Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) Q2 2026: EPS Misses at $0.13, But Revenue Tops Estimates as Active Riders Hit Record 30.5M

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT) reported Q2 2026 results on August 6, 2026, posting GAAP EPS of $0.13, missing the $0.15 consensus estimate, while revenue of $1.84 billion topped estimates, up 16.1% year over year from $1.59 billion in Q2 2025. Active Riders reached a record 30.5 million globally, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit growth in that metric.

Q2 2026 Results

• Gross Bookings of $5.5 billion, up 23% year over year from $4.49 billion in Q2 2025.
• GAAP net income of $50.3 million, up 24.8% year over year from $40.3 million in Q2 2025.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $177.2 million, up 37% year over year from $129.4 million, with Adjusted EBITDA margin expanding to 3.2% of Gross Bookings from 2.9% in Q2 2025.
• Rides reached a record 262 million, up 12% year over year from 234.8 million in Q2 2025.
• Free cash flow of $319.6 million in Q2; trailing twelve months free cash flow exceeded $1.1 billion.

What Drove the Results

GAAP EPS of $0.13 missed the $0.15 consensus estimate, while revenue of $1.844 billion exceeded the $1.807 billion analyst estimate. The Adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of 0.3 percentage points to 3.2% of Gross Bookings indicates that revenue growth of 16.1% translated into operating leverage, with Adjusted EBITDA growing at a faster rate of 37% year over year even as GAAP earnings per share came in below expectations.

Capital expenditures totaled $30.3 million in Q2 2026, more than doubling from $14.3 million in Q2 2025, a 111.9% year-over-year increase. Lyft noted that its Nashville autonomous vehicle operations, conducted in partnership with Waymo, officially launched in June, and the company is preparing to open an 80,000-square-foot purpose-built autonomous vehicle depot in Nashville in October. Approximately 30% of North American rideshare rides were linked to a partnership in the quarter, described by the company as an all-time high. Lyft and Curb also expanded their strategic partnership to New York City during the period.

Guidance

For Q3 2026, Lyft guided Gross Bookings of approximately $5.50 billion to $5.67 billion, representing year-over-year growth of approximately 15% to 19%. The company guided Q3 2026 Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $183 million to $203 million, with Adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 3.3% to 3.6% of Gross Bookings.

Wall Street View

Analyst coverage of Lyft remains broadly neutral ahead of any post-earnings revisions, with the majority of covering analysts carrying Hold ratings as of the most recent consensus snapshot. The Q2 EPS miss against the $0.15 estimate, set against a revenue beat and record rider growth, presents a mixed picture that may complicate near-term estimate revisions, though no specific post-earnings analyst actions appeared in the source data available at publication.

Investor Takeaway

The Q2 report shows that Lyft's rider base is scaling while Adjusted EBITDA is growing materially faster than revenue, a pattern that, if sustained, would improve the company's cash generation profile over the medium term, even though GAAP EPS of $0.13 missed the $0.15 consensus estimate. The doubling of capital expenditures year over year, tied in part to autonomous vehicle infrastructure investments such as the Nashville depot, represents a new spending category investors should monitor as Lyft advances its partnership with Waymo. The Q3 Gross Bookings guidance midpoint of approximately $5.585 billion implies continued double-digit year-over-year growth, and the Adjusted EBITDA guidance range of $183 million to $203 million represents a sequential step up from Q2's $177.2 million.