Lyft shares rise as company ups buyback to $750 million

Lyft shares jumped 7% after the company boosted its share buyback plan to $750 million in its first quarter earnings report.

Shares were as high as 10% post-earnings.

Here's how the ridesharing company did:

• Earnings: 1 cent per share
• Revenue: $1.45 billion vs. $1.47 billion estimate from LSEG

Revenues grew 14% from a year ago to $1.45 billion. The company reported net income of $2.57 million, or 1 cent per share. That's up from a net loss of $31.54 million, or 8 cents per share, a year ago.

Rides jumped 16% during the period to 218.4 million and topped a FactSet estimate of 215.1 million. Active riders grew 11% to 24.2 million, while gross bookings surged 13% to $4.16 billion and came in slightly ahead of a $4.15 billion estimate from StreetAccount.

CEO David Risher said the quarter was the 16th straight period of double-digit year over year gross booking growth for the company in an earnings release. The ridesharing stock has shed more than 80% in value since its trading debut in March 2019.

"With our expansion into new demographics via Lyft Silver and into Europe with our planned FREENOW acquisition, we're putting all the pieces in place for sustained, market-leading performance," he said.

For the second quarter, Lyft said it anticipates rides growth in the mid-teens from a year ago. Gross bookings are expected to range between $4.41 billion to $4.57 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet had forecast gross booking of $4.48 billion.

Lyft reported $280.7 million in free cash flows for the first quarter, which topped a $136.3 million estimate from StreetAccount.

Last month, Lyft announced an expansion into Europe with the nearly $200 million acquisition of Germany-based taxi app FreeNow.

Lyft shares over the last five years