Investing.com – Lyft stock (NASDAQ:LYFT) jumped 8% Wednesday as the ride-hailing company finally stepped aside pandemic woes to report higher adjusted profit during the September quarter and said the same would be higher in the current quarter.
At one time, the stock was up 15%, the most in about a year, after dropping for five consecutive weeks. Rival Uber (NYSE:UBER) was up about 6%. It will report its third-quarter numbers on Thursday.
Rising vaccinations and the reopening of economies helped the company swing to an adjusted quarterly profit of $17.8 million on revenue of $864.4 million, up 73% over last year.
The company had made an adjusted net loss of $280.4 million in last year’s third quarter.
Rides to airports, among the most profitable routes, nearly tripled from a year ago, a Reuters report said quoting company executives. Lyft said it is also seeing a rise in weekend and evening trips, a sign that consumers are now more confident about riding in a vehicle used by others as well.
Overall, Lyft’s active riders increased 11% to 18.9 million in the quarter ended September 30. But ridership remains 35% below peak levels before the pandemic, with Lyft executives saying many consumers were waiting for Covid-19 vaccine booster shots, according to Reuters.