Uber stock pops on $7B share buyback program announcement

Shares of Uber (UBER) are up intraday Wednesday after the company announced its board has authorized a share buyback program of up to $7 billion for the first time ever. This comes on the heels of the ride-share service's strong fourth-quarter earnings results.

Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal and Josh Lipton break down the details of this trending ticker.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Editor's note: This article was written by Angel Smith

Video Transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

ALEXANDRA CANAL: We're checking in on a few trending tickers. Shares of Uber moving higher today after the ridesharing giant announced that its board of directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $7 billion of the company's common stock. Uber's CFO calls its first ever share repurchase program quote, "a vote of confidence in the company's strong financial momentum."

And Josh, this is really an important moment for Uber. After years of burning cash, we saw positive results last week, Uber posting its first annual profit since its IPO. I also think the fact that we saw positive results from Lyft is helping lift that sentiment across the board since clearly there's room for both of these ridesharing giants within the current market.

At the same time, there's overhanging risks, right? We have strikes going on today with gig economy workers from Lyft, Uber, DoorDash as they're fighting for fair pay. But it really seems like Uber is in a solid position right now for-- for future growth.

JOSH LIPTON: It is in a different financial position. You know, a lot of that change happening under CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. And he's spoken about this, how he's called 2023, called it an inflection point for the company. They reported their first full year of profit as a public company. You look at this stock, really remarkable run. I mean, we are now up about 120% over the last 12 months. And the Street loves this name. It is like NVIDIA-kind of love for Uber. You've got about 90% of analysts who cover this one still say even after this run, this one is a buy.