Lyft to report first earnings since coronavirus lockdowns

Lyft is scheduled to report its Q1 2020 earnings after the bell on Wednesday, and the outlook for the ride-hailing company is looking grim amid a major slowdown in ridership caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Here are the top numbers analysts are expecting as compiled by Bloomberg, as well as how the company performed in the same quarter last year.

Ride-sharing companies like Lyft (LYFT), and its biggest U.S. competitor Uber (UBER), have been hammered as ridership has fallen amid widespread lockdowns. Both companies have had heavy layoffs with Lyft cutting 17% of its workforce, or 986 jobs, and furloughing another 288 employees. That doesn’t include the drivers who are classified as contractors, not employees, and may have had little or no work since the lockdowns.

The firm also cut executive salaries by 30%, vice presidents’ salaries by 20%, and all other exempt employees by 10% for 12 weeks.

On April 21, Lyft pulled its full-year guidance, saying the impact from the coronavirus pandemic was going to significantly impact the ride-sharing business. For Lyft, though, the effects of the pandemic only began to kick in around March, which means Q1 won’t provide a full look at how the virus has hit the business.

“In terms of Street Q2 Revenue estimates, we think Street numbers are optimistic (Street calling for -26% Y/Y Revenue growth), and implies a very strong recovery in June, as April and May are likely to still face material headwinds (+50% declines),” RBC analyst Mark Mahaney wrote in a recent research note.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives noted the struggle Lyft and its counterpart Uber will face in the months ahead, but said he is bullish on its long-term outlook.

“We expect Uber and Lyft to be hard-hit by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, looming recession, and slow reopening of economies globally,” he said. “We therefore have modest expectations for both 1Q20E and 2020E, but we continue to be positive on the LT opportunities, despite many questions remaining around business model changes on the other side of this crisis.”

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