Lyft shares rocket 62% over a typo in the company's earnings release

Lyft shares jumped 62% after the bell Tuesday thanks in part to a typo in the ride-hailing company’s earnings release that sent investors’ auto-trading algorithms — also known as “bots” — into a buying frenzy

Lyft shares jumped 62% after the closing bell Tuesday thanks in part to a typo in the ride-hailing company’s earnings release that appears to have sent investors’ auto-trading algorithms — or “bots” — into a buying frenzy.

Lyft’s fourth-quarter report initially forecast that an important profit metric was expected to climb by 500 basis points, or 5%, in 2024. However, the company informed investors about five minutes after the original release that there was one zero too many in that number and corrected it to 50 basis points, a much more realistic 0.5%.

Shares retreated after the correction, but remain more than 37% higher — at $16.69 per share — in early Wednesday trading because the company topped most Wall Street expectations for the quarter.

Lyft's gross bookings beat Wall Street forecasts, rising 17% year-over-year to $3.7 billion. Lyft's guidance for first-quarter bookings between $3.5 and $3.6 billion also came in higher than projections.

The San Francisco company earned 19 cents per share in the period, more than doubling the 8 cents that industry analysts were expecting.