Lyft reported third quarter revenue of 1.82 billion dollars, up 8.1 percent year over year but below the 1.92 billion dollar consensus. The miss was substantially a charge, not a demand shortfall: changes and settlements in legal, tax and regulatory reserves cost 117.9 million dollars in the quarter, of which 69.1 million dollars was booked as a reduction to revenue. Even excluding that item, revenue of roughly 1.89 billion dollars was modestly short of consensus.
The GAAP result swung to a net loss of 9.7 million dollars, or 0.03 dollars per share, from net income of 46.1 million dollars a year earlier. The operating business told a different story. Adjusted EBITDA rose 47 percent to a record 203.9 million dollars, 3.6 percent of gross bookings against 2.9 percent a year earlier, and trailing twelve month free cash flow stayed above 1 billion dollars for a fifth straight quarter.
Volumes set records. Gross bookings rose 17 percent to 5.62 billion dollars, rides rose 10 percent to a record 273.5 million, and active riders rose 10 percent to a record 31.6 million, the eighth straight quarter of double digit rider growth. Bookings growth did cool from 23 percent in the second quarter as the FreeNow acquisition was lapped.
For the fourth quarter Lyft guided gross bookings of 5.74 billion to 5.94 billion dollars, growth of 13 to 17 percent, and adjusted EBITDA of 188 million to 213 million dollars. Chief executive David Risher told the earnings call that autonomous vehicles are not hurting the business, and the company plans to expand its Nashville Waymo fleet by year end. The shares fell about 8 percent in after hours trading.