Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER) shares traded lower in aftermarket trading after the taxi and food delivery platform reported an increased loss in the past quarter, even though the top line beat forecasts.
Underlying losses (EBITDA) came in at US$509mln for the second quarter, worse than the US$359mln in the first quarter but US$328mln less than a year ago.
But the group made a paper profit of US$1.1bn at the net income level, thanks to unrealized gains of US$1.4bn and US$471mln due to the revaluation of Uber’s equity investments in Chinese ride-sharing giant Didi Global Inc and self-driving startup Aurora, respectively, though shares in Didi have tumbled over 30% since the listing last month.
Earnings per share of US$0.58 were therefore better than the US$0.51 loss expected.
The top line was all good, with gross bookings in the second quarter of 2021 more than doubled year on year to US$21.9bn and revenues rocketed 95% to US$3.9bn, up 12% and 34% higher than the first quarter.
Wall Street analysts had pencilled in forecasts of US$3.75bn of sales.
Investments were made in “reviving driver availability” this year, with monthly active drivers and couriers in the US increasing by nearly 420,000 from February to July.
Having made large investments during the quarter to “improve marketplace balance”, chief financial officer Nelson Chai said Uber is now “well positioned” to reach EBITDA profitability by the fourth quarter of this year.
He guided to an adjusted EBITDA loss in the third quarter of less than US$100mln in addition to new heights for gross bookings of between US$22bn and US$24bn.