Lyft about earnings

Lyft shares fell in after-hours trading on the stock exchange after its financial report. Although Q4 earnings per share and revenue were above analysts' forecasts and 2021 was the year Lyft recovered from the pandemic, the company lost users over the past quarter and gave a weak outlook, citing the impact of the Omicron strain.

Shares of U.S. taxi aggregator Lyft fell 5.5 percent to $38.95 per security during the extended trading session, amid the release of its annual report, in which the company reported 18.7 million active users, against analysts' expectations of 20 million, NASDAQ trading data showed.

That said, the figure was up 49% compared to 2020, but it was still 19% below the pre-demonstration 2019 level (22.9 million passengers).

Lyft said it recorded a significant jump in revenue per active passenger, which reached a record high of $51.79. The company said this was mainly due to an increase in short journeys and generally more expensive airport trips, which doubled year-on-year.

The company's fourth-quarter revenue growth was 70% to $969.9 million, also above the Bloomberg analysts' consensus forecast of $940.4 million. Lyft's net loss fell to $258.6 million, or $0.75 per share, compared with a loss of $458.2 million, or $1.43 per share, a year earlier. Analysts had expected a loss of $171.2 million.

Forecasts from Lyft

During a conference call for the report, Lyft executives warned investors that a spike in the Covid-19 Omicron strain would reduce the company's results in the first quarter of 2022.

Lyft's Q1 2022 revenue is forecast to be in the $800 million to $850 million range, while analysts had estimated it at $989.9 million.

The company does not make precise predictions about the number of active users, it only says that the number of trips will decrease slightly compared to the previous quarter. Wall Street predicts that Lyft will have 21.7 million active users in 2022 Q1.