Shares of Uber Technologies (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT) were edging lower Thursday after Wedbush analysts said they continue to believe the market is underestimating a "negative terminal value impact" that autonomous vehicles could have on the companies' discounted cash flow value.
Wedbush said Tesla's (TSLA) Robotaxi app is now available to all US iPhone users and ranks in sixth position on Apple's (AAPL) App Store. The analysts said broader availability of the Robotaxi app could indicate plans to expand the service in the coming months.
The analysts said they believe that while the near-term financial impact to established ridesharing platforms is limited, over time autonomous vehicles will disrupt the current status quo.
Markets with higher density will be the areas where autonomous vehicles can be the most disruptive at first, Wedbush said, adding that 40% of Uber's mobility gross booking is exposed to a potential risk from AVs with Lyft's core business potentially facing a risk of similar proportions.
The firm has a neutral rating on Uber and Lyft with respective price targets of $84 and $15.
Price: 92.65, Change: -0.29, Percent Change: -0.31