Lyft will be the first ride-hailing company to ever go public. Here's how its numbers compare to Uber.

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Lyft will be the first ride-hailing company to ever go public. Here's how its numbers compare to Uber.

lyft vs uber financials 2x1

BI Graphics / Samantha Lee

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  • Lyft is Wall Street's first shot at ride-hailing.
  • While the company is much smaller than Uber, it has been slowly gaining ground on its global competitor.
  • Business Insider compiled numbers from Lyft's IPO filing in order to compare them to Uber's self-reported numbers from the past two years.

All eyes are on Lyft this week as its executives head out on a roadshow to court investors across the country ahead of its hotly anticipated IPO.

With the ride-hailing firm's prospectus finally public, it's the first time many of Lyft's financials have been opened up beyond the internet team. For analysts and investors, its also the first time the comparison to Uber - Lyft's much larger competitor - is finally possible.

Read more: A 'warrior's warrior': Why insiders say the first-time CFO running Lyft's $20 billion IPO is the perfect fit

Unlike Uber, which commands a slightly bigger market share in the US, Lyft has not self-reported it's quarterly financials. Business Insider dug through the IPO filing in order to compare Lyft's performance in recent years to those of Uber. Compiled with other insights, like app installs and market data, they paint of a picture of a close race to dominate ride-hailing in the US.

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Uber is still bigger — by a huge magnitude

Uber is still bigger — by a huge magnitude

In the most recent reported quarter, the end of 2018, Uber brought in $3 billion of revenue, it said in a release. Lyft, meanwhile, said in it's S-1 filing that it brought in $670 million for the same period. But while Lyft's revenue growth appears to be picking up steam, Uber's rapid growth from 2016 and into 2017 shows some slowing.

There's still plenty of room for growth, though. Americans spend $1.2 trillion annually on personal transportation, according to Tom White, an analyst at D.A. Davidson, who was the first Wall Street analyst to launch coverage of the stock this week. White gave Lyft a buy rating with a $75 price target, about 15% above the company's planned range of $62 to $68 for initial share prices.

"We are currently modeling Lyft revenue growth this year of 56%, to $3.4 billion" White said in a note to clients Tuesday.

Both companies are losing lots of money

Both companies are losing lots of money

With the exception of one quarter for Uber — when its acquisitions of Yandex in Russia and Grab in Southeast Asia closed — both companies' balance sheets are deeply in the red. Both companies are racing to slow those losses, while still investing enough to continue growing, in order to appease investors.

Uber, as one might assume, has more losses per quarter in step with its higher revenue. Both companies, as well as analysts, have pointed to gross bookings as a better way to understand the ride-hailing's growth.

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It all comes down to bookings

It all comes down to bookings

Uber and Lyft calculate bookings slightly differently — but the measure is essentially the same for both companies. In short, gross bookings is all of the money that customers spend on rides (and in Uber's case, Uber Eats deliveries, too).

Tom White, of Davidson, expects that Lyft could eventually get its share of total bookings in the US up to about one-third.

"Our long-term valuation framework for Lyft assumes that the company achieves a 31.4% bookings share by 2029 (vs. an estimated 14.9% share today)," White said in his initiation report.

And to continue increasing its share of booking's Lyft will need to get more people on the app

Lyft is gaining growing in the US

Lyft is gaining growing in the US

Lyft has closed the new-install gap quickly, according to data from the data firm Sensor Tower. The company told investors in its IPO filing that it got a big boost from the "delete-Uber" campaign that scarred the company's image in 2017.

"The growth rate in Revenue per Active Rider increased significantly in the first and second quarters of 2017 as our brand and values continued to resonate with riders and they increased their usage of Lyft instead of competing offerings," the S-1 said.

That gap could shrink even further

"We see Lyft continuing to expand its portion of new U.S. installs versus Uber each month," Alex Malafeev, co-founder of Sensor Tower, told Business Insider.

"Lyft's footprint internationally is obviously only a small fraction of Uber's, but we are seeing the former making significant inroads against its rival in Canada during the past 18 months, growing its share of new installs from 5 percent to 25 percent over that period."

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Internationally, Uber is still the winner

Internationally, Uber is still the winner

That makes sense, given Lyft is only active in the US and Canada. Uber, meanwhile, is active in thousands of markets in countries all around the globe. Lyft seems focused on the US for now, and has privately pitched investors on its singular ride-hailing (and bikes and scooters) bet, as opposed to Uber's multi-pronged approach to self-driving, delivery, and more.

"The rideshare industry still has plenty of growth runway," said White of Davidson. "With its advantages in convenience, value, and payments expanding the scope/scale of the traditional taxi market that is being disrupted."

In January, when Business Insider reported on Uber's slowing app install growth, the company offered this comment:

"We continue to experience strong growth for a business of our size and global scope," Uber spokesperson Michael Amodeo said. "As we look ahead to an IPO and beyond, we are investing in future growth across our platform, including in food, freight, electric bikes and scooters, and high-potential markets outside the US."

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