The Year of the IPO

In This Article:

Foolish analysts Aaron Bush, Ron Gross, and Jason Moser look at this week in business news. Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) goes public at $72 a share and pops even more, but the path from here will be challenging. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) is back in the news as CEO Tim Sloan finally steps down amid scandal concerns. Restoration Hardware (NYSE: RH) tanks after earnings, but the market is probably overreacting on this one. Shares of McCormick (NYSE: MKC) and lululemon athletica (NASDAQ: LULU) pop after earnings. A new report illuminates the huge market opportunity that is drunk e-commerce. Host Chris Hill talks with analyst Tim Beyers about Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) event, YouTube, and the future of video games. And, as always, the guys share some stocks on their radar this week.

A full transcript follows the video.

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This video was recorded on March 29, 2019.

Chris Hill: It's the Motley Fool Money radio show! I'm Chris Hill. Joining me in studio this week: senior analysts Jason Moser, Aaron Bush and Ron Gross. Good to see you as always, gentlemen! We've got the latest headlines from Wall Street. We'll get an update on the battle for the living room. And as always, we'll give you an inside look at the stocks on our radar.

But we begin with the latest IPO. Lyft went public Friday morning at a price of $72 a share. The stock immediately shot up 20% before settling in the mid-80s. Aaron Bush, I'll start with you. Can I interest you in a share of Lyft?

Aaron Bush: I am interested, although I do have some hesitations. I have a lot of respect for Lyft to get to this point. A couple of years ago when I was starting to study the ride sharing space, I was genuinely worried about their ability to capture market share at a reasonable cost because Uber was just so dominant. Really, they got lucky with Uber's stumbles, their cultural problems, executive turnovers. Lyft executed beautifully in Uber's turmoil. They really seized the moment, built their brand, captured market share. That captured market share seems to be permanent.

When I look at the business today, I think I like it more than I don't --

Ron Gross: What a rave!

Bush: Yeah, I know. It's nowhere close to perfect. The company is growing quickly. The market that they operate in is massive, and it's only going to become much bigger. But their growth rates on both their riders and their rides taken are very clearly slowing. That isn't necessarily a deal breaker, but it puts more pressure on their ability to make more money per ride. That is their take rate and essentially determines how much money Lyft makes verses how much money the driver makes. That rate has doubled over the past three years, about 29%, which is good for them. Not as good for the drivers. I don't know how much higher that can go.