Uber Beats Revenue Expectations in Q4 2025 but Shares Dip as Investors Eye AV Transition and Margin Pressures

Uber Technologies Inc. reported stronger-than-expected revenue for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2025, driven by robust growth in both its mobility and delivery segments, yet shares slipped in premarket trading on Wednesday, as investors parsed the results through the lens of rising autonomous vehicle (AV) ambitions and ongoing profitability concerns.

Adjusted earnings per share came in at 71 cents, while revenue reached $14.37 billion—surpassing the LSEG consensus estimate of $14.32 billion and climbing 20% from $12 billion a year earlier. Gross bookings hit $54.1 billion, topping StreetAccount’s $53.1 billion forecast.

The mobility segment, Uber’s core ride-hailing business, generated $8.2 billion in revenue, up 19% year-over-year, though it fell slightly short of StreetAccount’s $8.3 billion expectation. Delivery, encompassing Uber Eats and expanding grocery/retail services, posted the strongest growth at 30% to $4.9 billion, beating estimates of $4.72 billion.Net income for the quarter was $296 million, a sharp decline from $6.88 billion in the prior-year period, largely due to a $1.6 billion net pre-tax headwind from revaluations of equity investments.

Excluding such non-operating items, profitability trends remained solid, supported by disciplined cost management and scale efficiencies. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi struck an optimistic tone in prepared remarks ahead of the earnings call, highlighting delivery as the company’s fastest-growing segment in 2025, particularly in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Strategic partnerships with OpenTable (for restaurant reservations), Shopify (for e-commerce integration), and major grocers such as Loblaws (Canada), Biedronka (Poland), Seiyu (Japan), and Coles (Australia) fueled the expansion, broadening Uber Eats beyond food into everyday retail. The company also underscored progress in its Uber One subscription program, noting that members book more rides and purchase more items across the platform after subscribing.

Advertising revenue continued to gain traction, with Khosrowshahi pointing to integrations with generative AI tools like ChatGPT to enhance discovery—enabling users to explore services and restaurants before completing checkouts. A significant portion of the shareholder deck and call focused on Uber’s accelerating shift toward autonomous vehicles.

Khosrowshahi reiterated his conviction—first voiced a year earlier—that AVs represent a “multi-trillion dollar opportunity” and “fundamentally amplify the strengths of our existing platform.” In Atlanta and Austin, Texas, where Uber offered autonomous rides in 2025, overall trip growth “significantly accelerated” even for human-driven vehicles. In San Francisco, where Waymo operates driverless services via its own app and partners with Uber, Khosrowshahi noted that AV supply has grown the total ride-hailing category rather than cannibalizing it.

Uber currently facilitates AV trips in select markets through partnerships with Waymo (Alphabet), Waabi, Lucid Motors, and others. Khosrowshahi projected expansion to up to 15 cities globally by the end of 2026, including Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Munich, Hong Kong, Zurich, and Madrid—split between the U.S. and international markets. By 2029, he said, Uber intends to become “the largest facilitator of AV trips in the world.”

He tempered expectations, however, cautioning that autonomous vehicles “are likely to remain a very small portion of the rideshare category for many years to come” due to technological, regulatory, safety, and scaling hurdles. This tempered outlook may have contributed to the premarket share decline, as some investors had hoped for more aggressive near-term AV revenue guidance.

Guidance for the first quarter of 2026 called for gross bookings growth of at least 17% year-over-year, targeting a range of $52 billion to $53.5 billion. The company reiterated its long-term target of achieving profitability on an adjusted EBITDA basis and generating strong free cash flow, though near-term margin pressures from AV investments and competitive dynamics remain in focus.

Uber’s results arrive during a pivotal transition for the ride-hailing industry. The rapid rollout of driverless services in urban markets—led by Waymo’s fully autonomous operations in San Francisco since 2024—has reshaped competitive landscapes. Uber’s strategy of partnering rather than owning AV fleets positions it as a platform aggregator, potentially mitigating capital intensity while capturing network effects.

Despite the revenue beat, premarket shares softened as investors weighed the AV narrative against near-term profitability concerns and broader market rotation away from growth stocks. The company’s ability to balance aggressive AV expansion with sustained delivery momentum and margin improvement will likely remain a key focus for analysts and shareholders in the months ahead.