Uber Reports Its 2021 Second Quarter Results, Beats Analysts’ Estimates

Uber reported its results for the second quarter of the year 2021, beating estimates on gross bookings by analysts.

Mobility Gross Bookings grew 184 percent year-over-year to $8.6 billion, and Delivery Gross Bookings grew 85 percent year-over-year to $12.9 billion. In total, Gross Bookings grew 114 percent year-over-year to $21.9 billion.

Revenue, in total, grew 35 percent quarter-on-quarter and 105 percent year-over-year. While Mobility Revenue jumped 90 percent quarter-on-quarter and 106 percent year-over-year, Delivery Revenue witnessed a 13 percent increase quarter-on-quarter, and a 122 percent year-over-year growth.

Uber’s net income was $1.1 billion, including $272 million in stock-based compensation expense. Net income benefited from unrealized gains of $1.4 billion and $471 million due to the revaluation of Uber’s equity investments in Didi and Aurora, respectively.

The company, however, saw steeper adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) losses of $509 million, higher than analysts’ estimates of $324.5 million.

Its adjusted EBITDA loss was $509 million, down $150 million from the previous quarter but an improvement of $328 million from last year, representing a 2.3 percent margin as a percentage of Gross Bookings, and a 13 percent margin as a percentage of revenue.

Mobility Adjusted EBITDA was $179 million, down $119 million from the previous quarter but an improvement of  $129 million from last year, representing a 2.1 percent margin as a percentage of Mobility Gross Bookings, and an 11.1 percent margin as a percentage of Mobility Revenue.

Elevated investments in reviving driver availability, particularly in the US, took a toll on Mobility Take Rate and Adjusted EBITDA.

Delivery Adjusted EBITDA was $161 million, representing a 1.2 percent margin as a percentage of Delivery Gross Bookings, and an 8.2 percent margin as a percentage of Delivery Revenue.

Uber said it expects its Adjusted EBITDA losses to improve by the end of the year. “As we make progress towards that important milestone, we expect our Adjusted EBITDA loss in Q3 to improve to less than $100 million in addition to record Gross Bookings between $22 and $24 billion,” Nelson Chai, Uber’s Chief Financial Officer, said.

Unrestricted cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments were $5.0 billion at the end of the second quarter.

Uber’s delivery sector has continued to do impressively well, even outperforming the company’s core ride-hailing business, realizing $1.96 billion in revenue, compared to the latter’s revenue of $1.62 billion. With strict restrictions placed on traveling in the heat of the pandemic, many people turned to food and good deliveries. And even restrictions eased around the world, the delivery business of Uber stayed strong. In an update to shareholders, the company said that its number of delivery merchants grew to more than 750,000 in the quarter.

The company has struggled with supply and demand imbalances impacted by the pandemic, leading to surge pricing and increased wait times. On the company’s call with investors, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that prices and wait times weren’t meeting targets. To overcome this challenge, the company invested in recovery by investing in drivers in the second quarter, and experienced massive progress, with monthly active drivers and couriers in the US increasing by nearly 420,000 from February to July. Uber did not give the exact number of drivers but said that it was optimistic about growth rates, thanks to the big investments it made in bringing people back.

“The good news is we’re now in a good place where we’re able to pull those investments back. The investments were big, but the investments were worth it.” Uber CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, said

Uber reported 1.51 billion trips on the platform and said that its drivers and couriers earned an aggregate of $7.9 billion during the quarter.