Uber Decelerates but Still Moving Fast

Jason Hall, The Motley Fool

Wed, May 7, 2025, 7:46 AM 3 min read

Key Points

Revenue and bookings growth are decelerating but still growing at healthy rates.
Profit and cash flow results are strong and improving.
Uber continues to look overseas for future growth.
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Here's our initial take on Uber's (NYSE: UBER) first-quarter results.

Key Metrics

Metric	Q1 FY24	Q1 FY25	Change	vs. Expectations
Revenue	$10.1 billion	$11.5 billion	+14%	Missed
Earnings (loss) per share	($0.32)	$0.83	n/a	Beat
Trips during the quarter	2.6 billion	3 billion	n/a	n/a
Gross bookings	$37.7 billion	$42.8 billion	+14%	n/a

Slowing Growth, International Strength

Uber's first-quarter results came in mostly inline with management's guidance, with gross bookings up 14% to $42.8 billion, right at the bottom end of the range from its outlook provided when it reported fourth-quarter results. Trips in the quarter increased 18% to over 3 billion, and monthly active platform consumers (MAPC) increased 14%, with the average MAPC taking 3% more trips than last year. Mobility (moving people) and delivery (delivering stuff) both continue to grow, with mobility revenue up 15% and delivery revenue 18% higher. Freight continues to lag, down about 2% in the quarter.

Uber's revenue also continues to expand outside of the U.S. at a high rate. Adjusted for foreign exchange, gross bookings increased 18%, and revenue was up 17% on a constant-currency basis.

On the bottom line, Uber's growth continues to drive solid profit. The company swung from a GAAP loss last year to $1.8 billion in net income attributable to shareholders, and operating income increased sevenfold to $1.2 billion. Cash flows also grew significantly, with operating cash flow increasing 64% to $2.32 billion and free cash flow increasing 66% to $2.25 billion.

Immediate Market Reaction

Uber shares were down about 3% in premarket trading after the earnings release came out, likely on the company's guidance. Management is calling for gross bookings between $45.75 billion and $47.25 billion in the second quarter, a range of 16% to 20% growth year over year. This is a slight deceleration of the growth range from Q1, which was 17% to 21% growth. Combined with Uber just hitting the low end of management's first-quarter guidance, investors may be less optimistic about Uber's growth.

What to Watch

Uber continues to deliver (get it?) solid results and growth, if at lower rates than over the past couple of years. And as North America approaches more maturity (though there's still significant space to grow much larger), the company's focus overseas increases. Uber continues to make acquisitions across the pond(s), and this is likely to continue; we want to see it not overpay for this growth while also focusing on the operational excellence and strong platform that have made the company successful in its home markets.