Analysts Sanguine On Uber Despite (Growing) Red Ink

Uber shares closed 5 percent higher on Wednesday (June 5), trading above their initial public offering (IPO) price for the first time since their May 10 debut, according to a report by TechCrunch.

The news comes just 24 hours after the end of a slow period for the many investment banks that underwrote the IPO, which means that there were quite a few positive analyst reports about the company, as well as some buy ratings.

Uber’s stock price has been fairly stable in the last four weeks, hanging around the $40 to $43 range. It raised $8.1 billion in May, and got a market cap of around $70 billion.

Many analysts called the IPO a failure, since the shares didn’t move much on the first day. They opened at $42 a share, and Uber was previously valued at $72 billion. At one point, some analysts thought the Uber IPO would be the biggest in tech history, taking into account its global reach and its lucrative Uber Eats business. 

Raymond James analyst Justin Patterson gave Uber a $50 price target and said the company would be a leader in the “offline era.”

“In contrast to traditional internet companies, Uber is a digital app powering offline behavior,” Patterson told CNBC. “This elevates cost in the early years, but arguably creates a more defensible long-term position.”

Uber released its first earnings report last week, and disclosed an expected $1 billion in losses in 2019 Q1, on a revenue of $3.1 billion.

“Earlier this month we took the important step of becoming a public company, and we are now focused on executing our strategy to become a one-stop shop for local transportation and commerce,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement about the company’s earnings. “In the first quarter, engagement across our platform was higher than ever, with an average of 17 million trips per day and an annualized gross bookings run-rate of $59 billion.”

Analysts were expecting an adjusted net loss per share of 76 cents on the earnings of roughly $3.1 billion.