Key Notes
- Uber’s adjusted EPS of $0.88 and revenue of $14.77 billion modestly exceeded analyst estimates.
- Delivery bookings beat forecasts, while Mobility bookings and total trips fell short.
- Q4 bookings guidance centers on $64.25 billion, broadly in line with expectations.
Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) beat third-quarter earnings and revenue estimates as delivery demand helped offset softer-than-expected ride-hailing bookings. The company reported adjusted earnings of $0.88 a share on revenue of $14.77 billion, compared with expectations of $0.87 and $14.65 billion.
Total gross bookings reached $59.82 billion, slightly above the $59.79 billion estimate and up 20% from a year earlier. Uber’s results, released November 4, showed profits growing faster than transaction value, although trips and Mobility bookings fell short of forecasts. Its fourth-quarter bookings outlook was broadly in line with expectations.
Delivery Growth Offsets a Mobility Miss
Mobility gross bookings totaled $29.51 billion, below the $29.88 billion estimate. The business still grew 18% from a year earlier, or 17% excluding currency movements, but the shortfall shows that the overall bookings beat was uneven across Uber’s operations.
Delivery bookings reached $28.54 billion, ahead of the $28.41 billion forecast. That represented growth of 22%, or 23% in constant currencies. Delivery revenue rose 23% to $5.49 billion, while the segment’s non-GAAP operating income increased 30% to $1.06 billion.
Uber completed 4.061 billion trips, compared with an estimate of 4.12 billion. Trips nevertheless increased 16% year over year, supported by a 14% rise in monthly active platform consumers to 215 million and a 2% increase in trips per consumer. The figure includes completed rides and delivery orders, rather than ride-hailing journeys alone.
Bookings measure the value of activity flowing through the platform and are distinct from Uber’s own revenue. The company said business-model changes reduced reported revenue growth by eight percentage points. That makes the 10% revenue increase an incomplete guide to the growth in underlying transaction volume.
Adjusted Profit Growth Contrasts With GAAP Decline
Non-GAAP operating income rose 38% to $2.30 billion, exceeding the $2.25 billion estimate. It represented 3.9% of bookings, up from 3.4% a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA increased 31% to $2.96 billion, also ahead of the $2.93 billion forecast.
Adjusted net income was $1.80 billion, versus expectations of $1.78 billion. Adjusted EPS grew 35% year over year and reached the top of the $0.84–$0.88 range Uber had set in its August outlook.
Under generally accepted accounting principles, however, net income was $512 million, or $0.25 a share. That was down sharply from $6.63 billion, or $3.11 a share, a year earlier. The comparison reflects a $476 million pretax investment-revaluation loss this quarter, against a $1.5 billion investment gain and a $4.9 billion tax valuation benefit in the prior-year period.
The adjusted measures exclude items including certain legal and regulatory costs, restructuring charges and investment-related effects. They help explain operating trends, but the exclusions mean they should be assessed alongside GAAP results. GAAP operating income rose 30% to $1.45 billion.
Q4 Bookings Guidance Broadly Matches Expectations
Uber forecast fourth-quarter gross bookings of $63.25 billion to $65.25 billion. The $64.25 billion midpoint is just below the $64.29 billion estimate, suggesting an outlook close to what analysts had anticipated rather than a substantial upgrade.
The range implies growth of 18% to 22% in constant currencies. Management expects exchange rates to reduce reported year-over-year bookings growth by about one percentage point.
The company also projected non-GAAP EPS of $0.95 to $0.99, representing annual growth of 34% to 39%, with adjusted EBITDA of $3.13 billion to $3.23 billion. For shareholders, the next test is whether stronger delivery activity and improving margins can sustain that earnings growth while Mobility catches up with expectations.
Cash Generation Funds Expansion Plans
Operating cash flow reached $2.64 billion and free cash flow was $2.54 billion, up 13% and 14%, respectively. Uber finished September with $10.1 billion in unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, and repurchased $750 million of shares during the quarter.
Capital allocation remains relevant as Uber expands beyond its established services. As we previously reported, the company agreed in October to buy workplace food-ordering platform ezCater for $2.3 billion. That announcement came after the September quarter ended. At the time, Uber said the acquisition was expected to improve margins and remained subject to regulatory approval and other closing conditions.
Autonomous vehicles add another investment priority. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said Uber expects approximately 700 fully driverless vehicles on its platform by year-end and more than 2,000 in 2027. Those are company-wide targets, separate from the longer-term European deployment plans we covered in August.
The report leaves Uber with rising operating profitability and a growing consumer base, alongside a narrower-than-expected Mobility performance. Converting that larger platform into cash while funding acquisitions and autonomous services remains central to the stock’s investment case.
