New York, Feb 12, 2026, 06:53 EST — Premarket
Lyft shares (LYFT.O) were steady in premarket trading on Thursday after closing down 16.97% at $13.99 in the previous session. (Barchart)
Wednesday’s slide followed Lyft’s forecast for weaker-than-expected first-quarter adjusted EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for some items — as harsh U.S. winter weather and seasonal costs bite, Reuters reported. Lyft logged 945.5 million rides in 2025, short of a Visible Alpha estimate of 958.4 million, and its fourth-quarter rides missed forecasts too. Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney said the push to reach a 4% EBITDA margin in 2027 hinges on “execution-heavy initiatives” as Lyft tries to keep up with Uber (UBER.N). (Reuters)
This is a tough moment for the turnaround story. The stock has been priced for improvement, and investors are pushing back on any sign that growth is harder to come by.
Lyft said fourth-quarter gross bookings — the total value of transactions on its platform — rose 19% to $5.1 billion, while revenue grew 3% to $1.6 billion, a figure it said included a $168 million impact from legal, tax and regulatory reserve changes and settlements. CFO Erin Brewer pointed to cash flow generation “exceeding $1.1 billion” in 2025, and the company laid out a Q1 adjusted EBITDA forecast of $120 million to $140 million on gross bookings of about $4.86 billion to $5.00 billion. CEO David Risher told investors “2026 will be the year of the AV,” and Lyft highlighted a new Lyft Teen product aimed at riders aged 13-17. (Lyft, Inc.)
A deeper look at the filings underlined the split between accounting profit and the business’s day-to-day performance. Lyft’s annual report filed on Wednesday showed a 2025 loss from operations of $188.4 million, even as it posted net income of about $2.84 billion, helped by a roughly $2.90 billion income tax benefit. (Lyft, Inc.)
That gap is why traders tend to lean on bookings, rides and adjusted EBITDA here. Those measures can be messy too, but they track demand and costs more directly than a tax-driven swing in net income.
Lyft also has capital-return leverage, but it comes with caveats. In an SEC filing, the company said its board authorized up to an additional $1.0 billion in Class A share repurchases that can be done in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, and the program does not obligate Lyft to buy any set amount. (SEC)
The next question is whether the selloff pulls in more downgrades and target cuts as brokers update models. Investors will also be watching whether management’s tone stays confident once the stock starts trading normally again.
But the downside case is easy to sketch. If ride growth stays soft, or winter weather and price competition drag out longer than expected, Lyft could end up spending more to defend share just as it tries to protect margins.
Regular trading begins at 9:30 a.m. EST, and that’s the first real test of whether the stock can stabilize after the earnings-driven drop — or whether sellers press again as the market digests the Q1 outlook.
