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Greater focus is finally paying off for the ride-hailing service.
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Strategic partnerships are bolstering the overall business.
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Profitability has been improving over the past few quarters.
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10 stocks we like better than Lyft ›
Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) has spent most of its time as a public company fighting skepticism. It’s smaller than Uber Technologies. It’s more concentrated. It doesn’t have food delivery or freight to balance out softness in ride-hailing. For years, those traits appeared to be weaknesses.
However, in 2025, the story takes a different turn. Lyft is showing signs of becoming a more disciplined, efficient, and strategically sharper business. The company isn’t perfect — far from it — but the pieces are falling into place in ways that are starting to excite long-term investors.
Here are three reasons the bulls are warming up to Lyft again.
Lyft’s smaller footprint, once a liability, has become an advantage. While Uber manages a sprawling global portfolio across dozens of countries and multiple business lines, Lyft runs a tighter, simpler operation. That focus allows it to channel resources into improving service quality where it matters most.
The results are measurable. Active riders continue growing at a healthy clip. Ride volume is rising. Driver supply is healthier than it has been in years. And above all, gross bookings have reached a new high in the latest quarter .
This company is not the chaotic, pandemic-era Lyft that struggled to match demand with drivers. It’s now a more stable business with cleaner operations, sharper execution, and better user consistency.
In an environment where investors are rewarding predictability over hypergrowth, Lyft’s operational reset is exactly what the market wants to see. And because Lyft is not stretched across dozens of business units, it can sustain this consistency without diluting management attention.
The biggest surprise in Lyft’s recent strategy is the remarkable discipline it has shown in its expansion. Instead of chasing every shiny new vertical, Lyft is growing through targeted moves that extend its core strengths.
A notable example is its acquisition of Freenow, a major European mobility platform with a strong presence in premium urban markets. Freenow adds three things bulls love:
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Immediate international scale in cities that matter, without the years of regulatory and operational learning curves.
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A more diversified rider base, including regulated taxis and higher-income users.
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A larger addressable market that complements Lyft’s North American dominance.
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