Ride-sharing giants Uber, Lyft jump after Tesla’s ‘toothless taxi’ fails to excite investors

Tesla’s hyped robotaxi unveiling posed a threat to Uber’s ride-sharing aspirations, but it has turned into a boon for the stock instead.
Uber shares had been falling on the initial investor excitement leading up to Thursday’s event — particularly slumping in early August and mid-September — but surged more than 9% on Friday on renewed enthusiasm that the company is well positioned to advance its autonomous vehicle offerings. The move pushed the stock to a 52-week high and it was leading the S&P 500 higher during the session.
That is a massive turnaround for Uber’s stock, which is now up nearly 22% over the past month and about 38% for the year. Lyft, another major player, is also surging about 10% on Friday. By comparison, Tesla’s shares are plunging during Friday’s trading session and are down more than 11% this year, vastly underperforming both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, which have each gained around 22% so far this year.
The buzz around Tesla’s highly anticipated cybercab has largely dissipated due to a lack of detail on its latest full self-driving technology advancements and the company’s failure to provide insight on its ride-sharing service strategy or economics, among other expectations investors had.
“TSLA’s toothless taxi is a best-case outcome for UBER,” Jefferies analyst John Colantuoni said in a Friday note, noting that the electric car maker provided ambitious targets but little signs of feasibility.