Lyft Stock Is Soaring Friday: What's Going On?

Lyft LYFT shares are trading higher Friday after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and increased its share repurchase program.

What To Know: The company reported earnings per share of 1 cent, beating the consensus estimate of a 1 cent-loss. In addition, Lyft reported sales of $1.45 billion, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 billion, but representing a 14% year-over-year climb.

Rides grew 16% year-over-year to 218.4 million while active riders increased 11% year-over-year to 24.2 million, both representing a record for the first quarter.

Lyft's board of directors authorized an increase to its share repurchase program to a new total of $750 million. 

“Q1 marked Lyft’s 16th consecutive quarter of double-digit year on year Gross Bookings growth demonstrating the resilience and momentum of our customer-obsessed strategy,” said Lyft CEO David Risher.

“In the last week of March, rides reached the highest weekly levels in our history and dual-app drivers reported a 23 percentage point preference for Lyft. With our expansion into new demographics via Lyft Silver and into Europe with our planned FREENOW acquisition, we’re putting all the pieces in place for sustained, market-leading performance.”

Following the earnings report, Barclays analyst Ross Sandler maintained an Equal-Weight rating on Lyft and raised the price target from $19 to $20.

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LYFT Price Action: At the time of writing, Lyft shares are trading 21% higher at $15.73, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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