Latest news with #UberTechnologies'
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
3 Mighty American Companies to Buy as Tariff Uncertainty Lingers
Costco isn't heavily exposed to recently raised tariffs, but to the extent it is vulnerable, the retailer can manage it. Uber Technologies' growth is being driven by something far bigger than the headwinds created by new tariffs -- not that it was at any real direct risk. Perhaps the best way to sidestep tariff uncertainty, however, is by holding a basket of solid U.S. brands that aren't investable any other way. 10 stocks we like better than Costco Wholesale › The most recent round of tariff hikes that China and the United States are imposing on one another may be on hold for 90 days while the two nations negotiate new trade terms. But let's face it -- this is only a temporary reprieve. It's difficult to imagine either country backing down much, or much more than the other. And that's just China. While many countries are in talks with the United States' international trade representatives to make palatable deals, many others are holding their ground and/or strengthening trade ties with partners other than the U.S. This makes it a tough time to bet on domestic companies that depend heavily on foreign suppliers, or foreign customers. There's a handful of mighty American companies that can not only survive the tariff war, however, but perhaps even thrive from it. Here's a look at three of them. What could be more American than a big-box store selling bulk-sized goods at a discounted price? Not much. Enter Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST). It's not a strictly American company, for the record. It operates some stores overseas, and several in Canada. More than 600 of its nearly 900 locales are located within the United States though, making it a very American brick-and-mortar retailer that dates all the way back 1983. This year's expected revenue growth of just under 8% is pretty typical of its long-term track record, in step with new store openings and membership growth that's now reached 78.4 million paid memberships and 140.6 million total cardholders. More than 90% of these paying members reliably renew their access every year, too, underscoring the retailer's appeal to consumers and corporate cardholders alike. This is just how lots of people shop these days. But can Costco stand up to the swell of tariff uncertainty? It can, for a handful of reasons. One of these reasons is where it sources most of its merchandise. While it does import some of it, about two-thirds of it comes from American suppliers. And, while the other one-third comes from foreign suppliers, less than half these imports come from China, Mexico, and Canada, three countries that seem to be the top target of the United States' recently upped tariffs. To the extent Costco is vulnerable though, it's got options. As CEO Ron Vachris explained during the recent fiscal Q2 earnings conference call, "With our flexibility of the treasure hunt, there's not many items that we can't find something to replace or something else to bring in." Another way Costco is standing up to the newly challenging environment is by leveraging its sheer size and scale. While not nearly as big as Kroger or Walmart, Costco is certainly a big enough distributor of groceries to push back on suppliers' ever-rising prices. As Vachris confidently added during March's earnings call, "Our people are very well equipped to lower prices and defer any cost increases that come our way." Vachris may be biased and a blatant cheerleader. He's not wrong, however. Like Costco, ride-hailing outfit Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) isn't a purely American company. It does business all over the world, serving a total of more than 15,000 cities in 70 different countries. The United States is its biggest and most important market, though, where it controls a commanding three-fourths of the ride-hailing industry, according to data from Bloomberg's data analytics arm, Second Measure. With this much reach already established, it's not apt to be dethroned by smaller ride-hailing rival Lyft anytime soon, if ever. More to the point for interested investors, Uber stock is a buy because the company's tapped into a trend that's bigger than any tariff-induced turbulence it may run into. Simply put, Americans are increasingly willing to pay for a ride in someone else's car, and decreasingly interested in driving themselves, or even owning their own vehicle. As of the Federal Highway Administration's most recent report on the matter, less than 40% of teens currently living in the U.S. now holds a driver's license, down from two-thirds this crowd 30 years ago. In a similar vein, a survey recently taken by Deloitte suggests that while only 11% of the 55-and-over crowd living in the U.S. would consider foregoing ownership of a vehicle on the future, 44% of the under-35 crowd would entertain the idea. Both data sets underscore a major cultural shift that's still underway -- a shift that has lots of room to continue running for years on end as America ages and younger generations act on what's normal to them. To this end, Uber's top line is expected to grow in the mid-teens for at least the next few years. The kicker: While economic malaise stemming from higher tariffs isn't good for any business here or abroad, ride-sharing isn't directly impacted by higher import costs on physical goods. This is a service-based business done in America by American residents for American residents. It's also arguable that most of its rides and deliveries are a necessity rather than a discretionary choice, keeping Uber's business mostly intact regardless of any economic weakness. Finally, add Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A)(NYSE: BRK.B) to your list of stocks of American companies to buy and hold amid the backdrop of tariff uncertainty. It's well known for its collection of stocks, largely hand-picked by the Oracle of Omaha himself -- Warren Buffett. He's perpetually a big fan of America though, saying just earlier this month: "If I were being born today, I would just keep negotiating in the womb until they said I could be in the United States. We're all pretty lucky." And his stock picks reflect this appreciation for American ingenuity and resilience. Berkshire's portfolio currently consists of Apple, American Express, and Occidental Petroleum just to name a few. That's not what makes Berkshire Hathaway such a great means of sidestepping most of the adverse impact that recently raised import and export tariffs might have on the domestic economy, however. It's the privately held all-American companies that Berkshire Hathaway also owns that make this name a buy. See, Berkshire is also parent to Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom, Clayton Homes, railroad BNSF, Acme Brick Company, Pilot Travel Centers, GEICO insurance, Duracell batteries, flooring company Shaw, and more. None of these are high-growth outfits, to be sure. But almost all of them can operate and even thrive quite independently of anything going on at and beyond the nation's borders. Given that these cash cows currently account for about one-third of Berkshire's total market cap (with its cash hoard of $348 billion making up another third), any investment in this ticker is an investment in a bunch of great U.S. brands that aren't investable any other way. And for what it's worth, this combination of privately held and publicly traded companies works. Although Berkshire's performance can certainly trail that of the broad market for relatively long stretches, given enough time this ancient, value-minded stock-picking approach sill allows Berkshire Hathaway shares to outperform the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) in the long run. Before you buy stock in Costco Wholesale, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Costco Wholesale 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 $644,254!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $807,814!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 962% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 169% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. James Brumley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Costco Wholesale, Uber Technologies, and Walmart. The Motley Fool recommends Kroger and Occidental Petroleum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 3 Mighty American Companies to Buy as Tariff Uncertainty Lingers was originally published by The Motley Fool
South China Morning Post
01-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Gold delivered to your door in Dubai by Uber when you buy 24-carat coins on its Careem app
Dubai residents can now have 24-carat gold coins delivered to their homes in less than an hour as super app Careem targets millions of Indians in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Advertisement Dubai-based Careem Technologies, a spin-out from Uber Technologies' Middle Eastern subsidiary, has launched a campaign that allows users to buy up to 10,000 dirhams (US$2,700) of physical gold in a single order. The gold is supplied and certified by Tanishq, the flagship brand of India's biggest jeweller, Titan Co. The roll-out of the new feature coincides with Akshaya Tritiya, a Hindu festival in which buying gold is considered auspicious. Indians make up about a third of the UAE's population of over 10 million people, and the country continues to attract expats with the promise of jobs and low tax rates.
Business Times
01-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Uber Mideast unit delivers gold coins to doorsteps in Dubai
[DUBAI] Dubai residents can now have 24-carat gold coins delivered to their homes in less than an hour as super app Careem targets millions of Indians in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai-based Careem Technologies, a spin-out from Uber Technologies' Middle Eastern subsidiary, has launched a campaign that allows users to buy up to 10,000 dirhams (S$3,561) of physical gold in a single order. The gold is supplied and certified by Tanishq, the flagship brand of India's biggest jeweller Titan. Rollout of the new feature coincides with Akshaya Tritiya, a Hindu festival in which buying gold is considered auspicious. Indians make up about a third of the UAE's population of over 10 million people, and the country continues to attract expats with the promise of jobs and low tax rates. 'We made gold available through Careem to support our many Hindu customers during Akshaya Tritiya. Next month, we're bringing back our popular Udhiyah meat delivery service for Eid Al Adha – which was a hit with customers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi last year,' said Chase Lario, vice-president at Careem Groceries. The precious metal has rallied 25 per cent this year as an expanding trade war has sent investors fleeing to safe-haven assets. Gold rose to a record of US$3,500 an ounce last week, after chalking up 27 successive all-time highs this year. These gains have been supported by central bank buying, ETF investors, and macro funds seeking a hedge against lagging US equities. Careem shareholders include majority stakeholder Emirates Telecommunications Group, which acquired 50.03 per cent of the app for US$400 million in 2023; Uber, which owns all of Careem's ride-hailing business, and Careem's co-founders. The so-called everything app offers food and grocery deliveries, car rentals and money transfers as well as laundry, home cleaning and donation services. 'As a local brand, we are always looking for solutions to simplify life for our customers in culturally relevant ways,' Lario said. BLOOMBERG
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Uber Technologies' (NYSE:UBER) Returns On Capital Are Heading Higher
Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in Uber Technologies' (NYSE:UBER) returns on capital, so let's have a look. We've found 21 US stocks that are forecast to pay a dividend yield of over 6% next year. See the full list for free. If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for Uber Technologies, this is the formula: Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities) 0.07 = US$2.8b ÷ (US$51b - US$11b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024). Thus, Uber Technologies has an ROCE of 7.0%. On its own, that's a low figure but it's around the 8.3% average generated by the Transportation industry. Check out our latest analysis for Uber Technologies In the above chart we have measured Uber Technologies' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free analyst report for Uber Technologies . Uber Technologies has recently broken into profitability so their prior investments seem to be paying off. Shareholders would no doubt be pleased with this because the business was loss-making five years ago but is is now generating 7.0% on its capital. Not only that, but the company is utilizing 52% more capital than before, but that's to be expected from a company trying to break into profitability. This can tell us that the company has plenty of reinvestment opportunities that are able to generate higher returns. To the delight of most shareholders, Uber Technologies has now broken into profitability. And a remarkable 159% total return over the last five years tells us that investors are expecting more good things to come in the future. Therefore, we think it would be worth your time to check if these trends are going to continue. Uber Technologies does have some risks though, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Uber Technologies that you might be interested in. For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high returns on equity. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Uber Technologies a Buy, Sell, or Hold in 2025?
Uber Technologies' (NYSE: UBER) stock went through some wild swings in 2024, but its price still dipped 2% from the first to the last trading days of the year. The bulls were initially impressed by the ride-hailing and delivery services giant's robust growth in a tough macroeconomic environment, but some regulatory concerns drove its stock lower through the last quarter of the year. So, is Uber's stock a buy, sell, or hold for 2025? Let's review its near-term catalysts and challenges to decide. Uber owns one of the world's top ride-hailing and food-delivery platforms. Its year-end monthly active platform customers (MAPCs) grew from 111 million in 2019 to 171 million in 2024 as its annual trips rose from 6.9 billion to 11.3 billion. From 2019 to 2024, its gross bookings grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20%, while its revenue rose at a CAGR of 25%. Metric 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Trips growth 28% (27%) 27% 19% 24% 19% Gross bookings growth 28% (11%) 56% 19% 19% 18% Revenue growth 37% (14%) 57% 49% 17% 18% Data source: Uber Technologies. Uber suffered a severe slowdown in 2020 as the pandemic's impact on its ride-hailing business offset the growth of its food delivery business. However, it quickly bounced back from that downturn over the following four years. Uber stayed ahead of its smaller competitors, like Lyft, rolled out new enterprise, healthcare, and teen-oriented services, and expanded its Uber One subscription service -- which grew 60% to 30 million subscribers in 2024. Those efforts, along with its improved pricing power, lifted Uber's take rate (the percentage of each booking it keeps as revenue) during the year. Uber also turned profitable on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis in 2023, while its net income surged more than fivefold in 2024. Its profitability improved after it divested several unprofitable non-core businesses, downsized its freight and recruitment divisions, pruned its workforce, and streamlined its expenses. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) rose 60%. For the first quarter of 2025, Uber expects its bookings to rise 17%-21% year over year on a constant currency basis as its adjusted EBITDA grows 30%-37%. For the full year, analysts expect its revenue and adjusted EBITDA to grow 14% and 32%, respectively. It expects the same tailwinds that drove its growth in 2024 to boost its sales and profits in 2025. It also plans to gradually test out more autonomous vehicles, which could replace its human drivers in a few years, reducing its labor costs. However, Uber faces two probes from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which were launched in late 2024: One targets Uber One's subscription practices, and another concerns claims that it underpaid its drivers in New York City. It's unclear whether the probes will continue under the Trump administration, but those potential issues could compress its near-term valuations. For 2026, analysts expect Uber's revenue and adjusted EBITDA to rise another 14% and 22%, respectively. With an enterprise value of $154 billion, it still looks cheap at 3 times this year's projected sales and 18 times its adjusted EBITDA. Uber is growing at a healthy rate, it has a wide moat, and economies of scale are boosting its profits. It also looks like a bargain in a market filled with frothy stocks. Therefore, I think it would be smart to buy and hold Uber's stock this year, even though some near-term uncertainties regarding its FTC probes and stubborn inflation might prevent it from commanding a higher valuation. Over the next few years, its stock will likely soar even higher as it scales up its business and rolls out new services. Before you buy stock in Uber Technologies, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 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 Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $677,631!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 822% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 166% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of March 3, 2025 Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is Uber Technologies a Buy, Sell, or Hold in 2025? was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
