Uber May Have a GE Problem
In barely four months on the public markets, many of the risks in Uber Technologies' (NYSE: UBER) business have revealed themselves: The company is losing billions of dollars a year; its growth is rapidly slowing; it's losing domestic market share to rival Lyft; its Uber Eats business has been eclipsed by DoorDash; California is trying to make it treat drivers like employees rather than independent contractors, and the stock is down about 25% from its $45 IPO price, a sign that investors may already be losing faith.
However, one issue with Uber has been largely ignored since the company went public in May. Its financial reporting is among the most confusing of publicly traded companies as it offers a plethora of company-specific metrics. While the company supposedly provides additional metrics like "core platform revenue" to better explain its business and performance, often these metrics seem designed to obfuscate the company's true results or misdirect attention from the challenges Uber faces.
Image source: Uber.
Source Fool.com
