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While Uber Technologies' (UBER, Financial) Q4 beat market expectations, its shares fell 7% on Wednesday morning as investors remained cautious with mixed signals. It reported adjusted earnings per share of $3.21, more than 500% analysts expectations of $0.49. Gross bookings grew 18% to $44.2 billion; revenue climbed 20 percent to $12 billion, beating forecasts of $11.77 billion, and the price came in at an average of $158 a night. The number of monthly active platform consumers increased by 14% and stood at 171 million.
"That was Uber's best quarter ever, led by accelerated growth across key metrics," the CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, said about the quarter. In the first quarter of 2025, Uber estimates gross bookings will rise 17% to 21% on a constant currency basis and indicates adjusted EBITDA growth between 30% and 37% year-over-year. Despite these promising figures, CFO Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah has stated flatly that the company continues to believe it is undervalued, echoing the fact of its continuing $7 billion buyback program and, more recently, its $1.5 billion accelerated share repurchasing deal.
It certainly didn't bone up on bookings, but those were impressive, with analysts at Wolfe Research saying that EBITDA performance simply wasn't surprising, with typical upside dinged by lingering foreign exchange headwinds in the Q1 guidance.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.