Original title: Ride-Hailing, Delivery and Freight All Grow — Uber’s Q3 Gross Bookings Rise 20% for a Fifth Straight Quarter, Operating Margin Hits a Record 3.9%
Author: Zhitong Finance, Zhao Jinbin
Cover image source | pexels
Zhitong Finance App has learned that Uber released its fiscal 2026 third-quarter results (quarter ended September 30) before the market opened on November 4. Gross Bookings for the quarter reached $59.819 billion, up 20% year over year (also +20% on a constant-currency basis), marking the fifth consecutive quarter of more than 20% growth and broadly in line with the consensus estimate of about $59.8 billion. Net revenue was $14.766 billion, up 10% year over year, with the change in business model weighing roughly 8 percentage points on revenue growth.
Profitability continued to expand strongly. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $2.963 billion, up 31% year over year and slightly above the roughly $2.93 billion consensus, with margin as a percentage of Gross Bookings rising to 5.0% from 4.5% a year earlier. Non-GAAP operating income was $2.304 billion (+38%), and the Non-GAAP operating margin hit a record high of 3.9%. Non-GAAP net income was $1.796 billion (+29%) and Non-GAAP EPS was $0.88 (+35%), at the top end of the company’s guidance range of $0.84–$0.88. On a GAAP basis, operating income was $1.447 billion (+30%), but net income attributable to the company was only $512 million, down 92% year over year, and GAAP diluted EPS was $0.25. That sharp decline reflects an exceptionally high prior-year base — which included about $4.9 billion of tax valuation allowance release and roughly $1.5 billion of net gains on equity investment revaluation — rather than any deterioration in operations; the current quarter also recorded $476 million of net losses on equity investment revaluation.
By segment, Gross Bookings grew across all three businesses. Mobility Gross Bookings were $29.512 billion, up 18%, with operating income of $2.362 billion (+27%). Delivery Gross Bookings were $28.539 billion, up 22% (+23% on a constant-currency basis), with operating income of $1.057 billion (+30%). Freight Gross Bookings were $1.768 billion, up 35%, with operating loss narrowing to $33 million. On operating metrics, the quarter saw 4.1 billion trips, up 16% year over year, and 215 million Monthly Active Platform Consumers (MAPCs), up 14%.
Uber generated $2.639 billion of cash flow from operations in the quarter (+13%) and $2.535 billion of free cash flow (+14%). The company repurchased $750 million of common stock in the quarter and $4.279 billion cumulatively over the first nine months of the year. Unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $10.1 billion at period end.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi commented in the results: “Uber delivered more than 20% Gross Bookings growth for a fifth consecutive quarter, driven by record user scale and consumer engagement. Our focus in autonomous driving has shifted to commercial execution, and we expect about 700 fully autonomous vehicles to be live on the Uber platform by the end of the year, rising to more than 2,000 in 2027.”
CFO Balaji Krishnamurthy added: “Non-GAAP operating margin reached a record 3.9% of Gross Bookings, and Non-GAAP EPS grew 35%. Our fourth-quarter outlook reinforces our confidence in the durability of our financial model as we head into 2027.”
Looking ahead, the company expects fourth-quarter Gross Bookings of $63.25–$65.25 billion, up 18%–22% year over year on a constant-currency basis and assuming about 1 percentage point of currency headwind, and Non-GAAP EPS of $0.95–$0.99 (+34%–+39%), corresponding to adjusted EBITDA of roughly $3.13–$3.23 billion.
Following the release, Uber shares swung sharply in pre-market trading and were down 0.05% as of publication.
