What Happened?
Shares of ride sharing service Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) jumped 3.5% in the afternoon session after a wave of positive analyst commentary pointed to a strong growth outlook. RBC Capital reiterated its Outperform rating on the stock with a $21 price target, citing a confident tone from management regarding the company's future. This sentiment was supported by a Seeking Alpha report highlighting that Lyft has greater upside potential than its rival Uber, due to a more focused operation and a lower valuation. While the company's recent second-quarter results were mixed, with a slight miss on revenue, investors appear to be focusing on the positives, such as record gross bookings, robust rider growth, and operational improvements. Management has signaled a 'thriving marketplace' and expects a stronger second half of the year.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $14.42, up 3.8% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Lyft’s shares are very volatile and have had 22 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 9 days ago when the stock gained 3.7% on the news that markets rebounded following a sharp sell-off in the previous trading session as a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report fueled speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September. The July Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report revealed a significant slowdown in the labor market, with the economy adding only 73,000 jobs, well below the anticipated 110,000. Furthermore, data for May and June was revised downwards, indicating 250,000 fewer jobs were created than initially reported. This weaker economic data has led investors to increase their bets on a potential interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, the probability of a rate cut in September has surged to over 80%. Lower interest rates are generally seen as a positive for growth-oriented stocks, as they can boost economic activity and increase the present value of future earnings, fueling broad-based rallies in sectors like technology.
Lyft is up 5.6% since the beginning of the year, but at $14.42 per share, it is still trading 22.4% below its 52-week high of $18.59 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Lyft’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $499.29.
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