5 Best Gig Economy Stocks To Buy

3. Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 129

Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) is one of the biggest names in the gig economy because of its successful network of connecting drivers to customers through its subsidiaries Uber, Uber Eats, Postmates, and others. The company is among the best gig economy stocks to buy.

Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) has a consensus Buy rating among 35 analysts, and its average price target of $89.44 has an upside of 25.07% from the last price of $71.51, as of May 6.

In Q4 of 2023, 129 hedge funds had investments in Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER), with positions worth $8.74 billion. D E Shaw is the top investor in the company as of December 31, 2023, and has a position worth $886.123 million.

RiverPark Advisors stated the following regarding Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:

“Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER): UBER was a top contributor in the quarter following better than expected 3Q23 earnings and 4Q23 guidance. Gross bookings of $35.3 billion were up 21% year over year. Mobility gross bookings of $17.9 billion grew 30% over last year driven by a combination of product innovation and driver availability. Delivery gross bookings of $16 billion were up 16% from last year and continued to be strong throughout the quarter. 1Q Adjusted EBITDA of $1.1 billion, up $576 million year over year, was better than management’s guidance of $1 billion, and the company generated $900 million of free cash flow, up from $358 million last year. Management guided to continuing growth in 4Q Gross Bookings (23.5% growth) and Adjusted EBITDA (of $1.2 billion).

UBER remains the undisputed global leader in ride sharing, with a greater than 50% share in every major region in which it operates. The company is also a leader in food delivery, where it is number one or two in the more than 25 countries in which it operates.1 Moreover, after a history of losses, the company is now profitable, delivering expanding margins and substantial free cash flow. We view UBER as more than a ride sharing and food delivery service; we also see it as a global mobility platform with 142 million users (by comparison, Amazon Prime has 200 million members) and the ability to penetrate new markets of on-demand services, such as package and grocery delivery, travel, and hourly worker staffing. Given its $5.2 billion of unrestricted cash and $5.1 billion of investments, the company today has an enterprise value of $128 billion, indicating that UBER trades at 21x our estimates of next year’s free cash flow.”