Lyft reported an earnings beat and the stock is at one-year highs
The shares of LYFT Inc (NASDAQ:LYFT) are trading at their highest level since Dec. 18 this morning, last seen 30.4% higher to trade at $15.82 following a better-than-expected fourth quarter report from the ride share company. Lyft issued earnings of 18 cents per share, which beat estimates, while revenue was in line with forecasts at $1.22 billion. The company also issued strong guidance, but had to correct an overstatement regarding its margin forecast.
At least 15 analysts hiked their price target on LYFT following the event, while MoffettNathanson upgraded the shares to “neutral” from “sell” and lifted its price target to $13 from $7. It looks like a round of bull notes was warranted too, considering the average 12-month target price of $14.30 is a 4.7% discount to last night’s close. More upgrades could also be on the way, as 28 of 32 covering brokerages rate Lyft stock a “hold” or worse.
On the charts, Lyft stock is trading at its highest level since February 2023, bouncing off its 160-day moving average yesterday after a 2.2% drawdown. The shares are now 51.8% higher year-over-year, and have more than doubled their May 7 record low of $7.85.
Drilling down to today’s options activity, 102,000 calls and 33,000 puts have crossed the tape so far, volume that’s 31 times the average intraday amount. Most popular is the February 20 call, followed by the 17-strike call in the same standard series, with new positions being bought to open at the latter.
This denotes a shift in the options pits, as bearish bets have been more popular than usual, per the stock’s 10-day put/call volume ratio of 0.48 that stands in the 82nd annual percentile at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), calls still outnumber puts on an absolute basis; however, the high percentile suggests puts have been picked up at a faster-than-usual clip in the last two weeks.