Uber forecasts gross bookings for second quarter below expectations

(Reuters) -Uber forecast second-quarter gross bookings below expectations after missing the target for the first three months on Wednesday, sending it shares down nearly 10% before the bell.

The weakness in a key metric that denotes the total value of revenue earned on the Uber platform signals demand weakness for the company’s ride-share and food delivery services.

The company’s profitability push, however, is yielding result as core profit for the first quarter and its forecast exceeded Wall Street expectations.

Its report comes a day after Lyft posted better-than-expected results and forecast a strong quarter.

Uber’s smaller rival said it was seeing industry-wide growth in ride-share demand and was able to draw in users with features like shorter wait-times.

Unlike Lyft whose ride-hailing services are limited to the United States and parts of Canada, Uber benefits from a larger presence in about 70 countries and a wider range of services, including logistics services.

“Our broader growth portfolio is not only growing quickly but is also seeing improved profitability with scale,” CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in his prepared remarks.

Uber expects second-quarter adjusted core profit, a key profitability measure, between $1.45 billion and $1.53 billion, with its mid-point of $1.49 billion coming above analysts’ average estimate of $1.47 billion, according to LSEG data.

It expects gross bookings, or the total dollar value earned from its services, in the range of $38.75 billion to $40.25 billion, below expectations of $40.04 billion.

Uber posted adjusted core profit of $1.38 billion in the first-quarter, an 82% surge from a year ago and above expectations of $1.32 billion.

Revenue rose 15% to $10.13 billion, narrowly beating the estimate of $10.11 billion.

Khosrowshahi said growth in the ride-share business was driven by higher airport and office commutes, while the delivery business benefited from new users and higher frequency of orders.

Mobility revenue grew higher than expected at 30%, while sales at the food delivery unit grew below expectations at 4%. Gross bookings came in at $37.65 billion, shy of expectations of $37.92 billion.

(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)