make sense as acquirers. Given Lyft's depressed valuation (EV to 2026 consensus EBITDA multiple of approximately 6.6x), recent growth, and large number of potential synergies, a large takeout premium is certainly possible here. Secondly, the company clearly needs to improve its capital allocation practices. While Lyft recently announced a $500 million buyback program, this is not even sufficient to counter the dilution over the next two years due to current SBC practices. With $2 billion of cash (approximately $700 million of net cash) and the company dramatically increasing their FCF, it appears that Lyft has the ability to much more aggressively repurchase shares to do more than just counter SBC dilution. Lastly, as a corporate governance investor, Engine will propose eliminating the dual-class structure. Originally set up to give control to the founders, this structure now seems unnecessary since co-founders John Zimmer and Logan Green are no longer involved in day-to-day operations. These preferred shares carry 20 votes per share, which give them 30.8% of the total voting power while owning only approximately 2.3% of outstanding shares. Eliminating the dual-class share structure makes complete sense, is the right thing to do and would be supported by the vast majority of shareholders. However, there is virtually no way that Zimmer and Green will voluntarily give up this control position. As an experienced activist investor Ajdler knows that, but also as an experienced activist investor, he has to try. But at the very least, the Company can refine the board to reflect the changes over the past six years since its IPO – seven of the ten current directors have no public company experience other than Lyft - the Board has a lean towards directors with experience in startup companies or early-stage investments. While this background may have once been valuable, that is not where Lyft is as a Company anymore. A refreshment of these directors for people with public market, capital allocation and capital markets expertise, would better position the Company for what it is today. After launching a proxy fight for two board seats, this campaign came to a head when Engine withdrew their director nominations on May 8. This withdrawal came following the company's public announcement to increase its share repurchase authorization to $750 million and commit to utilize $200 million of such authorization over the next three months and $500 million within the next 12 months.
Globe and Mail
9 hours ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Why Is Uber Stock Falling and Is It a Buying Opportunity?
News of Tesla 's (NASDAQ: TSLA) progress on driverless car technology is causing Uber (NYSE: UBER) shares to decline. *Stock prices used were the afternoon prices of May 28, 2025. The video was published on May 30, 2025. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » Should you invest $1,000 in Uber Technologies right now? Before you buy stock in Uber Technologies, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Uber Technologies wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $638,985!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $853,108!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is978% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to171%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 Parkev Tatevosian, CFA has positions in Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Parkev Tatevosian is an affiliate of The Motley Fool and may be compensated for promoting its services. If you choose to subscribe through his link, he will earn some extra money that supports his channel. His opinions remain his own and are unaffected by The Motley Fool.
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Watch: Florida Uber driver arrested in Port St. Lucie after pulling gun on Miami rapper
Port St. Lucie police arrested an Uber driver on one count of aggravated assault with a firearm after a dispute during an Uber ride with Miami rapper Bomb A** Krissy, whose real name is Krissy Celess. An arrest warrant was issued after a Hollywood Police Department investigation determined the Uber driver was Jennifer Benitez, 23, accused of pulling a firearm on Celess during a May 12 ride, according to the Hollywood Police Department arrest affidavit. "Benitez thought she would drive through Port St. Lucie without being detected after having felony warrants issued for her arrest," the Port St. Lucie Police Department posted on Facebook. "However, PSLPD received a hit alert that wanted felony offender Benitez was in the area." At the time of the incident and arrest, Benitez was driving a black Cadillac SUV, according to the Hollywood Police Department arrest affidavit and Port St. Lucie Police Department body camera footage. On May 13, Celess shared a video on Instagram showing the Uber driver in a verbal dispute with Celess and her friend. During the dispute, the driver pulls out and points a gun at Celess, who then exits the car with her friend before the driver leaves. Escobedo killers: Attorney General Pam Bondi vows to help State Attorney prosecute them Running late: Florida bride late for wedding stopped by police who say driver doing 105 mph in a 45 Celess was picked up by Benitez's Uber just after 10 p.m. May 10 in Miami on her way back to her home, according to the Hollywood Police Department arrest affidavit. When Celess told the driver her apartment complex would be on the left-hand side, the driver became agitated. When Celess questioned her behavior, the driver prompted the passengers to exit the vehicle just before the entrance of the apartment complex, according to the Broward County arrest affidavit. Benitez had called 911 before Celess did, informing the Hollywood Police Department that the passengers were refusing to exit the vehicle, and then hung up. Gianna Montesano is TCPalm's trending reporter. You can contact her at 772-409-1429, or follow her on Twitter @gonthescene. This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Uber driver charged with pulling gun on Miami rapper Krissy Celess
Tom's Guide
12 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
5 best summer travel apps to help you have the perfect vacation
Summer travel is upon us, and so is the stress of planning and executing the perfect trip. While delays and mishaps are always possible, you can hit the road prepared thanks to help from mobile apps. Making sure your phone is equipped with everything from travel planners to route mappers, you can ensure that your vacation runs smoothly from the moment you start booking your travel to the time when you finally return home. To start, there are a few general types of apps you'll want to download, the details of which will vary based on your specific travel plans. If you're flying, it makes sense to install the app of your airline of choice so that you can easily check your flight status, access your boarding pass, track your luggage, and connect with customer service. With the app for your preferred hotel chain, you can manage your stay, redeem rewards, request amenities, and even unlock your room in some cases. If you have a vacation rental, through an outfit such as Airbnb or VRBO, be sure you have the app for access to your booking details and easy communication with hosts. You should also have a ride hailing app — such as Uber or Lyft — that provides service at your destination, and if you're driving, research which apps are used for paid street parking (ParkMobile, for example) so you don't have to spend time downloading and entering your payment details once you arrive. DoorDash or GrubHub can be useful for perusing and comparing menus in advance for food allergies and dietary restrictions. But beyond those basics, a few other apps can come in handy whenever you hit the road or take to the skies. Here are five other travel apps you should have on your phone now. Wanderlog is an all-in-one travel planner for everything from creating an itinerary to tracking expenses. Start building your trip with the basics — where and when — then invite travel companions if you're planning a trip with other people. Other Wanderlog tools let you add reservation details, explore restaurants and attractions, make a packing list, and create a budget. The app's basics are free, while a Pro subscription ($39.99/year) includes extras like live flight updates, route optimization, offline access, and syncing with Google Maps and Gmail to automatically pull in reservation details from confirmation emails. If you're road tripping, you can map your route and add roadside attractions and pit stops in Wanderlog. Speaking of which, Roadtrippers is another popular route planner that shows you interesting stops along your way, but the Android app has enough negative reviews to where I would suggest just using the sites web-based tools or turning to Wanderlog as my mobile trip planner. Download Wanderlog: Android, iOS Skyscanner is a search engine for flights, hotels, and car rentals that prioritizes good deals, so you can browse or search cheap options or set up alerts for price drops on your desired itinerary. This can be useful whether you're planning in advance or need a last-minute reservation mid-trip. Note that unlike online travel agencies (OTAs) — which generally allow you to book within their app — Skyscanner redirects you to the airline, hotel, or rental agency to complete your reservation. While this is an extra step up front, it avoids potential pitfalls of OTAs, like confusing booking and cancellation policies and generally worse customer service if something goes awry. Download Skyscanner: Android, iOS If you find yourself asking, 'Where is the nearest…' in the middle of a road trip, iExit is likely to have an answer. The app uses your device's location to display upcoming interstate exits and their amenities, from the basics like hotels, restaurants, and gas stations to banks, auto shops, grocery stores, and tourist attractions. You can view fuel prices and lodging rates and get distances and directions to destinations listed. Use iExit to help you decide when and where to stop without having to search for a specific location or scroll around a map. Download iExit: Android, iOS CityMapper is a journey planner that helps you navigate public transportation in major metro areas around the world — handy if your next trip to the big city doesn't include a rental car. Y With CityMapper, you can get real-time arrival, departure, and location data for buses, trains, subways as well as turn-by-turn directions with options for walking, bikeshare, and scooter rental. The app will also notify you of upcoming turns and stops, track service alerts, and calculate travel time so you can select the best route to your destination. Download CityMapper: Android, iOS If you don't know the language at your destination or are traveling to a region where multiple languages are spoken, add Google Translate to your device to facilitate communication. The app can translate from typed text, photos, or real-time bilingual conversations as well as instant camera feedback — pointed at signs, for example — and text inside other apps. To get started, choose your primary language and select the language to translate to from the more than 100 available in the app dropdown. Check Translate offline to download for offline use. (Not all languages have this feature.) Download Google Translate: Android, iOS
