Uber shares up 6% as it revises its outlook

Uber revised its financial outlook for the third quarter on Tuesday, with bookings and adjusted earnings now expected to be better than initially reported.

The San Francisco-based company said in an SEC filing that it now expects to report between $ 22.8 billion and $ 23.2 billion in gross bookings for the current quarter, adjusted from $ 22 billion to $ 24 billion. dollars she predicted in her second quarter earnings call.

Gross bookings for the second quarter reached $ 21.5 billion, with mobility accounting for $ 8.6 billion and food delivery $ 12.9 billion.

“They say the crisis is creating opportunities and that has certainly been true for Uber over the past 18 months,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in the filing.

The company’s shares rose about 6% on pre-market trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

He also said he now expects Adjusted EBITDA (which refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) to be between a loss of $ 25 million and profit of $ 25 million. dollars. Uber previously said it expected its adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter to be better than a loss of $ 100 million.

Looking ahead, Uber reiterated that, on an Adjusted EBITDA basis, it is expected to make a fourth quarter profit. However, he noted that “significant uncertainty in the forecast” remains a factor.

In the second quarter, Uber reported 1.51 billion trips on the platform, up 4% from the first quarter and 105% from the previous year quarter. Uber said its drivers and couriers earned a total of $ 7.9 billion in the quarter.

Uber and other competitors have struggled with imbalances between supply and demand due to the coronavirus pandemic, leading to spikes in prices and increased wait times. Khosrowshahi said on a call with investors that pricing and wait times were not meeting company targets.

“In the second quarter, we invested in the recovery by investing in drivers and we made great strides, with monthly active drivers and couriers in the United States increasing by almost 420,000 from February to July,” Khosrowshahi said. in a press release.

– Additional reporting by Jessica Bursztynsky of CNBC.