Uber beats estimates and the stock is up

Uber It reported fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday that beat analysts’ estimates. Shares rose more than 8 percent in premarket trading.

How the company did it:

• Earnings per share: A loss of 29 cents vs. 18 cents expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
• Income: $8.6 billion vs. $8.49 billion expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.

Revenue for the quarter was up 49% year over year. Earnings per share of 29 percent include a large return on investment. Uber noted that net income for the quarter was $595 million, of which $756 million was a net gain due to unrealized gains on equity investments.

In a prepared statement, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said Uber ended 2022 with its “strongest quarter ever,” capping its “strongest year yet.” He said the impact of the pandemic on the company’s mobility business was “well and truly behind us now” and that active drivers hit an all-time high during the quarter. He noted that the company also achieved a new milestone of 2 billion trips in a quarter for the first time, with an average of 1 million trips per hour.

“Importantly, we achieved these results while maintaining or improving our competitive position in our key markets,” he said in the statement.

According to StreetAccount, the company reported adjusted EBITDA of $665 million, above the $620 million expected by analysts. Gross bookings for the quarter came in at $30.7 billion, up 19% year over year.

For the first quarter of 2023, Uber said it expects gross bookings to grow between 20% and 24% year-over-year on a constant currency basis, and adjusted EBITDA of $660 million to $700 million.

How Uber’s biggest business segments performed this quarter:

Movement (gross booking): $14.9 billion vs. $14.8 billion expected by analysts, according to StreetAccount

Delivery (gross booking): $14.3 billion vs. $14.3 billion expected by analysts, according to StreetAccount.

Uber relied heavily on growth in its Eats delivery business during the Covid pandemic, but its mobility segment beat Eats’ revenue in the first, second and third quarters of 2022 as riders Started traveling more. This trend continued during the fourth quarter, as the company’s mobility segment reported $4.1 billion in revenue while delivery reported $2.9 billion.

Uber’s freight business booked $1.5 billion in sales for the quarter.

The number of monthly active platform users reached 131 million in the fourth quarter, up 11 percent year-over-year. 2.1 billion trips were completed on the platform during the period, up 19% year-over-year.

Khosrowshahi told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday that Uber sees no signs of weakness in consumer spending. He said the company is benefiting from the shift from retail to services spending after the pandemic.

He said that we saw and saw. “We are not seeing any signs of consumer weakness at this time.”

However, Khosrowshahi said about 70% of drivers say inflation is a factor in their decision to jump on Uber’s platform.

“We may be capitalizing on this trend, we’ll see where it takes us,” he said.

Uber will hold its quarterly call with investors on Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. ET.