Lyft shares jumped 62 per cent after the closing bell Tuesday thanks in part to a typo in the ride-hailing company’s earnings release that appears to have sent investors’ auto-trading algorithms — or “bots” — into a buying frenzy.
Lyft’s fourth-quarter report initially forecast that an important profit metric was expected to climb by 500 basis points, or five per cent, in 2024. However, the company informed investors about five minutes after the original release that there was one zero too many in that number and corrected it to 50 basis points, a much more realistic 0.5 per cent.
Shares retreated after the correction, but remain more than 37 per cent higher — at US$16.69 per share — in early Wednesday trading because the company topped most Wall Street expectations for the quarter.
Lyft’s gross bookings beat Wall Street forecasts, rising 17 per cent year-over-year to $3.7 billion. Lyft’s guidance for first-quarter bookings between $3.5 and $3.6 billion also came in higher than projections.