We recently compiled a list of the 12 Best Small Cap Tech Stocks to Buy. In this article, we are going to take a look at where LYFT Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) stands against the best small-cap tech stocks to buy.

US Inflation and the Anticipated Fed Cuts

Inflation in the US may have reached a 3-year low of 2.6% in August, the lowest rate since March 2021, according to a survey of economists by FactSet. Core inflation, excluding food and energy prices, is believed to have remained at 3.2%.

Inflation peaked at a 4-decade high of 9.1% in June 2022 as the economy rebounded rapidly from the pandemic recession. The Fed responded with 11 rate hikes in 2022 and 2023, raising its key rate to a 23-year high and significantly increasing borrowing costs across the economy. The easing of inflation may pave the way for the Fed to start cutting interest rates next week.

AP News reported that Fed officials think that inflation is steadily declining towards their 2% target. Reducing the Fed’s benchmark rate is expected to lower borrowing costs for consumers and businesses. Christopher Waller, a key Fed policymaker, noted that over half of tracked goods and services have seen annual inflation drop below 2.5%.

Craig Johnson, Chief Market Technician at Piper Sandler & Co., and Gene Goldman, Cetera’s CIO, recently came together to discuss the Fed’s interest rate cuts, and stock sector performance.

Gene Goldman expressed that his base case anticipates 3 rate cuts of 25 basis points each, beginning in September. His belief lies in the slowing inflation, a deceleration in economic growth, and the overall resilience of the economy, which he thinks is not as dire as some reports suggest. Goldman noted that while the labor market showed mixed signals, with both positive and negative data, the market’s expectations for deeper rate cuts may be exaggerated. Goldman acknowledged that political uncertainties could also contribute to market fluctuations.

Craig Johnson was also of the opinion that a 25 basis point cut is already anticipated by the market, suggesting that a 50 basis point cut could raise concerns among investors. He believes that a series of 25 basis point cuts would align with their perspective. Craig emphasized the importance of staying calm considering that, historically, October has been a strong month for the markets, with gains observed 86% of the time since 1929.

Johnson acknowledged that while there has been a recent pullback, particularly following the worst week for the markets since March 2023, there has been a rebound with the Nasdaq and S&P showing positive movements. He highlighted the necessity of dissecting the performance of the MAG 7 tech stocks, which he believes are now lagging. Instead, he pointed out that there are promising stocks within the $2 to $10 billion range that demonstrate solid growth potential, both at the top and bottom lines, and appear constructive on the charts.

He noted the Nasdaq’s 0.75% rebound but referred to it as a dead cat bounce, indicating that a more substantial recovery of 8-10% could be on the horizon. He attributed the day’s positive market sentiment to an employment report that exceeded expectations.

Methodology

We used stock screeners to look for companies trading between $1 billion and $10 billion, that’s our definition of small-cap stocks. We sorted our screen by market cap and looked through the top 25 stocks that matched our criteria. We then selected 12 stocks that were the most popular among elite hedge funds and that analysts were bullish on. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of the number of hedge funds that have stakes in them, as of Q2 2024.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

LYFT Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Market Capitalization as of September 11: $4.55 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 53

LYFT Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) is an American company offering mobility as a service through ride-hailing, vehicles for hire, motorized scooters, a bicycle-sharing system, rental cars, and food delivery across the US and select cities in Canada. It provides a platform that connects passengers with drivers, allowing users to request rides through a mobile app.

Earlier this year, the company launched a program to ensure that drivers earn at least 70% of their fare. Driver and rider engagement hit a record high in Q2 2024, with 23.7 million quarterly active riders, up over 10% year-on-year, including 34% more women and nonbinary drivers year-over-year, due to the success of Women+ Connect.

In Q2, the average Primetime amount included on each ride declined by 25% versus Q1, and that contributed to better conversion rates. So, the company is working on new features for regular riders, one of which is called Price Lock, where riders can buy a monthly subscription with a fixed price for their usual routes. Primetime won’t disappear completely, but it will make the process more predictable through Price Lock.

The Lyft Media segment is also doing well, with revenue up over 70%. It signed 44 new deals in the second quarter, including T-Mobile and Activision, and re-signed several more, including Amazon, Fidelity, and NBCUniversal.

Total revenue in Q2 was $1.44 billion, with a 40.64% year-over-year improvement. The earnings per share were $0.24.

53 hedge funds are long in the company, with the highest stake at $112,253,724 by Appaloosa Management LP. It is well-positioned to capitalize on the growth of autonomous vehicles due to its existing network and expertise in fleet management.

ClearBridge Multi Cap Growth Strategy made the following comment about Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) in its Q2 2023 investor letter:

“The sale of rideshare provider Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT), similar to our moves in communication services, prunes a smaller position to consolidate the portfolio in our highest conviction ideas. We initially purchased Lyft in May 2021 when rideshare volumes were still depressed due to COVID-19. While Lyft was a clear #2 behind Uber in domestic rideshare, we believed it was a cleaner way to play the U.S. recovery due to the focused nature of its business. However, poor execution and the uneven nature of the U.S. recovery, with West Coast markets where Lyft has historically had greater exposure lagging due to a lack of return to office work, further weakened its market position. In March, Lyft announced co-founder Logan Green would step down as CEO with David Risher, a former Amazon executive, taking his place. While Risher has laid out ambitions to drive Lyft’s market share higher, we believe doing so will require more than a few quarters fix. Furthermore, while the company has looked for areas to right size their cost base, we see necessary investments in price, service levels and product differentiation to drive this turnaround further pushing out the path to improved profitability.”

Overall LYFT ranks 5th on our list of the best small-cap tech stocks to buy. While we acknowledge the potential of LYFT as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold great promise for delivering high returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than the stocks on our list but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.