Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) has been on an absolute tear. As of June 3, its shares have soared 38% in 2025. That's a tremendous gain during a time when the broader S&P 500 index is up just 2%.
If you zoom out, the return is even more eye-popping. In the past two years, this top growth stock has catapulted 109% higher. Strong financial performance is clearly winning over the investment community.
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Perhaps you've missed the ride thus far. Is it too late for investors to buy Uber?
Image source: Getty Images.
It's been incredible to observe Uber's monumental ascent. What was once solely a ride-hailing service has evolved into both a mobility and delivery behemoth. In Q4 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, mobility gross bookings represented 75% of the company's total. In the latest quarter (Q1 2025), it was an almost even split between mobility and delivery.
This kind of diversified model is hard to overstate, and it gives Uber an advantage. This shows up in the ability to leverage the same driver network, allowing these gig workers to earn more money. Uber has more data to work with, which can support various marketing and promotional activities. And it can be a holistic solution for consumers who don't want to navigate multiple apps.
What's more, Uber brings in more than one revenue stream. In the first quarter of 2025, it registered $6.5 billion in revenue from mobility and $3.8 billion from delivery. There is a freight segment as well, which is tiny by comparison.
What was probably once unimaginable to the critics is now a reality. And that is the fact that Uber is extremely profitable these days. It's a scaled platform that is boosting bottom-line performance. Uber posted $1.2 billion in operating income in Q1. That figure is a drastic improvement from a $1.3 billion operating loss in the first quarter of 2020.
A fresh focus on creating a more efficient organization is clearly working. The management team expects adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to grow about 37% to 40% between 2024 and 2027.
Uber continues to operate from a position of strength thanks to its tremendous network effect. It counted 170 million monthly active users in Q1. There are more than 7 million drivers. And last year, Uber surpassed 1 million merchants. With more users, drivers, and merchants, the entire platform constantly becomes more valuable to all stakeholders.
Uber's competitive position is also supported by its powerful brand presence. The Uber name is now often used as a verb, both for getting from point A to point B and for having something delivered. That mindshare works wonders for Uber's visibility.
And it highlights just how valuable Uber has become to other companies that want to tap into such a massive user base. Uber recently announced partnerships with OpenTable and Delta Air Lines.
And key players working on autonomous vehicle (AV) technology, like Waymo, WeRide, and many others, have also chosen to partner with Uber to help further develop, improve, and commercialize their services. Because of Uber's competitive strengths and unrivaled reach, it makes sense these partners are leaning on it. Uber is positioning itself to be a leader in AV.
At the start of 2025, shares traded at a very compelling forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 16.7. Of course, the situation isn't as cheap today. The current multiple is 22.9. However, I don't believe this valuation is asking too much of investors.
As mentioned, there are many reasons to like this business. And there remains a sizable growth opportunity. For instance, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says that AV technology alone presents a $1 trillion opportunity just in the U.S. Additionally, Uber is trying to sign up more teenagers, increase rider frequency, and expand use cases.
There appears to be substantial upside for prospective investors over the long term. This means it's not too late to buy Uber stock.
Before you buy stock in Uber Technologies, 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 Uber Technologies 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 $668,538!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $869,841!*
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Neil Patel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Delta Air Lines. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Uber (NYSE: UBER), the world's largest ride-hailing service provider, went public six years ago at $45 per share. Its stock slumped below its initial public offering (IPO) price in its first four years as the pandemic throttled its growth and rising rates squeezed its valuations, but it now trades at about $84.
Uber's business recovered as its ride-hailing and delivery services continued to expand; it divested its money-losing overseas and autonomous driving units; and it expanded its sticky subscription platform. Will its stock soar even higher over the next five years?
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Image source: Getty Images.
Uber is primarily known for its ride-hailing and food delivery services, but it also offers business-oriented services along with bike and scooter rentals. It operates in about 15,000 cities across 70 countries, generating over half of its revenue in the U.S. and Canada.
From 2020 to 2024, Uber's number of year-end monthly active platform consumers (MAPCs) rose from 93 million to a record high of 171 million. That figure dipped sequentially to 170 million in the first quarter of 2025, but that still represented 14% growth from a year earlier.
Its growth in trips, gross bookings, and revenue stalled out in 2020 as the pandemic forced more people to stay at home. However, it recovered quickly over the following four years as it stayed ahead of its smaller competitors, rolled out new enterprise, healthcare, and teen-oriented services, and expanded its Uber One subscriptions.
|
Metric |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
Q1 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Trips Growth (YOY) |
(27%) |
27% |
19% |
24% |
19% |
18% |
|
Gross Bookings Growth (YOY) |
(11%) |
56% |
19% |
19% |
18% |
14% |
|
Revenue Growth (YOY) |
(14%) |
57% |
49% |
17% |
18% |
14% |
Data source: Uber Technologies. YOY = Year over year.
Uber One's total number of subscribers rose 60% to 30 million at the end of 2024. The stickiness of that expanding ecosystem boosted its pricing power and take rate (the percentage of each booking it retains as revenue) throughout 2024.
Lyft, which operates in fewer markets than Uber, served 44 million annual active customers who used its ride-hailing, scooter, and bike rental services at least once during the year. It had 24.2 million quarterly active riders in the first quarter of 2025.
Uber's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) also turned positive in 2022 as it divested its unprofitable segments, pruned its workforce, and trimmed its other expenses. It also turned profitable on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis in 2023. Its adjusted EBITDA nearly quadrupled from 2022 to 2024, while its GAAP net income increased more than fivefold (driven by a one-time tax benefit and the revaluation of its equity investments) from 2023 to 2024.
Uber controls 76% of the U.S. ride-hailing market, according to IncRev. Global Growth Insights estimates that Uber controls 28% of the global market, while its closest competitor, China's Didi -- which Uber also owns a stake in -- holds a 21% share.
According to Mordor Intelligence, the global ride-hailing market could grow at a CAGR of 9.6% from 2025 to 2030. Grand View Research expects the global food delivery market to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.4% during those five years.
Based on those estimates, Uber could grow its revenue and adjusted EBITDA at a CAGR of 10% over the following five years. If that happens, its revenue will rise from an estimated $50.6 billion in 2025 to $81.5 billion in 2030. Its adjusted EBITDA would increase from an estimated $8.6 billion this year to $13.9 billion.
With an enterprise value (EV) of $173.6 billion, Uber looks reasonably valued at 20 times this year's adjusted EBITDA. It still faces competitive and regulatory challenges in certain markets, but its brand recognition and economies of scale should fuel its long-term growth.
If Uber maintains that same EV/EBITDA ratio, its valuation and stock price could rise about 60% over the next five years. That would be a solid gain that would keep it ahead of the S&P 500, which has delivered an average annual return of about 10% since its inception, and make it a great long-term play on the ride-hailing and delivery markets.
Before you buy stock in Uber Technologies, 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 Uber Technologies 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 $651,049!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $828,224!*
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Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Bill Ackman is highly selective about which stocks he buys. His Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund currently owns only 12 stocks. And two of those are different classes of shares for the same company -- Google parent Alphabet.
Not too long ago, Alphabet ranked as Ackman's favorite investment. That's no longer the case. The billionaire hedge fund manager is now loading up on Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER).
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Image source: Getty Images.
Ackman revealed in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Feb. 7, 2025, that Pershing Square began buying shares of Uber in January 2025. He stated at the time that the hedge fund owned 30.3 million shares. That's the same number of Uber shares that Pershing Square disclosed in its 13-F regulatory filing for the first quarter of 2025.
The purchase catapulted Uber into the top spot among Pershing Square's holdings. The stock now makes up 18.5% of the hedge fund's portfolio, edging out Brookfield Corporation at 18.01%. As of March 31, 2025, Pershing Square's stake in Uber was valued at $2.21 billion.
This was the first time for Pershing Square to accumulate a position in Uber. However, it wasn't Ackman's first investment in the transportation company. The billionaire noted in his X post that he was "a day-one investor in the company through a small investment in a venture fund."
Sometimes, when Ackman initiates a new position in a stock, we can only guess why he likes it. But not with Uber. He explained exactly why he bought the stock in his social media post earlier this year.
For one thing, Ackman is very familiar with Uber's business. He said that he has "been a long-term customer." Actor, producer, and director Edward Norton was an early fan of Uber. He showed the Uber app to Ackman. Both men decided to become ground-floor investors in what was then a start-up company.
Ackman is also betting on the jockey to some extent. He noted in his X post that "Uber has suffered from erratic management" in the past. However, he believes that current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi "has done a superb job in transforming the company into a highly profitable and cash-generative growth machine."
The billionaire hedge fund manager also views Uber as attractively valued (or at least did earlier this year). Ackman said, "Remarkably, it can still be purchased at a massive discount to its intrinsic value."
However, Uber isn't as cheap as it was when Pershing Square was scooping up shares in the first quarter. The stock has jumped close to 12% since Ackman's X post on Feb. 7.
Most Wall Street analysts seem to agree with Ackman's bullish view on Uber. Of the 54 analysts surveyed by LSEG recently, 13 rated the stock as a strong buy. Another 31 analysts rated Uber as a buy. The remaining 10 analysts recommended holding the stock. The average 12-month price target for Uber reflected an upside potential of roughly 15%.
I think Ackman and Wall Street could be right about Uber. The company continues to deliver strong revenue and earnings growth along with impressive free cash flow. It has multiple paths to growth, including autonomous ride-hailing services, food delivery via Uber Eats, and its Uber Freight transportation and logistics services.
However, the uncertainties Uber faces make me hesitant to jump aboard the bandwagon at this point. First, the company has stiff competition from Lyft in the U.S., Bolt in Europe, and Didi in Latin America. Second, autonomous ride-hailing could present both an opportunity and a threat to Uber. If Tesla is successful with its robotaxi launch, the company might gain market share at Uber's expense.
Ackman believes that Uber is a bargain. But the stock trades at a forward earnings multiple of 30.6. For Uber to be as attractively valued as Ackman thinks, the company will have to deliver exceptionally strong growth over the coming years. With the unknowns related to increasing competition, I'm not confident that it will be able to do so.
Before you buy stock in Uber Technologies, 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 Uber Technologies 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 $651,049!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $828,224!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 979% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% 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 June 2, 2025
Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Keith Speights has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Brookfield, Brookfield Corporation, Tesla, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Waymo is now offering 250,000 rides per week, but it's not stopping there. The company is going to more than a dozen cities on "road trips," a precursor to opening commercial operations. In this video, Travis Hoium shows just how quickly the company's operations are scaling.
*Stock prices used were end-of-day prices of May 27, 2025. The video was published on May 28, 2025.
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Before you buy stock in Alphabet, 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 Alphabet 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 $653,389!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $830,492!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 982% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% 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 May 19, 2025
Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Travis Hoium has positions in Alphabet, Lyft, Mobileye Global, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Tesla, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Mobileye Global and Volkswagen Ag. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Travis Hoium is an affiliate of The Motley Fool and may be compensated for promoting its services. If you choose to subscribe through their link they will earn some extra money that supports their channel. Their opinions remain their own and are unaffected by The Motley Fool.
Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) stock jumped 28% on Friday after an earnings report that shouldn't have been a big surprise for investors. But the company continues to grow and announced an aggressive buyback plan that could help shares. What long-term investors don't want to miss is the 10x opportunity in autonomy, which Travis Hoium highlights in this video.
*Stock prices used were end-of-day prices of May 9, 2025. The video was published on May 10, 2025.
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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 $614,911!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $714,958!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 907% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 163% 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 May 5, 2025
Travis Hoium has positions in Lyft, Mobileye Global, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Mobileye Global. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Travis Hoium is an affiliate of The Motley Fool and may be compensated for promoting its services. If you choose to subscribe through their link, they will earn some extra money that supports their channel. Their opinions remain their own and are unaffected by The Motley Fool.
Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) operates the world's largest ride-hailing network, along with popular food delivery and commercial freight services. It relies on 8.5 million drivers and couriers to fulfill demand from its 170 million monthly active customers, but the company is on the cusp of a major shift that could transform its financial results.
Uber has signed partnerships with 18 companies that develop autonomous cars, robots, and even aircraft, and that list is growing. Since human drivers are the company's largest cost, these deals could result in billions of dollars in savings every year, which will flow through to Uber's revenue and its bottom line.
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In fact, I think Uber stock could soar fivefold within the next decade thanks to autonomous technologies. Here's how it could turn a $200,000 investment into $1 million by 2035.
Image source: Getty Images.
During the first quarter of 2025 (ended March 31), Uber reported $42.8 billion in gross bookings, which was the dollar value of every trip, food order, and commercial delivery the platform facilitated on behalf of its customers. The $18.6 billion drivers and couriers earned during the quarter was the single-largest component of the gross bookings figure.
After deducting a further $12.9 billion in merchant payouts (money paid to restaurants for customers' food orders, as an example), Uber was left with $11.5 billion in revenue. Then, once the company factored in operating costs like marketing and research and development, its net income (profit) for the quarter came in at $1.7 billion on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis.
In other words, Uber doesn't get to keep a whole lot of the money customers spend on its platform. That's why autonomous vehicles have the potential to transform its economics -- if self-driving cars and robots reduce Uber's reliance on human drivers, the company could pocket an additional $18.6 billion from its gross bookings each quarter (based on its Q1 result).
Uber would have to pay some of that money to the companies deploying their self-driving cars into its network, but since they can operate 24/7, the economics are still likely to be significantly better than using human drivers. Plus, Uber could choose to buy a fleet of autonomous vehicles and operate them itself, which would be even more profitable over the long term.
In his prepared remarks to shareholders for the 2025 first quarter, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said Uber had partnerships with 18 different providers of autonomous vehicles, up from 14 just six months earlier. Simply put, developers want to deploy their vehicles into the mobility network with the most users so they can maximize their revenue, which gives Uber a distinct advantage over the competition.
Many of those partnerships are already producing results, because Uber is now facilitating around 1.5 million autonomous trips per year (annualized based on its Q1 results). Many of those are attributable to Alphabet's Waymo, which is completing over 250,000 paid autonomous trips per week -- some through its own ride-hailing service, and some through Uber.
Waymo has been operating in Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, but it entered Austin, Texas, in March as part of an exclusive deal with Uber. It has 100 autonomous vehicles available in that market right now, and Uber says they are busier than 99% of the platform's human drivers in the area. The two companies will deploy hundreds more driverless cars in Austin over the next few months, and they plan to expand into Atlanta.
Waymo is already a raging success, but Uber wants to help its other autonomous partners commercialize their technologies more quickly, because they have so much potential to save the company money on human drivers. As a result, it entered a unique partnership with Nvidia earlier this year, which is the world's leading supplier of chips and software for artificial intelligence (AI) development.
Uber will use Nvidia's DGX Cloud supercomputer platform to process data from the billions of trips it facilitates each year, which will help its autonomous partners create more powerful self-driving models. Uber will also use Nvidia's Cosmos foundation models to create real-world training simulations, which will speed up the development process even further.
Based on Uber's trailing-12-month revenue of $45.3 billion and its market capitalization of $174 billion, its stock trades at a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of around 4, as of this writing. That's a slight discount to its average of 4.2, dating back to when the company went public in 2019:
UBER PS Ratio data by YCharts
If we assume Uber's P/S ratio remains constant at 4, the company will need to generate around $226.5 billion in annual revenue by 2035 to justify a fivefold return in its stock. That translates to a compound annual growth rate of 17.5% over the next decade. Between 2017 and 2024, Uber actually grew its revenue at a much faster annual rate of 27.7%, which suggests it should have no trouble hitting the mark.
However, it becomes harder for Uber to grow that quickly as its revenue base becomes larger. According to Wall Street's consensus estimate (provided by Yahoo! Finance), the company is expected to grow its revenue by just 14% annually for the next two years. If that trend continues, it could take much longer than a decade for Uber stock to turn an investment of $200,000 into $1 million.
But remember this: Uber stands to pocket an extra $18 billion every quarter if it can eliminate human drivers completely. It certainly won't happen overnight, but the gradual shift toward autonomous vehicles could be a monumental tailwind for its revenue for the next several years. In fact, Khosrowshahi thinks the autonomous opportunity will be worth over $1 trillion to Uber in the U.S. alone.
Therefore, while it's possible Uber delivers below-trend revenue growth for the next couple of years, it could accelerate later this decade (and beyond) as more self-driving cars hit the road. As long as the company's revenue growth averages 17.5% over the next 10 years, it will lay the foundation for a fivefold return in its stock.
Before you buy stock in Uber Technologies, 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 Uber Technologies 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 $617,181!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $719,371!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 909% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 163% 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 May 5, 2025
Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Nvidia, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Uber (NYSE: UBER) reported a quarterly financial update that affected how I rate the stock.
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*Stock prices used were the afternoon prices of May 7, 2025. The video was published on May 9, 2025.
Before you buy stock in Uber Technologies, 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 Uber Technologies 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 $617,181!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $719,371!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 909% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 163% 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 May 5, 2025
Parkev Tatevosian, CFA has positions in Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Parkev Tatevosian is an affiliate of The Motley Fool and may be compensated for promoting its services. If you choose to subscribe through his link, he will earn some extra money that supports his channel. His opinions remain his own and are unaffected by The Motley Fool.
Shares of Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) rallied 11.2% in April, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, vastly outperforming the broader S&P 500 index, which was down 0.7% in a highly volatile month.
After the shock of the April 2 "Liberation Day" tariff announcements, many stocks sold off. However, Uber managed to recover, as the company made several announcements with autonomous driving companies, and late in the month, its CEO said the company wasn't seeing signs of recession.
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Coming into this year, some had worried how Uber might fit in to the autonomous driving future. Waymo usage is currently on the rise in California and Austin, and Tesla aims to launch its autonomous robotaxi service next month. Uber does own some 23.5% of autonomous trucking technology company Aurora, but other than that, it doesn't have in-house autonomous technology anymore.
However, Uber made news on several fronts regarding autonomy in April. First, Uber and Volkswagen announced Volkswagen would deploy its autonomous Buzz ID minivans, powered by Volkswagen's in-house autonomous subsidiary Moia, exclusively on the Uber app in Los Angeles in 2026.
That news came on the heels of published data on Waymo's first month of operations in Austin. That's important for Uber because Waymo's March Austin launch was the first city launch made exclusively in partnership through the Uber app. According to Yipit Data, Waymo adoption in Austin's first month has been double that of Waymo's San Francisco launch a year and a half ago. That increased demand can likely be mostly attributed to Uber's dominant position in ride-hailing today, which bodes well for other partnerships with autonomous driving companies going forward.
Image source: Getty Images.
With the tariff-induced downturn in April, many also now fear recession, with possible consequences for Uber. However, at an economic summit in late April, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company hasn't seen signs of recession yet in its business. Moreover, Khosrowshahi pointed out that Uber may be more recession-resistant than some might think. In a recession scenario, Uber's labor costs would come down and prices would follow, spurring incremental demand.
Uber's price elasticity and apparent adaptability to the new age of autonomous driving were thus both positives for the month, thereby driving the company's share price higher in April. Uber investors will get their next bit of data on the company in its earnings release on Wednesday, May 7.
Before you buy stock in Uber Technologies, 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 Uber Technologies 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 $623,685!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $701,781!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 906% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 164% 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 April 28, 2025
Billy Duberstein and/or his clients have no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Volkswagen Ag. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
For the last few years, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has spoken repeatedly about his vision to turn his electric vehicle (EV) company into a full-blown artificial intelligence (AI) operation. One of the primary ways AI is expected to revolutionize Tesla's business is through autonomous driving.
Musk doesn't just want to integrate self-driving technology into Tesla cars for consumers to enjoy, though. Rather, he is looking to create a fleet of autonomous Tesla cars that people can hail at virtually any time. This initiative is known as the Robotaxi, and it's become one of the biggest sources of excitement for Tesla bulls ever since Musk gave the public a sneak peek late last year.
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While the idea of Robotaxi has certainly garnered a lot of attention, Tesla is not the only major technology company exploring the prospects of AI in the automobile market. In the piece below, I'm going to explore why I think some of the moves billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has been making as of late could spell trouble for Tesla and its autonomous vehicle vision.
Did Ackman just beat Tesla at its own game? Read on to find out more.
Ackman is the CEO of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management. Unlike other hedge fund managers, one of Ackman's notable attributes is that he tends to keep Pershing Square's portfolio limited to a small number of stocks, generally owning positions in 10 or so companies at a time.
Since AI burst onto the scene as the market's hottest trend a couple of years ago, one mega-cap tech stock that's been relatively polarizing is Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL). Some skeptics argue that Alphabet's dominance in internet search via Google could be threatened by the rise of ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs). In addition, Meta Platforms and Amazon are becoming increasingly popular areas for advertisers to invest their budget over the likes of Alphabet-owned properties Google and YouTube.
Nevertheless, Ackman took a liking to Alphabet and began building a position in the company a couple of years ago. The obvious thesis around Alphabet as an AI play is that the company has the ability to integrate new services across its ecosystem -- from advertising, cloud computing, cybersecurity, workplace productivity, internet search, and more.
However, one area that receives virtually no attention pertaining to Alphabet's AI ambitions is autonomous driving.
Over the last several years, Alphabet has quietly built an impressive autonomous vehicle operation of its own called Waymo. Today, Waymo taxis are already serving customers in major metropolitan areas, including Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin.
Image source: Getty Images.
Earlier this year, Ackman took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in which he revealed that Pershing Square took a position in ride-hailing leader Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER). Similar to Alphabet, Pershing Square's investment thesis around Uber primarily revolved around the company's valuation relative to its growth profile. While the firm thinks Uber's global scale and diversified services operation provide the company with a unique ability to expand profit margins over the coming years, there is a more subtle tailwind that could accelerate its growth as well.
According to Pershing Square's annual investor presentation from February, autonomous vehicle developers may choose to partner with taxi operations, such as Uber, due to the company's existing base of 170 million customers worldwide. In other words, Uber's value proposition is that it already has an enormous, sticky base of consumers that autonomous vehicle businesses wouldn't need to try and acquire themselves. In addition, Pershing Square's stance is that as autonomous vehicle fleets scale and become more mainstream, this dynamic provides an opportunity for the entire rideshare market to expand as well.
You might wonder how autonomous vehicles could benefit Uber's business. Think about other service-oriented businesses that act as distributors. Airbnb doesn't build its own physical infrastructure, unlike hotels. Rather, it serves as a platform on which consumers can book a trip, and Airbnb makes money by brokering that transaction.
In the same way, Uber does not need to spend billions building its own fleet of autonomous vehicles. Rather, it can strike partnerships with other companies developing self-driving technology and simply serve as a distribution channel. This mitigates a lot of risk, as Uber stands to benefit from a number of different companies that may choose to leverage its platform for a robotaxi service. Meanwhile, if Tesla does not pull off its goals in autonomous driving or fails to scale its own fleet, the company will likely be in a tough position in terms of growth opportunities.
Just a few days ago, Ackman took to X again to reveal Pershing Square's latest big move: building a position in car rental stock Hertz (NASDAQ: HTZ). Once again, Ackman provided a long list of detailed financial analyses in his post and made the case for why he thinks Hertz is trading for a great value.
However, there was a sentence in the last paragraph of the post that really caught my eye.
Ackman wrote, "What if Uber partnered with Hertz on an AV [autonomous vehicle] fleet rollout over time?"
Such an idea could make a ton of sense. By merging car rentals, ride-hailing, and autonomous vehicle technology, Hertz could transform into a robotaxi operation of its own. Instead of relying on foot traffic for its services at airports and other venues, Hertz could rent self-driving cars (perhaps from Waymo) on the Uber app. As a result, Hertz removes the variability of the middleman (human drivers) but still benefits from a consistent flow of renters via Uber's installed base. In turn, Hertz could unlock steadier revenue streams and improve its unit economics on its existing vehicle infrastructure.
Admittedly, the idea of a three-way partnership between Alphabet (Waymo), Uber, and Hertz might seem like a pipe dream. But remember, Ackman is an activist investor -- often working with a company's executive leadership to identify ways to improve profitability and scale the overall operation.
Given his public statements, I think it's reasonable to say that Pershing Square could see Alphabet, Uber, and Hertz as a cheaper way to invest at the intersection of AI and autonomous driving compared to Tesla and its lofty valuation.
But at a deeper level, I think Ackman could be in the early stages of triangulating an AI trade for the record books. Should Waymo, Uber, and Hertz go on to work together in the world of autonomous vehicle fleets, Ackman would be in a position to benefit from three different opportunities -- as opposed to betting the farm on just one player such as Tesla.
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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Adam Spatacco has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Airbnb, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Tesla, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
After a strong run for the stock market the past two years, volatility has returned in 2025. But there are pockets of opportunity among top growth stocks. While the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) is down 8% at the time of writing, some companies that entered the year with strong momentum are holding up quite well.
Shares of Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) and Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) are two of the best performing stocks in the S&P 500 this year. Let's look at what is driving their share prices higher, and whether these top performers are still good investments.
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Leading businesses and governments are modernizing with artificial intelligence (AI). Palantir Technologies is one of the top providers of AI-powered data analytics software. The stock has had a phenomenal run, rising 1,500% since 2022. It has continued to perform well in 2025, up 33% as of April 23. But investors have to wonder if the stock has gotten too far ahead of the company's actual performance.
Palantir delivered accelerating revenue growth over the past year. In the fourth quarter, U.S. commercial revenue grew 64% year-over-year. Companies are choosing Palantir to improve efficiency and speed up decision making. For example, a leading telecommunications company recently signed a $40 million deal with Palantir, which will free up capital from using older technology and equipment.
Palantir also is playing a vital role in strengthening the U.S. military with cutting-edge technology. Its U.S. government revenue grew 45% year-over-year in Q4. Palantir developed its Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN) for the U.S. Army that uses AI to improve strike targeting and accuracy on the battlefield.
These use cases indicate the level of sophistication of Palantir's AI capabilities, and that's why leading companies continue to sign multimillion-dollar deals. It's also benefiting the stock that the company is converting these growing revenues into a healthy profit. The company made $462 million in net profit on $2.9 billion of revenue last year.
The only negative with Palantir stock is the valuation. The shares trade at an astronomical 548 times earnings at the time of writing. At these lofty share prices, the stock could be overshooting the company's worth. While it's impossible to predict the timing, investors have to assume that this nosebleed valuation could lead to a downward correction in the share price. It might be best to wait for the stock to settle at a lower earnings multiple before starting an investment.
Investors shouldn't overlook the momentum happening in the global ride-hailing market. Uber Technologies has made substantial investments in its technology and service, and it is translating to strong growth. The stock climbed 200% since 2022 and 22% year to date through April 23, but its valuation could leave room for more gains over the next year and beyond.
Uber's growth suggests it is going after a huge opportunity in the transportation market. It offers multiple services tailored for healthcare, freight, and enterprise. It's also expanding into membership that offers special discounts on Uber Eats and rides and has already reached 30 million subscribers so far, up 60% year-over-year in the fourth quarter.
It's also investing in the future. The company has partnered with Google's Waymo self-driving car unit, in addition to China's WeRide. Its autonomous ride service recently launched in Austin, Texas, and is soon launching in Atlanta, Georgia. Overall, Uber currently has multiple partners working on autonomous ride and delivery services.
Uber benefits from a capital-light business model, where drivers maintain their own vehicles, which leaves a lucrative revenue stream coming from fees on every ride and delivery. Last year, Uber's operating profit more than doubled to $2.8 billion, and there seems to be more room for growth as the company improves margins.
Analysts expect Uber's earnings to grow at an annualized rate of 30% in the coming years, yet investors can buy shares for just 23 times 2025 earnings estimates. That's a fair multiple for an average growth stock, so investors should expect Uber shares to deliver satisfactory returns over the long term.
Before you buy stock in Palantir Technologies, 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 Palantir Technologies wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Ballard has positions in Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Palantir Technologies, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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DoorDash wants Uber's anti-competition lawsuit tossed by the California Superior Court, saying the litigation is a "cynical and calculated scare tactic."
DoorDash filed the motion alongside a press release on Friday.
"It's disappointing behavior from a company once known for competing on the merits of its products and innovation," DoorDash, which tops the online food delivery market in the United States, wrote in the release.
Uber filed a complaint against DoorDash in February, accusing the company of anti-competitive business practices that inflated prices for restaurants and customers. The complaint said DoorDash "devised and is engaged in an unlawful scheme to stifle competition with Uber Eats, its closest rival."
Uber accused DoorDash in the complaint of leveraging restaurants' dependence on its app to secure near-exclusive or exclusive use.
"Restaurants simply cannot afford to stand up to DoorDash, and find themselves powerless to choose the service or services that are best for their businesses in the market for first-party delivery," Uber's complaint said.
Emily Dulla/Getty Images for DoorDash
Earnest Analytics reported in February that DoorDash dominated the food delivery market with a 60.7% share. Uber Eats followed at 26.1% and Grubhub at 6.3%.
DoorDash denied Uber's accusations in the motion on Friday.
Among its arguments, DoorDash said Uber is trying to "shoehorn its competition claims" by using a statute that typically applies to "disputes regarding employee non-compete provisions."
"Uber's lawsuit should be seen for what it is: sour grapes from a competitor that has been told by merchants, time and again, that they prefer working with DoorDash," the company's motion said. That's not the basis for a lawsuit — it's just fair competition. The Court should sustain DoorDash's demurrer."
Uber told Business Insider in a statement that it won't back down.
"It seems like the team at DoorDash is having a hard time understanding the content of our complaint. When restaurants are forced to choose between unfair terms or retaliation, that's not competition — it's coercion. Uber will continue to stand up for merchants and for a level playing field. We look forward to presenting the facts in court," an Uber spokesperson said.
A lawyer for DoorDash told BI, "Uber appears to be upset that they're losing in the marketplace because DoorDash has better and more innovative products, but that isn't a legitimate basis for a lawsuit."
"Uber's legal claims are meritless and should be dismissed," the lawyer said.
DoorDash isn't Uber's only legal battle this year. In April, the Federal Trade Commission sued Uber, saying the company added users to its Uber One subscription program without their consent.
The FTC said in a press release that the company "failed to deliver promised savings" and made it tough for users to cancel the service.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told Semafor on Friday that the FTC's lawsuit was a "head-scratcher."
"We make it incredibly easy to sign up for Uber One, the value is enormous, the renewal rates are over 90%. It's a great product," Khosrowshahi said. "We allow you to cancel. We allow you to pause. That one was a head-scratcher for me."
REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis
Your ride to the airport or Friday-night dinner delivery through Uber might cost less if an economic downturn arrives, according to its CEO.
If the economy enters a recession, more people could sign up to drive and deliver for Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi said on Friday.
"If there is more unemployment, the cost of Uber will come down, because, to some extent, the cost of labor comes down," Khosrowshahi said at the Semafor World Economy Summit in Washington, D.C.
Khosrowshahi said that Uber tends to be "recession-resistant" since many people still want groceries, restaurant delivery, rides around town, and other "everyday use cases" — even if they cut back spending in other areas.
"You may put off going on vacation in Europe this summer, but you're still going to treat your family to a nice dinner," he said. "We specialize in small treats, not big treats."
Consumers have turned to said small treats when the economy — and their income — have deteriorated in the past.
Lipstick sales, for instance, rose during the 2001 recession as some shoppers looked to makeup as an affordable luxury even as they avoided larger purchases.
Economists, executives, and others worry that a recession could be sparked this year by President Donald Trump's tariffs.
Many retailers and consumer brands have said that they will pass the costs of the tariffs to shoppers, leading to higher prices on store shelves and online after years of post-pandemic inflation.
While shoppers pulled back spending in many areas last year, many did keep paying to have what they bought delivered through services including DoorDash, Instacart, and Uber Eats, earnings reports at the time showed.
Getting work on Uber and other gig apps might not be so easy for laid-off workers and others in a recession, though.
Current gig workers have told Business Insider that many apps are already saturated with people looking to claim work, and that some even have wait lists for prospective independent contractors.
Do you have a story to share about Uber or other gig work apps? Contact this reporter at [email protected] or 808-854-4501.
AP Photo/Markus Schreiber
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on Friday that he isn't sweating Elon Musk's robotaxis.
"I don't think that there will be a winner-take-all," Khosrowshahi told Semafor editor-in-chief Ben Smith during the publication's World Economic Summit in Washington.
"The drama is winner-take-all, but I think that the transportation industry is a trillion-plus-dollar industry," he said. "You could argue that rideshare is going to finally beat personal car ownership in a world where you've got robots driving all over the place, so I think there will be plenty of room in the industry."
Khosrowshahi said Uber would "love to work with" Musk's company. He also revealed that he owns a Tesla.
"Great car," Khosrowshahi said.
Asked if he has tried full self-driving, Khosrowshahi responded, "It is delightful, but I have to take over every once in a while. It is an absolutely great product. Again, the car is a terrific car."
Musk isn't playing as nicely with his competitors in the autonomous taxi space. Earlier this week, Musk took a shot at Waymo during Tesla's Q1 earnings call.
Musk said the problem with Alphabet's robotaxis is that they cost "way mo' money."
Waymo's ex-CEO brushed off the insult.
"Tesla has never competed with Waymo — they've never sold a robotaxi ride to a public rider, but they've sold a lot of cars," John Krafcik said in an email to Business Insider.
Uber and Waymo are partnering on autonomous ride-hailing in Austin and Atlanta. Tesla is aiming to roll out a "pilot" robotaxi service in Austin in June.
The stock market sell-off can be a difficult challenge for many investors. Here's how I am approaching the recent market volatility. (NASDAQ: AAPL) (NASDAQ: NVDA) (NYSE: UBER)
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 »
*Stock prices used were the afternoon prices of April 19, 2025. The video was published on April 21, 2025.
Before you buy stock in Nvidia, 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 Nvidia 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 $561,046!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $606,106!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 811% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 153% 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 April 21, 2025
Parkev Tatevosian, CFA has positions in Apple, Nvidia, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Nvidia, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Parkev Tatevosian is an affiliate of The Motley Fool and may be compensated for promoting its services. If you choose to subscribe through his link, he will earn some extra money that supports his channel. His opinions remain his own and are unaffected by The Motley Fool.
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