What happened
Shares of Uber Technologies (UBER +0.41%), a leading provider of ridesharing and transportation services, rose as much as 16% in early-morning trading on Friday. The stock was up about 15% as of 11:20 a.m. EDT.
So what
Numerous Wall Street analysts updated their price targets for Uber's stock today:
- Deutsche Bank analyst Lloyd Walmsley lowered his price target from $54 to $40.
- SunTrust analyst Youssef Squali lowered his price target from $56 to $42.
- UBS analyst Eric Sheridan lowered his price target from $56 to $32.
- Mizuho analyst James Less lowered his price target from $50 to $40.
- JMP Securities analyst Ronald Josey lowered his price target from $56 to $37.
- Wells Fargo analyst Brian Fitzgerald lowered his price target from $45 to $41, but he also upgraded Uber's stock to an "overweight" rating.
Even though all these price targets were revised downward, they have one important thing in common: They are all much higher than Uber's closing price on Thursday of $20.49.
Image source: Getty Images.
What's more, many of these analysts noted that they expect short-term demand for ride-hailing to take a big hit, but they all remain optimistic about the company's long-term potential.
Traders bid up Uber's stock for the second day in a row in response to the optimistic views.
Now what
Uber held a conference call with Wall Street yesterday to reassure investors that the company will be able to "weather this crisis." CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that the company has plenty of near-term liquidity available and also noted that demand for Uber Eats has surged recently. He also said that demand is starting to recover in Hong Kong.
Lots of technology companies have been hit hard in the COVID-19 bear market, but many of those that survive this crisis could be in a great position to pick up market share in a recovery. If that happens, Uber could once again find itself in the good graces of growth investors.
