Why Lyft Stock Is Cheaper Than You Think
On the surface, Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) has been burning cash and reporting accelerating losses for the past three years. That has scared many investors away, and the stock is down over 60% from its IPO price of $72 per share. But there's far more to this story that becomes apparent when you look under the hood.
From 2017 to 2019, Lyft's net loss ballooned from $688 million to $2.6 billion. That looks like a terrifying trend, but the company's 2019 results included a one-time $1.6 billion stock-based compensation charge related to the company's IPO. That was an accounting recognition of stock awards that had previously been given to employees, not an ongoing level of stock-based compensation. Normalizing Lyft's 2019 financials for this extraordinary expense means Lyft would have lost closer to $1.0 billion last year instead of $2.6 billion.
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Source Fool.com