LYFT Stock Falls As Wall Street Flags Uber Competition Concerns After Mixed Q4 Earnings

According to data from Koyfin, the average price target on the stock is $24.13, representing an upside of about 69% from current trading levels.

• As per BofA, the Q4 rides miss, lower Q1 EBITDA outlook, among others, underscores "a competitive environment."
• Wedbush, meanwhile, models a slower growth and profit trajectory versus Lyft management's multi-year outlook.
• Wells Fargo, Truist, Evercore ISI, DA Davidson and Cantor Fitzgerald also slashed price targets on Lyft on Wednesday.

Shares of Lyft (LYFT) fell 16% on Wednesday at the time of writing after the ride-sharing company reported mixed fourth-quarter (Q4) earnings, sparking several price target cuts from Wall Street analysts.

BofA lowered the firm's price target on Lyft to $17 from $19 and kept an ‘Underperform’ rating on the shares. As per the analyst, the Q4 rides miss, lower Q1 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) outlook, among others, underscores "a competitive environment." Lyft's autonomous vehicle commentary was relatively unchanged, but the firm sees elevated competitive risk with Uber (UBER).

Wedbush lowered the firm's price target on Lyft to $13 from $16 and kept an ‘Underperform’ rating on the shares as well. The firm continues to view the company's long-term targets with skepticism, and Wedbush models a slower growth and profit trajectory versus management's multi-year outlook.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley lowered the firm's price target on Lyft to $17 from $22.50 and kept an ‘Equal Weight’ rating on the shares. Rides deceleration suggests Lyft U.S. Rides is growing by a high-single digit percentage, as Uber U.S. grows mid-to-high teens, which speaks to Lyft's challenge to drive durable growth in an increasingly competitive U.S. rideshare market, the analyst told investors in a post-earnings note.

Wells Fargo, Truist, Evercore ISI, DA Davidson and Cantor Fitzgerald also slashed price targets on Lyft on Wednesday.

According to data from Koyfin, Lyft stock is covered by 46 analysts, 30 of whom rate it ‘Hold.’ While 14 analysts rate it ‘Buy’ or higher, two rate it ‘Sell’ and lower. The average price target on the stock is $24.13, representing an upside of nearly 70% from current trading levels.

Lyft’s Mixed Earnings Report

For the current quarter, Lyft expects gross booking of approximately $4.86 billion to $5.00 billion, up approximately 17% to 20% year over year. Adjusted core profit is expected to be $120 million to $140 million, lower at the midpoint than an analyst estimate of $139.57 million.

The rideshare company reported a Q4 adjusted core profit increase of 37% year over year to $154.1 million, above an analyst estimate of $147.72 million, as per Fiscal AI.

Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.6 billion, marking a growth of 3%, thanks to an increase of 19% in gross booking to $5.1 billion. However, quarterly revenue numbers trailed Wall Street expectations of $1.76 billion as the company took a $168 million hit owing to certain legal, tax, and regulatory reserve changes and settlements.

Lyft is now looking to scale robotaxi deployments on its platform, both in the U.S. and overseas as it seeks to match its rival Uber. “As we look ahead, we are entering a transformational phase for Lyft - 2026 will be the year of the AV with deployments in the U.S. and overseas,” CEO David Risher said on Wednesday.

How Did Stocktwits Users React?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around LYFT stock rose from ‘neutral’ to ‘extremely bullish’ over the past 24 hours, while message volume increased from ‘high’ to ‘extremely high’ levels.

LYFT stock has fallen over 1% over the past 12 months.

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