Key Takeaways
- Uber shares jumped Tuesday after the company’s second-quarter earnings came in well above analysts’ expectations.
- Gross bookings rose 19% year-over-year, while profits more than doubled to $1.02 billion.
- JPMorgan analysts said Uber’s stock buyback plan that started during Q2 should “ramp” over the next several quarters.
Uber (UBER) stock jumped Tuesday as the ridesharing giant’s second-quarter earnings beat analysts’ estimates as gross bookings grew 19% year-over-year.
The company reported a 16% revenue bump to $10.7 billion, above Visible Alpha consensus estimates. Net income also easily surpassed estimates at $1.02 billion, and more than doubled from last year’s $394 million.
Gross Bookings Surpass Estimates, Buybacks Started in Q2
Gross bookings came in just above estimates at $39.95 billion, split largely between Uber’s Mobility division ($20.6 billion) and its Delivery unit that includes Uber Eats ($18.1 billion). JPMorgan analysts said in a note following the earnings report that they were encouraged by the acceleration of growth in Mobility and the focus on profitability of Uber’s Delivery segment.
The company also recently announced a partnership with Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD (BYDDY) to bring about 100,000 of the EVs to Uber’s network of vehicles across a number of international markets. The companies said they also plan to partner on autonomous vehicles that could someday drive for Uber as the ridesharing company looks to counter efforts from Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Waymo and Tesla (TSLA) to introduce self-driving taxis.
Uber also kicked off its first stock buyback plan in the quarter after approving the $7 billion program in February. Uber bought about $325 million of its own stock during Q2, and JPMorgan analysts said they expect the program to “ramp” over the next several quarters.
Uber shares jumped 4.3% to $60.94 soon after the opening bell Tuesday but remain slightly down for the year.