What Happened?
Shares of ride sharing service Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) fell 4.6% in the afternoon session after Mizuho initiated coverage on the company with a Neutral rating and a $24 price target.
A "Neutral" rating often suggested that an analyst believed the stock was fairly valued with limited potential for significant gains. This lack of a strong "buy" signal from a new analyst covering the stock appeared to weigh on investor sentiment. Adding to this view, MoffettNathanson LLC also maintained its own neutral recommendation on Lyft's shares. While MoffettNathanson did raise its price target to $20 from $16, the prevailing neutral stance from the analysts seemed to have prompted the sell-off.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Lyft’s shares are very volatile and have had 26 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 13 days ago when the stock gained 14.7% on the news that the company announced a new partnership with Alphabet's Waymo to launch an autonomous ride-hailing service in Nashville in 2026.
The collaboration planned to use Lyft's Flexdrive subsidiary for comprehensive fleet management, which handled vehicle maintenance and depot operations for Waymo's self-driving cars. This deal represented a significant move for Lyft, helping it to better compete against its rival, Uber, in the race to scale autonomous rides. The rollout plan indicated that rides would first be available through Waymo's app, with a planned integration into Lyft's own platform later in 2026. The announcement sent a jolt of excitement through the market, pushing Lyft's shares sharply higher while shares of its rival, Uber, declined.
Lyft is up 60.2% since the beginning of the year, and at $21.87 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $22.93 from September 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Lyft’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $793.83.
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