Uber stock is trending again today: is the rideshare business actually getting profitable, or is it just market mood?
Uber stock is one of the top trending searches in the US today, right behind CVS, and I keep going back and forth on it. I use the app all the time but I have never owned the stock. Drivers I talk to say fares and wait times swing a lot by city and time of day, which makes me wonder how steady the business really is. For people who follow it: is the case for Uber about actual profits now, or is it still mostly a bet on driverless cars and delivery growth down the road?
1 answer
- Wait for a quarter of driver-supply numbers
The number I would watch is not the stock price, it is active driver supply per city. When driver numbers are tight, Uber has to pay incentives to keep wait times down, and that eats straight into margins. One quarter where trips grow while incentive spending stays flat would tell me the profitability story is real. Until then, a trending search is just attention, not earnings.