Daniel
Self-Directed Investor, YouTube Investing Creator
Uber is one of the most interesting opportunities in the market, down 31% from its highs while printing more cash. The market treats it as a low-margin business that autonomous driving could disrupt, missing its real moat: distribution. A network of consumers, drivers and merchants is very hard to replicate and lets it add verticals without paying acquisition costs again. Uber also owns about 13% of Grab, down 85% and building financial services on the same model. x.comÂ
Uber is the toll booth on urban movement: while the market debates whether robotaxis kill it, every autonomous player keeps partnering with Uber for its demand network. Trailing-twelve-month free cash flow topped $10 billion for the first time, with gross bookings up 22%. x.comÂ
Uber is well on its way to becoming a compounding machine: revenue and free-cash-flow growth have been strong and consistent, while its moat widens through network effects and its flywheel ecosystem. At 23x forward earnings it looks like a very interesting opportunity, and the bear narratives are often overblown. x.comÂ
Uber looks rather negative because driver reclassification, consumer cutbacks and easy switching threaten its business. Making drivers employees could raise costs and push ride prices up around 40%. Food delivery and comfort rides are cut when budgets tighten; riders switch to Lyft or Bolt for a few euros. Tesla or Waymo could bypass Uber with their own apps, and Google can scale quickly. Despite being a great company, Uber has too many unknowns; it is preferable to stay on the sidelines. x.comÂ
Uber's rising free cash flow makes the weak share price and sentiment look disconnected from its business. The attached chart shows trailing free cash flow climbing toward $10 billion, while revenue grew 12.2% and active consumers 15.6% year over year despite a 26% share-price decline over the past year. x.com x.comÂ
Uber's large, successful network and marketplace give it a moat. The stock is in stage 4, but its fundamentals still appeal. x.comÂ
Uber cannot be owned until its robotaxi strategy and economics are clearer, including whether it stays asset-light or pivots to asset-heavy. Calling it 10 times 2027 free cash flow may be unfair if an asset-heavy pivot sends that cash into capex. Google puts global ridesharing at $150-180 billion in gross bookings a year, reaching $200 billion by decade's end, likely not big enough for Waymo, Tesla and Uber to all win while each spends tens of billions on fleets. x.com x.com x.comÂ
Uber's network effects could make it the app robotaxi fleets need to keep their cars fully operational. It is one of the best platforms on earth and a five-year buy at today's valuation, with opportunity too compelling to pass up despite shares falling about 25% in the past year on robotaxi fears. Bookings grew 24% last quarter and trailing free cash flow exceeded $10 billion. Waymo and Tesla could choose to bypass Uber; Waymo already runs its own app in most of its cities. x.comÂ
Autonomy could expand the ride market tenfold, giving Uber a long growth runway if it does. That is the true 10x opportunity, like ridesharing's expansion of the taxi market. Uber will be a $1 trillion company by 2035. Improved autonomous-vehicle margins are possible but uncertain. x.com x.com x.comÂ
Uber's valuation is out of balance with its fundamental trajectory over the medium term, and the long-term thesis is less convincing than it once was. It became a cash-flow machine sooner than expected, but the past couple of years have been a grind. It is a hold now and a sell if it reaches the top of its technical channel around $100. x.com x.comÂ
Uber's rising operating margins make the market's apparent dismissal of it look misplaced. Its trailing operating margin climbed from -13% in March 2022 to 12% in June 2026, continuing the earlier case that improving profitability is underappreciated. x.comÂ
