Investing.com -- Uber (NYSE:UBER) stock tumbled in early U.S. trading on Wednesday after the company posted a surprise quarterly loss and missed three-month bookings estimates.
The ride-hailing and delivery service reported a first-quarter loss of $0.32 per share, compared to analysts' projections for a profit of $0.22 per share. Meanwhile, revenue for the quarter came in at $10.13 billion, above the consensus estimate of $10.09 billion.
Despite growing 20% year-over-year, Uber's quarterly gross bookings -- a closely-watched gauge of the total dollar value of transactions carried out on the platform -- of $37.65 billion were under Bloomberg-compiled forecasts of $37.97 billion. Trips during the quarter grew 21% versus a year ago to 2.6 billion, or approximately 28 million trips per day on average.
Chief Financial Officer Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah flagged that demand was particularly weaker in Latin America, while results were also hit by a shift in the timing of the Easter and Ramadan holidays.
For the second quarter, Uber anticipates gross bookings of $38.75 billion to $40.25 billion versus expectations of $40.04 billion. Adjusted core earnings are seen at between $1.45 billion to $1.53 billion.
"While the macroeconomic environment was undoubtedly a big headwind for Uber during the last quarter, these numbers show that the company's problems are also internal in nature," said Investing.com senior analyst Thomas Monteiro. "We were already expecting a deceleration in average spending in several markets due to slower-than-expected economic activity in the US in Q1 and persistent consumer pressures. However, this is way above the base case."
Sam Boughedda contributed to this report.