Lyft, Inc.

In this podcast, Motley Fool analysts David Meier, Tom King, and Tim Beyers:
Discuss the failures that led to the AWS outage this week and which companies and services were impacted.
Debate whether companies have become too dependent on AWS and its peers, especially when virtually all the in-demand AI services we're banking on are hosted in these clouds.
Play another game of Faker or Breaker with three companies impacted by the AWS outage.
Don't wait! Be sure to get to your local bookstore and pick up a copy of David's Gardner's new book -- Rule Breaker Investing: How to Pick the Best Stocks of the Future and Build Lasting Wealth. It's on shelves now; get it before it's gone!
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »
Tim Beyers: WTH at AWS. We need to talk about computing in the Cloud fools. You're listening to Motley Fool Money. Welcome Fools. I'm your host, Tim Beyers. With me are longtime fools, David Meier, Tom King. It's great to have you both here. So, guys, just a few hours ago, recording on Monday morning, Amazon Web Services suffered a pretty catastrophic outage in one of the Eastern US regions. And businesses that offer essential digital services have taken a hit here. This isn't the first time we've seen AWS go down, and it's not going to be the last, especially with the scale of the AI buildout of which AWS plays a pretty big part. So quick reactions here first. Tom, I'll start with you. Are you at all surprised by this news? Why or why not?
Tom King: I'm not. This is a complicated system, and in a complicated system, little things can compound. So it's almost inevitable that something like this would happen. It's very similar to what happened with CrowdStrike last year. Remember when CrowdStrike caused that big outage. It recovered from that. It got on. It is the cost of how things are these days.
Tim Beyers: Yeah. I mean, that's a fair point. I mean, these things are made up of, we've seen these commercials before, Dave, where you have the dominoes all lined up. You hit one of those dominoes and they all start falling. What's your reaction to this?
David Meier: To be frank? I'm surprised it's not happening more. Really, really think about this. Something bad happened there was an outage for a few hours. It's slowly everything's getting back online. Everything's back up and running. This is a massive system.
Tim Beyers: Yeah.
David Meier: The fact that it has the reliability that it does is an engineering marvel. So yeah, like, I get it. It's disappointing. Thank goodness it happened at 3:00 A.M. Eastern Time. I mean, I don't know exactly how much traffic is flowing through there. I remember in my backyard in Northern Virginia, 35% of the world's Internet traffic used to flow through my backyard at peak times. So I'm not surprised, but quite frankly, I'm impressed how quickly they recovered it. I'm surprised it doesn't happen more. Maybe it does and we just don't feel it.
Tim Beyers: I don't know if there is a Jeff Bezos shakes head approvingly meme, but I think you'd be getting that right now, Dave. I mean, it is interesting. So let's talk about this. AWS going dark, again, this has happened many times. Here's what we know. AWS, like you said, Dave, went offline around 3:00 A.M. Eastern Time for what appears to have been a couple of hours. The rolling effects could continue, and we are recording this on a platform called Riverside. As soon as I logged in, we got a nice little notice from Riverside saying, Hey, AWS went down and services may be affected. I'm paraphrasing there. So lots of companies have been affected here. At issue were some errors in the company's DynamoDB database. So let me just briefly explain what this is. Amazon's primary database is DynamoDB. It's a transactional database, and it's most famous for being the homegrown Amazon database that they use really to process transactions. So this is meant to be a highly resilient, highly replicated database throughout the Amazon and the Amazon Web Services ecosystem. This is what they've built their business on. What it was subject to, we don't know if it was an attack or just an error. It was subject to an outage in the DNS system, the domain name server system. When that happens, when the DNS goes out, and you probably have heard of this, like a distributed denial of service attack, that's meant to attack the DNS. If you do that, if you take down the DNS, it's like you having your phone and suddenly all your contacts, like, you can't press to call anybody because your contacts are frozen. The phone book in your phone just no longer works. You can't call anybody. When the DNS is down, that's what happens. The DNS determines when you say google.com, there's an underlying IP address that's a series of numbers, and it translates google.com to those numbers. When that's down, you can't do that, which means the Internet just stops functioning. So, this appears to be what happened here. I'm curious because the affected companies include Coinbase, Robinhood, Roblox, punch of others, two questions from me. I'll start with you this time, Dave. You said, effectively, you're surprised this isn't happening more. But I'd like to gauge your concerns. Are you at all concerned with how much influence AWS has over modern compute? And are we creating any kind of single point of failure here?
David Meier: So the answer is yes, there is concern.
Tim Beyers: Okay.
David Meier: I don't know how much I should be concerned, though, because this is the direction that everything is going. Many years ago, I was talking with some folks, and I'm like, When the Internet came up, we are always going to be going more digital, not more analog. AWS Azure Google Computing Platform, GCP, they all sprung up, and they all provide these types of services. So I don't think we're going to a single point of failure. There's not going to be one company that always does everything for everyone. But we don't have nearly as many companies doing this as when the Internet was first being created. There aren't as many IP companies things like that. So I don't know. You know, it's just like I said, it's kind of one of those things where it's sort of the cost of doing business. If you're not going to own your own hardware and manage your own hardware, you're essentially paying for the risk of someone else having an issue and your business being affected.
Tim Beyers: Yeah. I mean, Tom, I'm curious how you think about this because this is this is an issue. Digital businesses need to have that digital infrastructure to do business, and that infrastructure is now largely outsourced. So how do you think about this?
Tom King: It is one of the downsides that we must live with. We gained many advantages from the Cloud providers, and this is one of the downsides that if one of them breaks, they have a large impact on a lot of people. I'm sure you guys remember you've been around long enough to remember the days when you would have cold rooms in your office building that were stacked with computing equipment to deliver your website and the things that you sold over the Internet. We don't have those anymore. We outsource that to Google or Microsoft or Amazon, and we don't have to worry about keeping it working or keeping the equipment cold. Yes, it's one of the disadvantages of our current system, but we've gained many other advantages, I think is the way to think about it.
Tim Beyers: I love that you called server rooms, cold rooms.
Tom King: When I lived in Africa, you would go into the server room to cool down because of one of the only cold rooms in the office building.
Tim Beyers: Nice. I love that you called it that because you go into a server room, and, yes, it's intending to be cold. Get too close to a server, you stop being cold real fast. They run they run really hot. But I love that you called them that. Let's talk about risk here, though, Tom, because I think you're both right. So let's call this the cost of doing business. But how would you assess risk? Because AI is here. The AI buildout is going to continue, and it's going to largely depend on these cloud infrastructure companies quite a lot. Let's call it GPU hoarding. They're going to do the most GPU hoarding. They are going to provide the infrastructure. When the digital assistance you need is housed someplace else that we can't see and it's controlled by somebody else, how should we think about companies like Coinbase, Robinhood, and Roblox? Do they need to be valued with a higher risk premium because of their dependence on something like AWS? Tom, I'll go to you first on this.
Tom King: I don't think so. I think that companies will take the option that costs them the least, both in terms of money and time and headaches and so on. So if you really care about resiliency of always having your services available over the Internet, you would invest the money and the time and everything else to have your own servers. The reason they choose to go with one of the Cloud providers is because they gain many different advantages. It's probably cheaper for them. It's less work for them. It expands to fill the needs. There is no limit to how much demand their service can supply so that you don't, there's no limit on the hardware. Amazon handles that problem or Google or Microsoft. So I think companies are always going to make a decision that is best for them in their own unique circumstances. No, I don't think that any kind of additional risk needs to be considered here.
Tim Beyers: Dave, what do you think?
David Meier: I agree with what Tom was saying. I don't think there's any additional risk premium that's needed. Part of the reason is there's actually a market that's determining where people will spend their money. We don't have a single point of failure. This isn't a monopoly. If this behavior or if these incidences grew in frequency, what would happen? People would switch.
Tim Beyers: Yeah.
David Meier: So there's actually a massive incentive for these companies to make sure that the systems are reliable. Again, it happened early in the morning. There was an immediate response. It actually got back online pretty quickly. If it was that serious, they responded quickly, and I'm sure that they've learned, and we'll see what happens going forward. But I actually think the market is what controls the risk? Yeah, I realize it would be a pain to switch, but there are options available for substitution.
Tim Beyers: There are companies that are switching. Up next, we're going to talk about some fakers and some breakers. It's the faker or breaker game. You're listening to Motley Fool Money.
Fools, we're back. Thank you for listening to Motley Fool Money. We have a wide range of companies that were affected by the AWS outage today. Let's talk about three, guys. We're going to talk about three, and let's get your take on them. Are these AWS dependent businesses fakers or are they breakers? As a reminder, a faker is a company that shows outstanding growth for a brief but unsustainable period of time. They look good enough. They look enough like breakers to small fool some investors. So, Tom, coming to you first here. Faker or breaker, Coinbase.
Tom King: I would probably say faker because it's heavily dependent on the level of speculative activity in the markets, which goes up and goes down. When it goes down, it really, really hurts the people that are involved. So I would say faker.
Tim Beyers: I mean, this is an interesting one because the cryptomarkets are getting more and more real, more and more interesting. There is more real dollars flowing in particular into Bitcoin. However, this is probably one of the most rampant areas for fraud. With that, I'm going to give you Number 2 here, Dave, because it's a related company, Robinhood, which has made a lot of money on orchestrating crypto. So faker breaker, Robinhood.
David Meier: So Robinhood is not for me as an investor.
Tim Beyers: All right. I like you that you're qualifying already, but keep going.
David Meier: Well, we work for the Motley Fool. We tend to think about things differently. Robinhood is a type of competitor. I will say that this is still a breaker. The reason is is because you do have founders who had their vision. They knew what they wanted to do, and they were executing on it. The other thing is, they're serving a big market and one that's growing. And the other thing that in order to serve those markets, they continue to bring new products and services. So they have some sort of ability that they seem to be turning into an advantage to know, Hey, this is what our consumers want. So more people are coming, more people are staying engaged. Yes, whether it was free trades or now it's crypto or now it's prediction markets. Again, not for me. But that's OK. There's a lot of companies out there that don't serve me. But I see this company as having a lot of the traits of a rule breaker.
Tim Beyers: I'm going to bring up the third one, and I'm going to ask you both for a super quick take on this because I think it's a company some of maybe two of us. I know I'm going to be using this company later this week in order to go to Fool fest in DC, and that is Lyft. So faker or breaker Tom Lyft not Uber, Uber look alike.
Tom King: So Lyft is pretty much concentrated in the United States. Uber took the global expansion option. I think that Uber's size gives it certain advantages over Lyft. I know from being a regular or at least until a few years ago, a regular user of both that Uber was always cheaper and always quicker to get to you. They also probably lose more money than Lyft or were back then at the time. I mean, I think, it's hard to say, but, I mean, there has to be a Lyft because Uber can't have this market entirely to itself. Then we'd really be in trouble.
Tim Beyers: Is what you're saying. It passes the Cola test. It is the Pepsi to Uber.
Tom King: It is, yes.
Tim Beyers: So does that make it a breaker for you or it's still not enough?
Tom King: It's still not enough, but I think it's an important company. It has to exist to compete with Uber.
Tim Beyers: Last word, Dave, faker or breaker.
David Meier: Faker is hard, but I have to push in that direction. It's interesting. If I remember my history correctly, Lyft started before Uber.
Tim Beyers: I don't know.
David Meier: But I think that's correct. I think it was called Zimcar and then it morphed and then Lyft was created out of Zimcar. But it got usurped by Uber. Uber just went on, we're going to gobble up the world. We're going to take this market share strategy, and Uber has done a good job of rebounding. But I don't see it as something that can really take serious market share going forward. It'll still grow. It still provides an excellent service. It's the one I go to. I don't go to Uber. But, no, I don't think I can call it rule breaker. But faker is tough. Faker is harsh, in my opinion.
Tim Beyers: This is the game Dave, you got to make a call.
David Meier: No, I'm going with Faker, but I'm I'm giving you the little caveat.
Tim Beyers: Fair enough. Up next, we preview tomorrow. There's some interesting stuff happening. Speaking of prediction markets, there's your hint. You're listening to Motley Fool Money.
Back with a preview for tomorrow, you will have Emily Flippen and Sanmeet Deo and Jason Hall talking about prediction markets. What are they? How are they approved with regulators? How much money is flowing through them now? How can you invest in them? So, if prediction markets are a legitimate market opportunity, are they based on skill? Is it just another form of gambling? This is everything you're going to hear from Emily, Sanmeet and Jason tomorrow. But for today, I think we've concluded here guys, at AWS massive down today for a little period of time, probably going to be down again in the future. Doesn't mean that this is one that we should get too over hyped about, but a little bit annoying. But that's it for today.
Thanks to David Meier and Tom King for joining me today, guys. As always, people on the program may have interest in the stocks they talk about, and the Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against. So don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. All personal finance content follows Motley Fool. Editorial standards and is not approved by advertisers. Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. To see our full advertising disclosure, please check out our show notes. That's it for Motley Fool Money Today. Again, please be sure you tune in for Emily, Sanmeet and Jason tomorrow for Dave Meier and Tom King, for our engineer, Dan Boyd and our producer, Anna, Chuck and Lou. I'm Tim Beyers. You've been listening to Motley Fool Money. Thanks and see soon Fools. Move on.
Don’t miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity
Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you’ll want to hear this.
On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a “Double Down” stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you’re worried you’ve already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it’s too late. And the numbers speak for themselves:
Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you’d have $469,853!*
Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you’d have $49,941!*
Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you’d have $669,449!*
Right now, we’re issuing “Double Down” alerts for three incredible companies, available when you join Stock Advisor, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.
*Stock Advisor returns as of October 20, 2025
David Meier has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thomas King, CFA has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, CrowdStrike, Microsoft, Roblox, and Uber Technologies. Tim Beyers has positions in Alphabet and Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Bitcoin, CrowdStrike, Microsoft, Roblox, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Coinbase Global and Lyft and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

AWS Goes AWOL: Are We Too Dependent on the Cloud?

Key Points
Lyft is growing at a double-digit rate as autonomous taxis have yet to put a dent into its expansion.
The company's profits are soaring thanks to changes in management.
California is called The Golden State. And from The Golden State comes a golden opportunity for investors. Those don't come around very often so it's important to not let this one slip by without at least considering it.
What should investors do when they get a golden opportunity? As investing great Warren Buffett said: "Opportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble."
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »
This was echoed by Buffett's late right-hand man Charlie Munger who said, "When you get a lollapalooza, for God's sakes, don't hang by like a timid little rabbit."
To be sure, shares of this California-based company are already up 55% year to date, so it was certainly a better opportunity for investors at the start of the year. But I believe it can still be a key component of a growth-investing portfolio. And I'm talking about none other than ride-sharing platform Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT).
Why Lyft is a golden opportunity
I see a golden opportunity as a company with the following features: its profits are improving; its stock trades at a cheap valuation; and it's growing nicely. Lyft shows all three.
For growth, Lyft is growing at a double-digit rate. In the second quarter of 2025, rides on its platform increased 14% year over year to an all-time high, and key underpenetrated markets such as Nashville grew at an over-20% rate. Q2 bookings also grew by double digits, and management expects 13% to 17% bookings growth for the upcoming Q3.
In short, growth is great for Lyft, and it's continuing to plow ahead.
For profit improvement, Lyft's CEO David Risher took over in 2023, vowing better profitability, and he's delivered on that pledge. The company officially turned the corner with positive free cash flow on a trailing-12-month basis in 2024's Q2 and has delivered six straight quarters of positive results.
Some of the notable changes under Risher have been an increase in sales-and-marketing spend, which has paid off with higher revenue. But corporate expenses have been largely held in place, and research-and-development expenses actually declined. The payoff is better profitability.
Finally, concerning valuation, Lyft stock trades at a mere 8 times its free cash flow. Many comparable businesses trade at a valuation that is two to three times higher than this, highlighting the bargain here.
It's rare to find a company that's growing by double digits on the top line, making meaningful gains on the bottom line, and also trading at a discount to comparable companies. That's why Lyft is a golden opportunity in my book.
Why some call it fool's gold
Many investors recognize everything I've highlighted here but nevertheless are bearish on Lyft stock. They don't question present results, but they do question sustainability. It's believed that Lyft's industry is changing and will leave it behind sooner or later.
The main catalyst for change in the ride-sharing space could be autonomous vehicles, specifically autonomous taxis. The idea is that there will be millions of autonomous taxis on the road, making Lyft's business model irrelevant. But there are some important counterpoints to consider.
First, there could be a long road ahead before autonomous taxis fully displace the current ride-sharing model. It's already slower to roll out than some pundits predicted. Lyft could continue for some time before this competitive risk really materializes.
Moreover, it's premature to believe that autonomous taxis would make third-party, ride-sharing platforms obsolete. Consider that Domino's Pizza has excelled at delivering its own pizzas for decades, but it still partnered with DoorDash for incremental revenue. It's quite possible that autonomous taxis would still be hailed from Lyft's app in the future.
Finally, there are parts of Lyft's business that would directly benefit from a more autonomous future. For example, Lyft's Flexdrive business provides management tools for fleets of autonomous taxis. This is just a single example of how Lyft could pivot in a worst-case scenario.
Riding with Lyft
Personally, I believe that investors are overemphasizing the potential risks to Lyft's business and underappreciating the investment opportunity. There may be businesses that are growing faster, and have better profit margins or cheaper stocks. But I struggle to find a more attractive combination of these three traits than Lyft stock right now.
That's why I see it as a golden opportunity. And it's why I've personally made Lyft stock a big component of my growth stock portfolio.
Should you invest $1,000 in Lyft right now?
Before you buy stock in Lyft, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Lyft wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $646,805!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,123,113!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,055% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 188% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
*Stock Advisor returns as of October 13, 2025
Jon Quast has positions in Lyft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Domino's Pizza and DoorDash. The Motley Fool recommends Lyft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

This California-Based Company Could Be a Key Player for Growth Portfolios

Despite tariff-related uncertainties, shares of Uber Technologies UBER have gained 54.9% so far this year. As a result of this upbeat performance, UBER’s shares have handily outperformed the Zacks Internet-Services industry on a year-to-date basis. It has also outpaced rival Lyft LYFT.
YTD Price Comparison
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Given this impressive price performance, the question that arises is whether it is worth buying the stock at current prices. Let us dig deeper to find out.
Factors Working in Favor of UBER
Gross Bookings Growth: Uber continues to gain from robust growth in gross bookings, with both its mobility and delivery segments posting strong double-digit increases. This reflects sustained demand for the company’s services. In the June quarter, the mobility segment’s gross bookings climbed 18% year over year on a constant-currency basis to $23.7 billion, while the delivery segment’s gross bookings advanced 20% to $21.7 billion.
For the third quarter of 2025, Uber projects total gross bookings between $48.25 billion and $49.75 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 17-21% on a constant-currency basis. The forecast factors in a neutral to slightly positive foreign exchange effect. Our current estimate stands at $48.3 billion, indicating 17.9% growth from the third-quarter 2024 actuals.
Return to the Drone Deliveries Field: Last month, Uber entered a partnership with drone operator Flytrex. The partnership aims to launch drone delivery on the Uber Eats platform. The service is expected to begin with Uber Eats pilot markets in the United States by the end of 2025. Uber Eats is the online food ordering and delivery platform of Uber.
The partnership results in the combination of Flytrex’s proven autonomous drone delivery system and Uber’s global platform and logistics expertise for creating a fully integrated end-to-end experience for speed, safety and scale. For expediting the development and deployment of drone delivery technology, Uber is making its first investment in drone technology with Flytrex.
The association with Flytrex marks Uber’s return into the field of drone deliveries after 2019, when Uber Eats intended to test flying food to customers by drone in San Diego and made a few test deliveries in partnership with McDonald's MCD. Uber Eats collaborated on the experiment with Uber Elevate, the company’s aviation division, at that time.
However, the testing in partnership with McDonald’s failed to launch commercially. With autonomous drones being the future of food delivery, Uber’s move to ink a deal with Flytrex is a prudent one.
Commendable Expansion Efforts: Even though Uber’s primary business is ridesharing, it has diversified into food delivery and freight over time. Diversification is imperative for big companies to reduce risks and UBER has excelled in this area. The company is looking to strengthen its Uber Eats platform and has inked multiple deals recently on that front.
Last month, Uber announced a nationwide partnership with ALDI, America’s fastest-growing grocer. Following the deal, ALDI’s much sought-after selection of fresh and affordable products will be available on Uber Eats. With more than 2,500 ALDI stores joining the platform, customers can have groceries delivered directly to their doorstep either on demand or through scheduled orders with just a tap.
Strong Financials & Robust Share Buyback: Uber is well-positioned to weather short-term challenges, with $8.6 billion in cash and equivalents at the end of second-quarter 2025. The company’s current ratio (a measure of liquidity) is above 1. Uber reported a free cash flow of $2.5 billion in the second quarter of 2025, up 44% year over year, highlighting its financial bliss.
In August, Uber announced a stock repurchase authorization of up to an additional $20 billion of common stock. With this bold initiative, UBER is not only enhancing shareholder value but also signaling confidence in its ongoing business strategy.
The latest shareholder-friendly announcement by Uber is in addition to the $7-billion authorization announced in 2024. We remind investors that the $7-billion share repurchase authorization was the first such program in the company's history. The accelerated $1.5 billion stock buyback program, part of the $7-billion program, was completed in the first quarter of 2025.
Headwinds
Uber’s High Debt Load: We are also concerned about UBER’s high debt levels despite efforts to reduce them. The company’s times interest earned ratio was 14.9 at the end of second-quarter 2025, much lower than industrial levels. A lower times interest earned ratio often means that a company faces a greater risk of defaulting on its debt obligations. This implies serious financial problems.
Long-term Debt to Capitalization
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Unfavorable Valuation: Uber shares are expensive. The stock is overvalued compared with its industry. It is currently trading at a price-to-earnings multiple of 27.9, higher than the industry average of 23.21. Its Value Score of D suggests that the stock is anything but cheap and indicates a stretched valuation at this moment. Lyft shares are even more expensive.
UBER's P/E F12M vs. Industry & LYFT
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Unimpressive Earnings Estimate Revisions: The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the September-quarter and next-year earnings has been revised downward over the past 60 days. For the next quarter as well as for the current year, there has been no upward revision over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Here's How to Play UBER Stock Now
Uber is experiencing increasing demand across its ridesharing and delivery platforms. This rising popularity, along with ongoing growth initiatives and a firm commitment to cost efficiency, is contributing to the company’s strong business performance.
Given the multiple positives working in the company’s favor, existing investors are encouraged to hold onto their UBER shares to capitalize on its long-term fundamentals. However, potential investors may consider waiting for a more attractive entry point, given the stock’s premium valuation, modest earnings estimate revisions and debt levels above the industry average.
Uber currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Radical New Technology Could Hand Investors Huge Gains
Quantum Computing is the next technological revolution, and it could be even more advanced than AI.
While some believed the technology was years away, it is already present and moving fast. Large hyperscalers, such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Oracle, and even Meta and Tesla, are scrambling to integrate quantum computing into their infrastructure.
Senior Stock Strategist Kevin Cook reveals 7 carefully selected stocks poised to dominate the quantum computing landscape in his report, Beyond AI: The Quantum Leap in Computing Power.
Kevin was among the early experts who recognized NVIDIA's enormous potential back in 2016. Now, he has keyed in on what could be "the next big thing" in quantum computing supremacy. Today, you have a rare chance to position your portfolio at the forefront of this opportunity.
See Top Quantum Stocks Now >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

UBER Soars 55% YTD: How Should Investors Play the Stock Now?

Looking at options trading activity among components of the Russell 3000 index, there is noteworthy activity today in Lyft Inc (Symbol: LYFT), where a total volume of 155,247 contracts has been traded thus far today, a contract volume which is representative of approximately 15.5 million underlying shares (given that every 1 contract represents 100 underlying shares). That number works out to 61.2% of LYFT's average daily trading volume over the past month, of 25.4 million shares. Especially high volume was seen for the $35 strike call option expiring January 15, 2027, with 25,163 contracts trading so far today, representing approximately 2.5 million underlying shares of LYFT. Below is a chart showing LYFT's trailing twelve month trading history, with the $35 strike highlighted in orange:
Penguin Solutions Inc. (Symbol: PENG) saw options trading volume of 6,200 contracts, representing approximately 620,000 underlying shares or approximately 58.6% of PENG's average daily trading volume over the past month, of 1.1 million shares. Especially high volume was seen for the $40 strike call option expiring March 20, 2026, with 1,491 contracts trading so far today, representing approximately 149,100 underlying shares of PENG. Below is a chart showing PENG's trailing twelve month trading history, with the $40 strike highlighted in orange:
And Bath & Body Works Inc (Symbol: BBWI) saw options trading volume of 41,950 contracts, representing approximately 4.2 million underlying shares or approximately 57.6% of BBWI's average daily trading volume over the past month, of 7.3 million shares. Particularly high volume was seen for the $20 strike put option expiring November 21, 2025, with 13,729 contracts trading so far today, representing approximately 1.4 million underlying shares of BBWI. Below is a chart showing BBWI's trailing twelve month trading history, with the $20 strike highlighted in orange:
For the various different available expirations for LYFT options, PENG options, or BBWI options, visit StockOptionsChannel.com.
Also see:
High Yield Stocks
Funds Holding FHB
JMLP Historical Stock Prices
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Noteworthy Monday Option Activity: LYFT, PENG, BBWI

Key Points
Recent legislation eliminated federal tax incentives for electric-vehicle buyers.
Tesla's third-quarter deliveries crushed expectations, as buyers rushed to take advantage of the tax subsidy before it expired.
Tesla has ambitions far beyond EVs, making the elimination of the tax credit more of a short-term discussion topic.
For years, federal subsidies have played a critical role in accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles (EV). Most notably, President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act included a $7,500 tax credit designed to make EV purchases more affordable and spur demand. Under President Donald Trump, however, policy priorities have shifted. As part of the newly enacted "big, beautiful bill," the EV tax credit was eliminated as of Sept. 30.
Let's examine how this policy change could affect Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and what it could mean for the company's trajectory going forward.
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »
Spoiler alert: Tesla crushed Q3 deliveries
Shortly after the legislation was signed into law, I predicted that eliminating the EV tax credit would actually provide Tesla with a short-term boost. The logic was straightforward: Consumers who had been undecided about purchasing an EV would likely accelerate their decisions in order to take advantage of the $7,500 credit before it expired.
According to consensus estimates from FactSet and Bloomberg, Wall Street expected Tesla's third quarter vehicle deliveries to fall in the range of 439,800 to 447,600 units. In reality, Tesla delivered 497,099 cars during the quarter -- absolutely shattering analyst expectations.
In short, the removal of the EV tax credit was far from a death knell for Tesla. Relying solely on subsidies to determine the health of Tesla's business and its future roadmap is a narrow view of the company's potential. As the discussion below will show, Tesla's long-term investment case extends well beyond government incentives.
Tesla's expanding vision: More than just cars
Investing in Tesla requires shareholders to be fully aligned with Elon Musk's broader technological ambitions. At its core, Musk's vision for Tesla is centered on artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and autonomous systems.
Consider Optimus, Tesla's humanoid robot project. While still in early development, Optimus is designed as a scalable, general-purpose robot with the potential to augment human labor within factories -- boosting productivity and delivering exponential cost savings over time. In fact, Musk himself has touted that Optimus could represent 80% of Tesla's future value once scaled.
Equally transformative is Tesla's vision to create a robotaxi network. The company aims to deploy a fleet of fully autonomous vehicles capable of generating recurring revenue streams that far exceed the economics of one-time vehicle sales. If successful, robotaxi could not only disrupt incumbents in the mobility market -- such as Lyft, Uber Technologies, DoorDash, or Hertz -- but it could also unlock a new business model for Tesla: A software-driven, high-margin service powered by its Full Self-Driving (FSD) platform.
On a deeper level, Tesla's potential extends beyond physical products and into the intangible realm of machine intelligence. Musk has repeatedly hinted at closer integration between Tesla and his separate venture, xAI -- which is developing a large language model (LLM) known as Grok to compete with OpenAI. Such a partnership could meaningfully enhance Tesla's software stack, enabling a more intelligent and connected ecosystem that spans vehicles, robots, and AI-powered services.
Is Tesla stock a buy now?
The loss of the $7,500 EV subsidy may affect short-term affordability for certain buyer segments, but ultimately it does not fundamentally change Tesla's long-term investment thesis.
That said, valuation deserves careful attention. As of Oct. 2, Tesla shares were trading near all-time highs. Recent momentum has been fueled in part by Musk's $1 billion open-market purchase of Tesla stock, as well as traders positioning ahead of the Q3 delivery beat -- which indeed materialized.
For these reasons, I would be cautious about chasing Tesla at current levels. While projects like Optimus, the robotaxi network, and potential xAI synergies are exciting, none have yet generated material revenue or profit. Each remains highly speculative at this stage.
For now, investors may be better served monitoring Tesla's execution on the AI front and considering entry points on pullbacks rather than buying into the stock at peak optimism.
Don’t miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity
Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you’ll want to hear this.
On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a “Double Down” stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you’re worried you’ve already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it’s too late. And the numbers speak for themselves:
Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you’d have $486,608!*
Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you’d have $49,038!*
Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you’d have $621,976!*
Right now, we’re issuing “Double Down” alerts for three incredible companies, available when you join Stock Advisor, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.
*Stock Advisor returns as of September 29, 2025
Adam Spatacco has positions in Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends DoorDash, FactSet Research Systems, Tesla, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Lyft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Is Tesla Still a Buy Now That the $7,500 EV Subsidy Is Gone?

Key Points
Lyft is teaming up with Waymo on a new ridesharing service in Nashville.
A partnership with May Mobility in Atlanta was also reported.
The company has several attractive growth opportunities.
Shares of Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) were moving higher last month after the No. 2 ride-hailing company took some significant steps in offering an autonomous vehicle service with two key partnerships.
Additionally, earlier momentum in the stock seemed to carry over to September as Wall Street's perception of the business's prospects has improved. Lyft earned a number of bullish notes and price target hikes last month in response to things like its acquisition of Freenow, improving financials, and innovative products like Lyft Silver.
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »
According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, the stock finished the month up 36%. As you can see from the chart below, shares surged in the first half of the month before levelling off later.
Lyft is going autonomous
The biggest piece of news on Lyft last month was a new partnership with Alphabet's Waymo, the leading autonomous vehicle platform, to launch an autonomous vehicle service in Nashville.
As part of the deal, Waymo will use Lyft's fleet management service, Flexdrive, to handle vehicle maintenance, infrastructure, depot operations, and related services in Nashville. The service will launch exclusively on the Waymo app in 2026, but is expected to become available through the Lyft app later next year.
Lyft stock jumped 13% on the news on Sept. 17 as partnering with Waymo in Nashville could pave the way to a larger partnership. Shares of rival Uber, which has also teamed up with Waymo, fell on the news, as it shows Waymo is interested in working with both companies.
Earlier in the month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Lyft was teaming up with May Mobility to launch an autonomous vehicle service in Atlanta. May Mobility, a start-up based in Michigan, plans to start its minivan-based autonomous vehicle services with a small number of vehicles in a limited part of the city.
Can Lyft stock keep gaining?
The gains in September added to what's already been a banner year for the ridesharing stock, which is up 73% so far this year as I write this.
Lyft is delivering solid growth and improved profitability, and initiatives like Flexdrive seem to have been overlooked by investors thus far. In Nashville, Lyft is building out a custom AV fleet management facility with charging and service capabilities. If it can do that successfully, there could be a long runway of growth in that business, especially if its partnership with Waymo expands.
The company still has a lot of ways it can grow and disrupt the broader transportation market. At a market cap of just $9 billion, there's still a lot of upside potential for the stock.
Should you invest $1,000 in Lyft right now?
Before you buy stock in Lyft, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Lyft wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $626,942!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,157,870!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,063% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 191% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
*Stock Advisor returns as of September 29, 2025
Jeremy Bowman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Lyft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Why Lyft Stock Jumped 36% in September

Key Points
Lyft is partnering with Waymo to bring ride-sharing vehicles to Nashville.
The company has actually gained some ground on Uber in the United States.
Lyft stock is not dirt cheap at this point, but it could still be a good buy today.
The market counted out Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) for years, with investors favoring ridesharing leader Uber Technologies instead. Now, Lyft is beginning to mount a comeback, with its stock actually beating the returns of Uber year to date. Why? Lyft has begun to claw back some market share in the United States while at the same time it has flipped to generating positive free cash flow.
On Sept. 17th, Lyft announced a new partnership with premier self-driving car company Waymo in Nashville. This is a large development for Lyft's business as it tries to navigate the potential opportunities and disruptions of autonomous vehicles. Here's the skinny on Lyft's new partnership and whether the stock is a buy for your portfolio today.
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »
Partnership with Waymo
As a self-driving platform, Waymo has steadily expanded to new cities around the country. In some -- such as Austin and Atlanta -- Waymo has partnered with Uber to manage its ridesharing operations. In Nashville, it will be partnering with Lyft to manage its fleet of vehicles. Self-driving cars do not have people operating them, and therefore need to be stored at a company-owned location for maintenance, cleaning, and recharging.
Through Lyft's Flexdrive service, Waymo's vehicles will be managed by Lyft in Nashville. As Lyft is a fast-growing player in the ridesharing market, investors saw this partnership with Waymo as a positive development, and they sent Lyft's shares up over 10% last week.
Waymo is a partner to Lyft today. In the future, it could end up being a bruising competitor. Customers in Nashville will be able to hail a Waymo self-driving vehicle on Lyft or on the Waymo mobile application. In other markets, Waymo has been able to gain share of rides by solely reaching customers directly through its smartphone application.
This could end up being the main starting point for customers in Nashville as well, even if Lyft is managing the physical fleet of vehicles. However, Waymo is not Lyft's only self-driving teammate; the company announced a deal with Mobileye back in 2024.
Stable market share in United States
Autonomous vehicles pose both a threat and an opportunity for Lyft over the long run. In the short run, it needs to worry about competing with the dominant player in the ridesharing space: Uber.
CEO Dave Risher has made significant progress since joining the company in 2023. In the United States, Lyft's market share has grown from 26%-27% when Risher joined to 30%-31% today, driven by lower costs on rides and innovative features such as the ability for female riders to choose female drivers. Lyft decided to enter Canada as its first country outside the U.S., while it also has other growing features, such as the previously mentioned Flexdrive program.
Overall, this turnaround has helped Lyft accelerate revenue growth. Revenue totaled $1.59 billion last quarter, up 11% year over year. Importantly, the company is now cash-flow-positive, proving that it can profitably operate as the underdog in the United States. Over the past year, Lyft had $92 million in net income and $993 million in free cash flow.
Should you buy Lyft stock?
Now up 75% just in 2025, Lyft has a market cap of $9.2 billion. This looks cheap compared to the trailing-free-cash-flow generation and Uber's monstrous $200 billion market value.
When you look at net income, which includes non-cash charges for insurance reserves and stock-based compensation, Lyft's stock is not as cheap, with a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of around 100. However, Lyft may still have a lot of room to expand its profit margins, as its net income was just 0.9% of total booking volume spent on the Lyft platform last quarter.
Risher and the team have turned the corner for Lyft. Bankruptcy is not a concern anymore, revenue is steadily growing, and new irons are getting thrown in the fire, like the Waymo partnership. The stock is not screamingly cheap, but Lyft could still present good value for investors who buy today and hold for the next five years (or longer).
Should you invest $1,000 in Lyft right now?
Before you buy stock in Lyft, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Lyft wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $649,280!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,084,802!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,058% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 189% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
*Stock Advisor returns as of September 22, 2025
Brett Schafer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Lyft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Huge News For Lyft Stock Investors

SkyWest SKYW stock delivered strong performance on the bourse in 2024. Shares of this St. George, UT-based carrier have risen 22.6% year over year, outperforming the Zacks Transportation sector’s 11% decline.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Given the impressive price performance, let's take a deeper look at the factors driving growth of SKYW, which currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), and assess whether there is potential for continued gains.
SkyWest's investment in Maeve Aerospace in September 2025 bolsters its prospects by securing exclusive launch customer rights and enabling it to provide operational and design expertise in developing the hybrid-electric MAEVE Jet. The partnership advances sustainable regional aviation and positions SkyWest at the forefront of next-generation air travel, reflecting a proactive fleet-modernization strategy and long-term competitiveness.
Moreover, the company's proactive initiatives to expand its fleet highlight SkyWest’s focus on strengthening its position in the regional jet market. By the end of 2028, SkyWest plans to operate nearly 300 E175 aircraft, including 44 additional deliveries from 2028 to 2032, supported by partnerships with leading U.S. carriers.
Highlighting its robust operational performance in the second quarter of 2025, SkyWest saw total block hours rise 19% year over year, driven by improved captain availability, higher fleet utilization and strong passenger demand across all aircraft types. Departures increased 17.7%, while passengers carried grew 13.1%. The airline also maintained an adjusted flight completion rate of 99.9% and improved raw flight completion to 99.1%, demonstrating consistent reliability and operational excellence.
Estimate Revisions to Head North
Driven by the positives discussed above, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current quarter of 2025, full-year 2025 and full-year 2026 has moved north 5.35%, 1.02% and 1.64%, respectively, over the past 60 days.
Other Stocks to Consider
Investors interested in the sector may also consider LATAM Airlines Group LTM and Lyft LYFT.
LTM currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
LTM has an expected earnings growth rate of 45% for the current year. The company has a mixed earnings surprise history. Its earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters, missed once and met in the remaining one, delivering an average beat of 4.04%.
LYFT currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.
Lyft has an expected earnings growth rate of 24.2% for the current year. The company has a mixed earnings surprise history. Its earnings topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters and missed in the other two, delivering an average beat of 15.76%.
Free Report: Profiting from the 2nd Wave of AI Explosion
The next phase of the AI explosion is poised to create significant wealth for investors, especially those who get in early. It will add literally trillion of dollars to the economy and revolutionize nearly every part of our lives.
Investors who bought shares like Nvidia at the right time have had a shot at huge gains.
But the rocket ride in the "first wave" of AI stocks may soon come to an end. The sharp upward trajectory of these stocks will begin to level off, leaving exponential growth to a new wave of cutting-edge companies.
Zacks' AI Boom 2.0: The Second Wave report reveals 4 under-the-radar companies that may soon be shining stars of AI’s next leap forward.
Access AI Boom 2.0 now, absolutely free >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

SKYW Stock Surges 22.6% in Q2: Can the Momentum Last in 2025?

Lyft’s LYFT robust operational performance is bolstering the company’s prospects. The company’s proactive initiative to maximize fleet utilization and expand rider access is also commendable. Due to these tailwinds, LYFT shares have performed impressively on the bourse. If you have not taken advantage of its share price appreciation yet, it’s time to do so.
Let’s delve deeper.
LYFT’s Northward Earnings Estimate Revision: The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the upcoming-quarter earnings has been revised upward by 10.7% over the past 60 days and is pegged at 31 cents per share. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings is pegged at $1.42 per share, indicating 6% rise over the past 60 days.
Robust Price Performance: A look at the company’s price trend reveals that its shares have risen 65.2% in a year, surpassing the Zacks Internet - Services industry’s 48.8% growth.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Positive Earnings Surprise History: LYFT has a mixed earnings surprise history, as the company's earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters and missed in the remaining two, delivering an average surprise of 15.76%.
Solid Zacks Rank: LYFT currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Bullish Industry Rank: The industry to which Lyft belongs currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 100 (out of 246). Such a favorable rank places it in the top 41% of Zacks Industries.Studies show that 50% of a stock price movement is directly related to the performance of the industry group to which it belongs.
A mediocre stock within a strong group is likely to outperform a robust stock in a weak industry. Hence, reckoning the industry’s performance becomes imperative.
Growth Factors: Lyft is benefiting from its partnership with Waymo by preparing to launch fully autonomous ride-hailing in Nashville in 2026. The launch will combine Waymo’s proven driverless technology with Lyft’s Flexdrive-powered fleet management for operations, maintenance and charging support. The association aims to integrate Waymo’s AVs into both the Waymo and Lyft apps to maximize fleet utilization and expand rider access. By advancing this collaboration, Lyft is strengthening its hybrid model that blends human drivers with autonomous vehicles, positioning itself to capture future demand.
In the second quarter of 2025, the company recorded strong operational momentum, with rides rising 14% year over year to 234.8 million and active riders increasing 10% to 26.1 million, both reaching all-time highs. Dual-app driver preference climbed to 29 percentage points from 6 a year earlier. Lyft Silver achieved strong adoption with nearly 80% retention, while business travelers with linked accounts were nearly four times more likely to choose premium rides.
Other Stocks to Consider
Investors interested in the Transportationsector may also consider LATAM Airlines Group LTM and SkyWest SKYW.
LTM currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
LTM has an expected earnings growth rate of 45% for the current year. The company has a mixed earnings surprise history. Its earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters, missed once and met in the remaining one, delivering an average beat of 4.04%.
SKYW currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.
SkyWest has an expected earnings growth rate of 28.06% for the current year. The company has an encouraging earnings surprise history. Its earnings topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average beat of 21.92%.
Free Report: Profiting from the 2nd Wave of AI Explosion
The next phase of the AI explosion is poised to create significant wealth for investors, especially those who get in early. It will add literally trillion of dollars to the economy and revolutionize nearly every part of our lives.
Investors who bought shares like Nvidia at the right time have had a shot at huge gains.
But the rocket ride in the "first wave" of AI stocks may soon come to an end. The sharp upward trajectory of these stocks will begin to level off, leaving exponential growth to a new wave of cutting-edge companies.
Zacks' AI Boom 2.0: The Second Wave report reveals 4 under-the-radar companies that may soon be shining stars of AI’s next leap forward.
Access AI Boom 2.0 now, absolutely free >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Lyft, Inc.

Price history and volume

Shares 360

Investment risk — medium

Investment potential — medium

About