The embattled Uber Technologies (NASDAQ: UBER) has taken another hit in a lengthy series of hits it has taken since going public. Travis Kalanick, who co-founded Uber and was its chief executive officer during many of its growth years, recently divested roughly $711 million in his roughly $2.5 billion in Uber stock. Many analysts who have been following Uber are calling for Uber to focus on its core business model, considering the company's forays into food delivery, self-driving cars, and scooters a distraction from the real moneymaking venture. However, others are saying that Uber should embrace the broader push to integrate their technology into existing industries, claiming that vertical integration and the scaling that comes from it will push Uber into profitability. However, the question of whether Uber can find a business model that makes sense is still up in the air.
Uber has reported massive revenue growth for its third-party delivery app service Uber Eats. Revenues have risen 53% year over year in the second quarter of 2019. However, Uber Eats' success is not guaranteed for the future as the third-party delivery app space is incredibly crowded. Uber Eats faces stiff competition from competitors like DoorDash and Postmates. The main component of Uber Technologies, its ridesharing business, has been suffering significantly in recent months. Revenue has declined by 14% in its ridesharing business, contributing to a loss of more than $5 billion in Q2 of 2019. The ability of Uber to make money in the face of the discounts it offers to get people to use its ridesharing service is questionable at this point.
However, analysts still have some optimism for this new player in the technology space. According to TipRanks, a service that aggregates analyst expectations, Uber has relatively high price targets for its low share price. 20 analysts have Uber listed as a Buy, 6 as a Hold, and 0 as a Sell, with the average price target being roughly $47 a share. While it is unknown whether Uber will be able to attain these targets considering their struggles with profitability, this is still an intriguing stock to look at.