Uber Stock Soars 8% After Bill Ackman Reveals $2.3B Stake: Retail Sentiment Flies High

Shares of Uber Technologies Inc (UBER) soared nearly 8% on Friday after billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman disclosed a stake in the ride-hailing firm through his X account.

“Beginning in early January, we began acquiring a position in @Uber. Today, we own 30.3 million shares,” Ackman tweeted. This implies that Ackman’s stake in the firm amounts to about 1.4%, based on Uber’s 2.1 billion outstanding shares.

At Friday’s price of $75.56, the stake is worth $2.29 billion.

Ackman also said that while Uber’s a great business, it suffered from erratic management.

“Since he joined the company in 2017, Dara Khosrowshahi CEO has done a superb job in transforming the company into a highly profitable and cash-generative growth machine,” Ackman noted.

The investor said the ride-hailing firm is one of the best-managed and highest-quality businesses in the world.

“Remarkably, it can still be purchased at a massive discount to its intrinsic value. This favorable combination of attributes is extremely rare, particularly for a large-cap company,” he said.

Ackman ended his note, saying he will have more to share about his thoughts on the company shortly.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment climbed higher into the ‘extremely bullish’ territory (96/100) to hit a year-high, accompanied by significant retail chatter.

Uber’s Sentiment Meter and Message Volume as of 11:49 a.m. ET on Feb. 7, 2025 | Source: Stocktwits

Stocktwits users are optimistic about the stock’s prospects following Ackman’s disclosure.

Uber recently reported a 20% year-over-year (YoY) rise in its fourth-quarter revenue to $11.96 billion compared to a Wall Street estimate of $11.78 billion.

The company’s Q4 net income rose 382% YoY to $6.88 billion. However, the figure includes a $6.4 billion benefit from a tax valuation release and a $556 million benefit (pre-tax) due to net unrealized gains related to the revaluation of Uber’s equity investments. Earnings per share (EPS) came in at $3.21 versus an estimated $0.48.

For the first quarter of 2025, Uber expects gross bookings of $42.0 billion to $43.5 billion, with the firm’s outlook assuming a roughly 5.5 percentage point currency headwind. This compares with an estimate of $43.51 billion.

The firm, however, received several price target cuts following the earnings. Citi lowered its price target on Uber to $92 from $98 while keeping a ‘Buy’ rating on the shares. JPMorgan lowered its price target to $90 from $95 while maintaining an ‘Overweight’ rating on the shares.

Piper Sandler lowered the firm's price target on Uber to $80 from $82 while keeping an ‘Overweight’ rating on the shares.

Uber shares have gained nearly 20% so far in 2025 and have risen almost 7% over the past year.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<