Uber Raises Quarterly Guidance on Delivery Growth, Ridership Recovery

Uber UBER -4.22% Technologies Inc. raised its first-quarter guidance Monday, saying its ride-hailing business is bouncing back quickly from the disruption caused by the spread of the Omicron variant around the end of 2021.

The company raised its current-quarter guidance for adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization from between $100 million and $130 million to between $130 million and $150 million.

The company has pointed to this metric to signal that its operations are moving toward future profitability.

The increase in guidance is driven by improvement in the company’s ride-hailing and delivery businesses, compared with the last quarter of 2021, when a rise in Covid-19 cases disrupted operations, Uber said.

“Our Mobility business is bouncing back from Omicron much faster than we expected,” Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi said.

Gross bookings for airports were up 50% at the end of February, compared with a month earlier, Mr. Khosrowshahi said. He added that the company expects the coming travel season to be one of the strongest ever.

“We’re seeing healthy and growing demand across all use cases, highlighting just how eager consumers are to get moving again,” he said.

Shuttling people to and from airports is a major source of business for Uber. In 2021, 11% of its gross bookings involved airport trips. That compares with 15% in 2019, according to securities filings.

Uber also said demand in its ride-hailing segment rose throughout February, with trips and gross bookings reaching 90% and 95%, respectively, of 2019 levels.

Waymo is operating fully driverless robotaxis in Chandler, Ariz., and recently took a step toward offering the same to riders in San Francisco. It is a test that could provide a road map for Waymo’s expansion and help the Google sister company build a revenue-generating business. (Published 12/22/2021) Photo: Karl Mollohan

In the fourth quarter, the company posted an adjusted Ebidta of $86 million, beating analysts’ expectations. It also posted an 83% revenue increase to $5.78 billion during the holiday quarter. It was the second time the company had posted a profit on the metric since its inception.

Shares of Uber fell 4.2% on Monday, closing at $28.57, amid a broader market selloff fueled by rising oil prices. Uber shares are down roughly 49% over the past 12 months.

Write to Will Feuer at [email protected]

Appeared in the March 8, 2022, print edition as ‘Uber Raises Its Guidance, Citing Covid Bounceback.’