Finimize - 🅰️ Uber aced the driving test

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Today's big stories

Uber hit the gas last quarter, and delivered some high-octane results
Investors could be kidding themselves about inflation – Read Now
Maersk issued a warning that took the wind out of investors’ sails

Uber-Successful

What’s Going On Here?

Uber put the pedal to the metal last quarter, according to Wednesday’s results.

What Does This Mean?

High inflation helping Uber wasn’t a scenario that anyone expected – but peek a little closer, and Uber’s success actually makes sense. For one, the cost of car ownership has climbed so high that some folk have to use a cab just to get from A to B these days. And for another, the flagging economy has drivers flocking to the platform to earn some extra money behind the wheel. In fact, Uber had a record number of drivers on the roads last quarter, and their chauffeuring – plus Uber’s other mobility services, like scooters and rickshaws – racked up a record two billion plus trips, just under a million an hour. The company’s food delivery business Uber Eats ticked along nicely too, helping lift overall revenue by a better-than-expected 49% – a number that would’ve been even higher if the strong US dollar hadn’t eaten into it.

Why Should I Care?

The bigger picture: Eat up.
Uber’s promising forecasts and determination to turn a profit this year had investors feeling starry-eyed about the future as well as the past. But with all the hubbub about the company, make sure you don’t overlook Uber Eats. It might have been the ride-hailing business that stole the headlines, but food delivery kept the business afloat during the pandemic, and the segment still brings in almost half the firm’s overall revenue. Plus, with newer services like alcohol and grocery delivery tipped to catch on, it could drive growth down the line.

Zooming out: Slowcoach.
Stats like that suggest Uber’s not losing its edge to rivals like Lyft, and that stands to reason: Uber’s got more drivers on the road, which means it has a greater likelihood of bagging customers and, ultimately, a more efficient ride-hailing system. At any rate, analysts are clearly backing one horse: the proportion of buy ratings for Uber’s stock is double that of Lyft’s.

You might also like: How you can value Uber’s stock in under two hours.

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Analyst Take

The Market’s Dangerous Optimism About Inflation

Reda Farran, Analyst

Inflation doesn’t just fall like a stone, and thinking that it will is just dangerously optimistic.

Sure, inflation has started to come down from its 40-year highs, but it could still take a lot longer than you might expect to return to more normal levels of 2% to 3%.

That’s today’s Insight: three big reasons why inflation could stay higher for longer – and what that means for your portfolio.

Read or listen to the Insight here

Shot Across The Bow

What’s Going On Here?

Maersk, the world’s second-biggest shipping company, warned on Wednesday that its profit’s poised to plunge this year.

What Does This Mean?

It looks like Maersk has found itself up a creek without a paddle. For two years, the industry could more or less name its price when it came to shipping fees, thanks to a flood of demand and simultaneous supply shortages. In fact, the rising tide was so strong that Maersk upped its profit forecasts twice last year, and with good reason: revenue rose a third in 2022, and operating profit jumped 57% to a record $31 billion. But now it seems shippers are about to encounter the icy waters of reality. With the global economic slowdown in full swing, their fees have slipped to pre-pandemic levels, and shipping demand’s set to sink like an anchor too. No wonder Maersk forecasts an operating profit of as little as $2 billion this year – a calamitous drop from 2022. That was well below analysts' expectations, and investors staged a mutiny, throwing stock overboard and tanking shares.

Why Should I Care?

Zooming in: MSC’s at sea.
Maersk's position as master of the seas was sunk by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) last year, when the plucky firm overtook it as the world’s biggest container shipping company by volume. But while MSC bought more boats, Maersk focused on land-lubber logistics on terra firma instead. Now that the shipping industry’s slowing, Maersk could be glad it swapped some highways of the sea for real tarmac.

The bigger picture: Expect worse.
This shipping slowdown isn't due to sail off into the sunset anytime soon: a forecast out earlier this month predicted that world trade will grow by a measly annual average of 2.3% through to 2031 – even more slowly than the global economy. That’s no wonder, with geopolitical tensions and war set to make some supply chains more regional – less efficient and more expensive, in other words.

You might also like: 2022 was a scorcher, inflation-wise. 2023 won’t be.

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💬 Quote of the day

“Hell is full of musical amateurs.”

– George Bernard Shaw (an Irish dramatist and critic)

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Finimize - 🅰️ Uber aced the driving test

Today's big stories

Uber-Successful

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

The Market’s Dangerous Optimism About Inflation

Shot Across The Bow

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

🥳 Coming Up In The Next Week…

👀 And After That…

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