Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi said a "natural expansion" in the ride-hailing leader's business is helping its revenue grow and setting it up for new opportunities now that it has begun life as a public company.
Khosrowshahi spoke about Uber's business on a conference call Thursday as the company delivered its first quarterly report since it went public earlier this month. Uber surprised Wall Street by reporting a loss that was less than had been expected.
After U.S. stock markets closed, Uber reported a first-quarter loss of $2.26 a share, on revenue of $3.09 6 billion. Wall Street analysts had forecast Uber to post a loss of $2.37 a share, on $3.08 billion in total revenue for the period ending March 31. During the first quarter of 2018, Uber said it earned $1.84 a share, on sales of $2.58 billion.
Uber said its results were led by a gain in the number of its gross bookings, which rose 34% from a year ago, and that it averaged 17 million rides a day during the quarter.
Khosrowshahi said that Uber is "executing our strategy to become a one-stop shop for local transportation and commerce," now that the company has gotten past the milestone of going public.
"In our core ride-sharing market, there is a natural expansion that is happening from city cores (out) to city suburbs," Khosrowshahi said about trends in Uber's ride-sharing business. "You've got the newer millennial generation that is not particualy interested in owning a car, and we have this urbanization happening on a global basis."
Dan Ives, an analyst who covers Uber at Wedbush Securities, said the company had "an A- quarter out of the box. I would call this a step in the right direction for this "prove me" story in the eyes of Wall Street."
Uber went public on May 10 at $45 a share, but has struggled since then to find enthusiasm for its shares among investors. On Thursday, Uber's shares slipped by 0.4%, to close at $39.80.
