Uber Surprises Wall Street with Strong Q4 2021 Earnings, UBER Stock Up 5%

On Wednesday, February 9, ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE: UBER) reported its fourth-quarter  (Q4) earnings for 2021. The company delivered better-than-expected results beating Street estimates on revenue.

Uber in Q4 2021

For Q4 2021, Uber’s earnings per share stood at 44 cents. However, it posted a loss of 26 cents per share beating Wall Street estimates of 35 cents.

Also, the company’s revenue stood at $5.78 billion against the expected $5.34 billion. The company also reported a net income of $892 million that also comprises $1.4 billion in pretax net benefits relating to its equity investments.

Uber said that it is bouncing back from the headwinds caused by the Omicron coronavirus surge. Uber’s gross bookings for its mobility business stood at $11.3 billion, up 67% year-over-year. Furthermore, the gross bookings for its delivery business stood at $13.4 billion, up 34% year-over-year.

The company’s food-delivery business sees a healthy uptick with more home delivery orders during the pandemic. Uber reported that its number of delivery merchants has grown by 825,000. Also, the delivery revenue stood at $2.42 billion against Street estimates of $2.28 billion. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that the Omicron variant spread has weighed on its business. However, the numbers are improving. Khosrowshahi said:

“While the Omicron variant began to impact our business in late December, Mobility is already starting to bounce back, with Gross Bookings up 25% month-on-month in the most recent week”.

A Look into Uber’s Mobility Business

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi also shared light on the company’s mobility business and the developments therein. He said that the company has maintained a strong driver supply despite the pandemic. this has ultimately led to improved operations with shorter wait times and fewer surge pricing.

For Q4 2021, Uber reported 1.77 billion trips, up 8% from the previous quarter and 23% from 2020. Also, the monthly active platform users grew by 8% to 118 million. The total income for divers and aggregators stood at a staggering $9.5 billion.

Uber CEO said that the company is working to add more riders to its platform. Another sign of a good recovery was that Uber’s airport gross bookings were up 13% the last quarter. Uber’s Chief Financial Officer Nelson Chai said:

“We added 20 million new riders just in Q4 in our mobility business. So if you think about the network effect and our ability to operate across our 10,000 cities in our leadership position, you can think about that leverage that we have globally that nobody else has.”

Soon after the earnings report, the UBER stock 5% closing Wednesday’s session at $40.19. The stock is up another 5% today in the pre-market session.

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Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast and holds a good flair in understanding financial markets. His interest in economics and finance draw his attention towards the new emerging Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency markets. He is continuously in a learning process and keeps himself motivated by sharing his acquired knowledge. In free time he reads thriller fictions novels and sometimes explore his culinary skills.