Uber Technologies Inc. reported first-quarter earnings on Wednesday that beat analyst estimates on profit but came in slightly below expectations on revenue, triggering a nearly 5% drop in its stock. The ride-hailing and delivery company posted $11.53 billion in revenue, missing the consensus estimate of $11.62 billion, despite a strong uptick in trips and bookings across its platform.
The company's net income surged to $1.78 billion, or 83 cents per share, a sharp rebound from a net loss of $654 million, or 32 cents per share, in the same period last year. Earnings per share also exceeded expectations of 50 cents, driven in part by robust gains in gross bookings and improved margins.
Uber recorded $42.8 billion in gross bookings during the quarter, up from $39.7 billion a year earlier. Mobility bookings rose 13% to $21.18 billion, while delivery bookings climbed 15% to $20.38 billion. The company's freight segment saw a 2% decline. Monthly active platform users rose 14% year over year to 170 million, and trip volume jumped 18% to 3.04 billion.
Uber's adjusted EBITDA increased 35% to $1.87 billion, topping the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. Free cash flow surged 66% to $2.25 billion, and income from operations rose to $1.2 billion from $172 million in the prior-year quarter.
Looking ahead, Uber forecast second-quarter gross bookings between $45.75 billion and $47.25 billion and adjusted EBITDA between $2.02 billion and $2.12 billion. CFO Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah said, "We remain focused on disciplined capital allocation to drive greater financial durability and are on track to deliver against our multiyear plan."
In April, the Federal Trade Commission sued Uber over what it called "deceptive billing and cancellation practices" tied to its Uber One subscription service. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi pushed back, saying the service is "very, very simple" to cancel. "The suit alleges that some people don't realize that they're signing up or cancellations are difficult, but I'd encourage you to go experience it yourself," Khosrowshahi told CNBC.
During the quarter, Uber told staff it would tighten its remote work policy, requiring most employees to return to offices three days per week and adjusting eligibility for paid sabbaticals from five years of tenure to eight. Khosrowshahi defended the changes, stating, "Our company is executing really well, but we need to be at our top of our game and that means people working together in the office."
The company continues to expand its autonomous vehicle (AV) initiatives, which Khosrowshahi described as "the single greatest opportunity ahead for Uber." The firm reached an annualized run rate of 1.5 million autonomous trips and has active partnerships with Waymo, Volkswagen, Aurora, May Mobility, and Avride in the U.S., along with AV collaborators in Asia such as WeRide, Pony.AI, and Momenta.
