06:19 AM EDT, 05/08/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Lyft's ( LYFT ) shares gained early Wednesday after delivering better-than-expected first-quarter results amid robust demand for its ride-hailing services, while the company forecast sequential bookings growth for the current three-month period.

Gross bookings, an important indicator of the scale and impact of the firm's overall platform, is set to come in between $4 billion and $4.1 billion for the second quarter, Lyft ( LYFT ) said late Tuesday. In the March quarter, the metric advanced 21% on an annual basis to $3.69 billion. The stock rose 5.4% in premarket activity.

"We continue to see strong demand for rideshare from drivers and from riders," Chief Financial Officer Erin Brewer said during a conference call, according to a Capital IQ transcript. "And as the weather has gotten better, we've seen more bike and scooter usage, which is additive to both rides and active riders on a sequential basis in (the second quarter)."

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization is expected to be in a range of $95 million to $100 million for the ongoing period. Adjusted EBITDA margin, which is calculated as a percentage of gross bookings, is forecast to be at roughly 2.4%.

The company reported adjusted earnings of $0.15 per share for the first quarter, up from $0.07 the year before, according to an investor presentation. The Street's view was for normalized EPS of $0.08. Revenue climbed 28% to $1.28 billion, topping analysts' $1.16 billion estimate.

Lyft's ( LYFT ) active riders inclined 12% to 21.9 million during the quarter, reflecting an improvement in rider retention as well as more new riders. Rides soared 23% to 187.7 million driven by robust rideshare demand. "Growth in early morning commute and weekend evening trips was particularly strong, which is a continuation of the trends we saw in the back half of 2023," Brewer said on the call.

"We had a great start to 2024 with very strong first quarter results," Chief Executive David Risher told analysts. "We are on track to deliver full-year goals with a higher level of free cash flow that we initially shared."

The company now anticipates at least 70% of adjusted EBITDA to convert to free cash flow for the 2024 year, compared with previous expectations for a roughly half conversion of the figure. The firm continues to project gross bookings to increase "slightly faster" than its mid-teens rides growth guidance.

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