Lyft (LYFT -2.90%), the second-largest ride-hailing company in America, hasn't impressed many investors since its public debut six years ago. It went public at $72, but it now trades at around $15. But after that steep drop, it looks like an undervalued growth stock -- and it might just churn a modest $1,000 investment into a lot more money.
Why did growth investors lose interest in Lyft?
Lyft, which initially only provided its ride-hailing services in the U.S. and Canada, is much smaller than its multinational competitor Uber (UBER 1.46%). Unlike Uber, Lyft doesn't provide any first-party food delivery services -- but it offers mutual perks for subscribers of other food delivery platforms like DoorDash and Grubhub. It also provides bicycle and electric scooter rentals in select cities.
Image source: Getty Images.
Lyft's number of active riders and total revenue surged in 2018, but both metrics cooled off in 2019 before plummeting during the pandemic in 2020. Its growth rates stabilized over the following four years, but it didn't exceed its pre-pandemic ridership levels until 2024.
|
Metric |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Active Riders |
18.6M |
22.9M |
12.6M |
18.7M |
20.4M |
22.4M |
24.7M |
|
Active Rider Growth (YOY) |
48% |
23% |
(45%) |
48% |
9% |
10% |
10% |
|
Revenue |
$2.2B |
$3.6B |
$2.4B |
$3.2B |
$4.1B |
$4.4B |
$5.8B |
|
Revenue Growth (YOY) |
103% |
68% |
(35%) |
36% |
28% |
8% |
31% |
Data source: Lyft. YOY = Year-over-year.
Lyft's recovery was throttled by stiff competition from Uber, driver shortages, regulatory challenges for gig economy workers, and the challenges of balancing its cost-cutting strategies with the expansion of its platform. Its co-founders, CEO Logan Green and president John Zimmer, also stepped down in 2023. Green was succeeded by David Risher, a former Amazon retail executive who focused on streamlining its business.
Lyft's business gradually stabilized, but it didn't impress too many growth-oriented investors because its recovery seemed fragile. Uber, which controls roughly three-quarters of the U.S. ride-hailing market, still generated nearly eight times as much revenue as Lyft in 2024.
What's the bull case for Lyft's recovery?
Lyft struggled with some post-pandemic growing pains, but it also increased the stickiness of its platform with popular features like its Lyft Pass service for businesses, its subscription-based Price Lock service for recurring trips, its rebooted Lyft Pink membership tier, and its Women+ Connect feature (which matches female and non-binary riders with female and non-binary drivers). Its number of active riders rose to a record high of 26.1 million in the second quarter of 2025.
To address its previous driver shortages, Lyft raised its incentives and offered more benefits. To offset the pressure of those higher costs, it provided more high-margin Lyft Black and Lyft SUV services, pared down its lower-margin bicycle and electric scooter rental services, expanded its higher-margin Lyft Media segment (which streams sponsored media content and digital ads across its app and in-car tablets), and pruned its workforce.
That's why its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) turned positive in 2023, and why its generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) earnings and free cash flow (FCF) both turned green in 2024. It's plowing a lot of its cash into big buybacks to boost its earnings per share (EPS) and offset its dilution.
That might make Lyft seem like a slower-growth, cost-conscious company, but it still has plenty of ways to expand. Its acquisition of Freenow, which closed on July 31 for about $200 million, will nearly double its total addressable market, add about $1 billion to its annual gross bookings, and diversify its business beyond North America.
It's also been testing out autonomous vehicles with Mobileye and May Mobility in select cities, and those vehicles could eventually replace its human drivers while widening its moat against Alphabet's Waymo, Tesla's Robotaxi, and other driverless ride-hailing services.
Why is Lyft a great place to park $1,000?
From 2024 to 2027, analysts expect Lyft's revenue and adjusted EBITDA to grow at a CAGR of 13% and 29%, respectively. With an enterprise value of $5.05 billion, it looks like a bargain at less than one times this year's sales and 10 times its adjusted EBITDA. Uber trades at 4 times this year's sales and 22 times its adjusted EBITDA. Therefore, Lyft's stock could easily double or triple within the next few years if its growth strategies impress the bulls again.
We should take those estimates (which don't fully account for its takeover of Freenow) with a grain of salt. But if you expect Lyft to continue growing in Uber's shadow while balancing its disciplined spending and expansion strategies, it could be a great place to park $1,000 over the next few years.
