Why Lyft Might Be The Highest Potential Stock Now

In the world of rideshare investing, Uber tends to get all the attention. And with autonomous driving hype swirling around Tesla, it’s easy to overlook the other major U.S. player in the space. But if you’re willing to dig deeper, Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) might just be one of the market’s most overlooked opportunities.

Key Points

• Lyft targets the $59.2B U.S. ride-hailing market with high-impact partnerships.

• Bookings are up for 16 straight quarters, and the company now generates nearly $1B in free cash flow annually.

• At just 1.1x sales and 7.5x book, Lyft is cheap despite investing in autonomous tech.

A Massive Market, With Focused Execution

Lyft has chosen a very specific lane in U.S. ride-hailing. While Uber is juggling food delivery, freight, and a patchwork of international markets, Lyft is laser-focused on capturing share in a single, yet enormous, market.

At $59.2 billion in annual U.S. ride-hailing revenue, according to Statista, and it’s growing. By focusing all its resources domestically, Lyft avoids the margin squeeze and operational complexity that can come with global sprawl.

Take DoorDash, for instance. Lyft linked up with the food delivery giant last year, allowing DashPass members to access special Lyft perks.

Within months, 1 in 10 of DashPass members had synced their accounts, helping drive over 15 million Lyft rides in Q1 alone.

Lyft is also carving out niches in under-served segments. “Women+ Connect” lets female riders request female drivers. “Lyft Silver” offers seniors easier-to-access vehicles and real human phone support, not bots.

Preparing for a Future Without Drivers

The buzzword everyone throws around is “robotaxis.” Tesla gets the headlines, but Lyft may be better positioned than people realize.

It’s already working with Mobileye, a leader in autonomous vehicle technology backed by Intel. Mobileye powers self-driving systems in vehicles from Geely, Volkswagen, and more. If and when robotaxis roll out en masse, Lyft won’t need to build them, it’ll just plug them into its existing platform.

And here’s the under-the-radar play, Flexdrive.

It’s a little-known subsidiary that provides fleet management and car subscriptions for rideshare drivers. In a world of autonomous vehicles, where someone still needs to maintain, charge, clean, and optimize vehicle utilization, Flexdrive could evolve into a critical infrastructure layer, and one that quietly prints money.

Strong Growth, Surprisingly Strong Profits

One popular take is that Lyft is a money-losing second fiddle to Uber. But the reality is Lyft is setting records and is now a free cash flow machine.

In Q1 2025, Lyft hit all-time highs in active drivers and total rides. Bookings climbed 13% year-over-year, its 16th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. That’s momentum.

And the shift from burning cash to generating it has been swift. Lyft has undergone a quiet transformation. Gone are the days of bloated spending. In its place? Lean execution. The company generated almost a billion in free cash flow over the past year.

Valuation That Defies Logic

Now here’s where things get strange, in a good way.

Lyft trades at just 1.1x trailing sales and 7.5x book value. That’s deep value territory, typically reserved for legacy industrials, not a software-enabled growth company.

If investors truly believed Lyft was doomed, that multiple would make sense. But the fundamentals say otherwise with user growth, partnerships, solid free cash flow, and intelligent bets on autonomy.

Better yet, the board approved a half billion dollar stock buyback. At current prices, that could retire roughly 8% of all outstanding shares in the next year alone, a meaningful boost to earnings per share and shareholder value.

So Should You Buy Lyft?

Lyft is more than a smaller Uber. It’s a focused, efficient platform with a smart mix of innovation and discipline. It’s gaining traction in key demographic segments, building partnerships that drive real revenue, and preparing but seriously for the autonomous future.

And it’s doing all of that while generating strong free cash flow and trading at a deep discount to its true value.

If you’re looking for a stock that combines growth, profitability, and value, Lyft might be the market’s most under-appreciated gem.