Lyft is having a messy first few days of trading

Reuters

FILE PHOTO: A car with a Lyft logo in its window drives down a street as the company prepares for its upcoming IPO in New York

• Lyft shares swung between gains and losses on Tuesday, marking a volatile third day of trade.
• The newly minted ride-sharing stock has lost about 20% of its value since going public last week.
• Investors were enthusiastic heading into Lyft's historic initial public offering, but analysts are concerned about the company's uncertain path to achieving a profit.
• There's also Uber.
• Watch Lyft trade live.

Lyft's early days of trading as the first public ride-sharing company have been pretty messy.

Shares fell as much as 3% Tuesday after swinging between gains and losses for most of the morning. On Monday - its first full day of trading on the Nasdaq - Lyft tanked nearly 12% after an investment firm came out with a lukewarm "neutral" rating.

And in its trading debut on Friday, Lyft surged out of the gate before closing out the session on its lows. Shares turned negative in after-hours trading.

Analysts are generally concerned about Lyft's uncertain path to profitability, as well as the competition Uber poses once it hits the public market. Other ride-sharing players throw more uncertainty into the mix.

Michael Ward, an analyst at Seaport Global, became the latest analyst to voice a cautious view on the name on Tuesday. He initiated his coverage with a "sell" rating.

"While we believe the ridesharing market will continue to grow and expect LYFT to be a prime competitor, in our view, current valuations reflect an overly optimistic view of consumer behavior in the US," said Ward.

Lyft shares would have to drop around 40% from current levels to reach Ward's price target of $42.

Now read more Lyft coverage from Markets Insider and Business Insider:

• Lyft and Levi's just went public with 2 very different IPOs that say the same thing about what investors want
• L yft is deeply unprofitable - but that isn't stopping eager Wall Street investors
• Here's who's getting rich from Lyft's enormous IPO
• Here's what the first Wall Street analysts to cover Lyft stock are saying about the stock

Markets Insider

Lyft shares.