Uber (UBER) soars 8% on very strong results, analyst highlights 'monster EBITDA beat'

Uber (NYSE: UBER) reported better-than-expected results to send its shares nearly 8% higher in pre-open Wednesday.

The ride-sharing company reported an adjusted EPS of $0.29, crushing the consensus that was looking for a loss per share of $0.15. Revenue increased nearly 50% year-over-year (YoY) to $8.61 billion, beating the $8.47B consensus. Gross Bookings grew 19% YoY to $30.7B, or 26% on a constant currency basis.

Delivery bookings were up 6.5% YoY while monthly active platform consumers surged 11% to $131 million.

“We ended 2022 with our strongest quarter ever, with robust demand and record margins,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO. “Our global scale and unique platform advantages position us well to accelerate this momentum into 2023.”

For this quarter, the company sees gross bookings growing 20-24% on a constant currency basis, which translates to $31-32B. The adjusted Ebitda is seen between $660M and $700M, easily exceeding the $616M consensus.

“We also reached a new milestone, crossing 2 billion trips in a single quarter for the first time—an average of nearly 1 million trips per hour,” Khosrowshahi added.

The company also said that it remains well-positioned to deliver on its goal of $1B in Advertising revenue in 2024.

Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan believes the jump in UBER shares is justified given “strong” results.

“UBER mgmt continued the trend line of delivering on guidance of improved profitability with both the Q4 reported results and forward Q1 commentary well ahead of GS/Street expectations. Dating back to the earnings report in May of last year, UBER mgmt has consistently delivered against the incremental margin framework that was laid out at its February 2022 Investor Day,” Sheridan said in a note following the release of earnings.

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives praised Uber's management for delivering an "impressive balance of metrics/EBITDA beat."

"Uber delivered a relatively robust December quarter that featured top-line and bottom-line beats along with providing strong March quarter guidance that will be viewed positively by the Street... The star of the show was a monster EBITDA beat which the Street will be focused on front and center this morning," he wrote to clients.

By Senad Karaahmetovic

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