Uber Technologies stock gained Thursday, set to close higher for the shortened trading week. Shares of the ride-hail and food-delivery giant also moved above a key trendline, with some Wall Street analysts telling clients that Uber's business can withstand an economic slowdown.
Uber stock rose more than 3% to 75.78 in afternoon trades on the stock market today. Shares moved decisively back above Uber's 50-day moving average for the first time since early April, a positive sign for investor support.
Uber shares are ahead 25% overall this year, compared to a 10% loss for the S&P 500. Part of those gains represent a bounce-back for Uber after the stock slumped 20% in the final three months of 2024.
But Uber has also shown some resilience amid a sell-off and volatility that followed President Donald Trump's April 2 "Liberation Day" tariff announcement. It has a Relative Strength rating of 82 out of a best-possible 99. By comparison, Magnificent Seven tech giants Amazon and Meta have RS ratings of 38 and 47, respectively.
Uber's Tariff Exposure
Uber's services have limited direct exposure to import tariffs and could still be in demand during a recession, according to some analysts.
"Uber's core business has shown some levels of a-cyclicality in prior economic cycles (i.e. 2022 cycle)," Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Deepak Mathivanan wrote to clients Wednesday. "The growth in driver supply during a macro slowdown helps with favorable pricing trends and stimulates demand in everyday use cases, even though discretionary use cases, such as airport rides, see some pressure."
Mathivanan reiterated a positive overweight call on the stock and a price target of 80. He noted nearly half of Uber's business is international, which could protect the company from a slowdown in U.S. mobility and food delivery bookings.
Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney listed Uber alongside Netflix, Spotify and DoorDash as his top "Recession Resistant Internet Stocks" in a client note Monday.
"Uber has become a utility, on both the consumer and the driver/courier side … and on the merchant side, for that matter," Mahaney wrote. "We believe secular adoption is still (low single-digit percentages) for both mobility and delivery, and we believe Uber benefits from countercyclical hedges in that driver/courier supply will expand in any economic downturn while the need for incentives should moderate."
Mahaney holds an outperform call and 115 price target for Uber stock.
Uber Stock: Watching Tesla Earnings
Uber struggled last year because of concerns that robotaxi services could soon challenge its hold on the ride-hailing market.
On that note, Tesla will report earnings late Tuesday. Uber stock has been pressured in the past when Tesla leader Elon Musk provided updates on his vision to offer a robotaxi service on the company's earnings call.
Google parent company Alphabet, meanwhile, reports earnings Thursday. Alphabet's robotaxi subsidiary Waymo is partnered with Uber to offer autonomous taxi rides in Phoenix and Austin, with an expansion to Atlanta launching soon. Waymo also competes with Uber in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Investors could be listening for updates on the popularity of Waymo's service in Austin, the most recently launched market. About a fifth of all Uber rides in Austin in the final week of March were taken through a Waymo, according to Yipit Data estimates published by Bloomberg last week.
Uber itself will report first quarter earnings on May 7.
