Uber Technologies met second-quarter earnings forecasts and beat revenue estimates while announcing a $20 billion stock buyback. But Uber stock fell following an earnings call with analysts that focused on the company's strategy to compete against robotaxis from Waymo and Tesla.
Uber said it earned an adjusted 63 cents per share for the June-ended quarter, up 34% from a year earlier. That was in-line with what analysts polled by FactSet were forecasting. Sales increased 18% to $12.65 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $12.47 billion.
Gross bookings value across Uber's rides and food-delivery business grew 17% to $46.76 billion for the quarter, exceeding estimates of $46.42 billion.
"Our platform strategy is working, with record audience, frequency and profitability across mobility and delivery," Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi said in a news release. "But we're still only beginning to unlock the platform's full potential, now with 20 autonomous partners around the world."
Uber also offered a third-quarter outlook that exceeded expectations. Uber guided for gross bookings value of $49 billion at the midpoint of its range. Analysts were looking for total bookings of $47.5 billion for the September-ending period.
On the stock market today, Uber stock slipped more than 1% to 88.36 in late morning trades.
William Blair analyst Ralph Schackart reiterated an outperform call for Uber stock following the report.
Uber stock's decline Wednesday is "likely the result of high expectations into the quarter, and perhaps investors were looking for more definitive answers on (autonomous vehicles), which is difficult to provide at this point, in our view, given AV is still nascent," Schackart said in a client note. "However, the business continues to perform well with strong momentum, and it continues to post strong growth at scale."
Uber's Robotaxi Strategy
Analysts asked Uber's leadership several questions about autonomous vehicles on a conference call early Wednesday — continuing a trend of longer-term robotaxi concerns overshadowing Uber's current business performance.
Uber has been racing to partner up with robotaxi providers as a ride-hail service from Waymo and a recently launched effort from Tesla compete for share in some U.S. cities. Uber is working with Waymo in Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta but has been left out from some of Waymo's more recent expansions.
One question noted that there are "investor concerns" about Uber's plan to invest $300 million in Lucid to launch a line of self-driving vehicles. The plan, announced last month, also includes investments in the startup Nuro, which is developing the self-driving technology. Uber stock fell after it announced the plan.
Khosrowshahi said Uber benefits when there is more supply, or vehicles, available. Uber is using some of its resources to act as a "catalyst" to get more autonomous vehicles into the market, Khosrowshahi told analysts.
"As you see with our cash flow and our capital allocation, we can afford to invest aggressively in the autonomous space and at the same time to return plenty of capital to our shareholders," Khosrowshahi said.
Later in the call, Khosrowshahi said the Waymo partnership is performing well in Austin and is showing good early results in Atlanta. He said he'd "love to have more Waymos" on Uber but declined to say whether that is likely to happen.
But while Waymo is the early U.S. leader, Khosrowshahi said he expects autonomous vehicles will not be a "winner take all" market.
Uber Stock Rebounding In 2025
Uber shares initially wavered following the release of the report Wednesday morning. But the slide in morning trading is now pushing shares back below their 50-day moving average, after Uber reclaimed that key level Tuesday.
After slumping to close out 2024, Uber stock has bounced back with a 49% gain so far this year, as of Tuesday's close. Shares pulled back by 6% in July but had steadied to start August.
Coming into the report, Uber stock held an IBD Composite Rating of 94 out of a best-possible 99, according to IBD Stock Checkup. The score combines five separate proprietary ratings into one rating. The best growth stocks have a Composite Rating of 90 or better.
