NEW YORK: Uber Technologies Inc may face a cooler reception from investors than expected when it prices its initial public offering next month since smaller U.S. ride-hailing rival Lyft Inc’s aggressive stock launch and subsequent fall.
Lyft’s IPO priced at the top end of its upwardly revised range last month, assigning it a valuation of more than $24 billion in an offering that raised $2.34 billion.
But the stock has languished since debuting on the Nasdaq on March 29, as concerns about the startup’s potential for profitability have become more prominent.
Lyft shares ended on Wednesday down 11 percent at $60.12, well below their $72 IPO price. Lyft was the first in a string of technology IPOs expected this year, including food delivery service Postmates and smart exercise bike Peleton.
Lyft’s poor stock performance bodes ill for these IPOs, especially for companies like Uber with no profits to show.
“There’s no discernable way these companies are valued. What you’re really buying into is the long-term ability of the company to capture lots of sales and hopefully get profitable at some point,” said Brian Hamilton, founder of data firm Sageworks.
“I’m sure that the Lyft debut is going to affect both Uber and Pinterest,” Hamilton added.
Uber filed for its IPO in December with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission during the same week as Lyft. But it let Lyft go first with its offering, partly because it was working on a new private fundraising round for its autonomous driving unit.
Uber is now paying the price of going second. It is planning to seek a valuation between $90 billion and $100 billion, short of the $120 billion investment bankers previously told the company it could be worth in an IPO, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Image sharing app Pinterest Inc this week also set the terms for its IPO which would value the company at up to $11.3 billion, below its latest fundraising round which valued it at $12 billion in 2017.
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