Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE:UBER)

The receivables turnover ratio generally demonstrates a fluctuating but upward trend over the observed periods. Starting from values slightly above 10 in early 2020, it declined temporarily around the first quarter of 2022 before recovering and peaking above 13 in mid-2023. Toward the projected years 2024 and 2025, the ratio remains relatively stable, oscillating around 11 to 13, indicating a consistent efficiency in collecting receivables.

The payables turnover ratio shows more pronounced volatility but an overall increasing trajectory. Initial ratios hover in the range of 15 to 25, with notable spikes reaching above 30 during 2023 and sustained elevated levels into 2024 and 2025. This suggests an accelerated rate of paying suppliers or settling accounts payable in recent periods, potentially reflective of improved liquidity management or changing supplier terms.

Working capital turnover is highly variable across the timeline, with some extraordinary values such as 129.39 and 1646.62, suggesting potential anomalies or significant one-time impacts in working capital management. Despite these outliers, the ratio fluctuates widely but generally trends toward more moderate values in later periods. The pattern indicates inconsistent management or volatility in the relationship between sales and working capital deployment, warranting closer operational focus.

The average receivable collection period in days displays moderate variation. Initially around mid-30 days in 2020, it rises sharply to over 50 days in early 2022, then gradually decreases to below 30 days by 2023. The forecast through 2025 suggests a stable collection period close to the 28 to 35 days range, reflecting an improvement in the timeliness of collections compared to earlier peaks.

The average payables payment period shows a generally decreasing and then stable trend. From approximately 15 to 24 days in early periods, it lengthens to over 30 days briefly around early 2021 but then declines steadily, stabilizing near 12 to 13 days in recent years and projections. This pattern indicates faster payment cycles recently, which may influence supplier relationships but also reflect the company’s cash flow strategies.

Overall, the financial data indicate that the company has improved efficiency in managing receivables and payables in recent years, although working capital turnover exhibits significant fluctuations that suggest irregularities or episodic impacts in operational cash flow management. Collection periods for receivables have been optimized after a period of elongation, and payables are being settled more rapidly, signaling stricter working capital controls or changes in payment policies.

Receivables Turnover

Generally increasing with some fluctuations, stabilizing between 11 and 13 in recent periods.

Payables Turnover

Marked volatility but an upward trend, with recent values consistently above 25, indicating faster payment to suppliers.

Working Capital Turnover

Highly volatile with extreme outliers; overall unstable and suggests variable operational efficiency.

Average Receivable Collection Period

Peak at over 50 days around 2022, improving to below 30 days and stabilizing thereafter.

Average Payables Payment Period

Initially fluctuating, recently stable around 12 to 13 days, indicating quicker payments.

Revenue

The revenue figures exhibit a clear overall upward trend from Q1 2020 through Q2 2025. Starting at $3,248 million in March 2020, revenue experienced volatility in early quarters with a dip during Q2 2020 to $1,913 million, likely reflecting pandemic-related impacts. However, subsequent quarters show a consistent growth trajectory, reaching $5,778 million by the end of 2021 and continuing to increase steadily through 2022 and 2023. By Q2 2025, revenue peaks at $12,651 million, indicating strong business expansion and recovery over the analyzed period.

Accounts Receivable, Net of Allowance

Accounts receivable also increased significantly over the timeframe. Beginning at $683 million in Q1 2020, the balance grew moderately until late 2020, then surged notably in Q4 2020 to $2,439 million. This elevated level persisted with incremental increases through 2024, peaking around $3,783 million in Q3 2024 before showing some fluctuation towards the end of the period. The increasing accounts receivable balance correlates with expanding revenue, though the relatively large jump in late 2020 suggests a change in collection cycle or credit policy at that time.

Receivables Turnover

The receivable turnover ratio, reflecting efficiency in collecting outstanding receivables, demonstrates variable performance. Data is unavailable prior to Q2 2020, but from that point, ratios mostly range from approximately 10 to 13. Initially, turnover ratios declined slightly during late 2020 to a low near 7.16 in Q4 2020, coinciding with the spike in receivables. Afterwards, turnover improved steadily, reaching peaks above 13 in 2023 and 2024, indicating enhanced collections efficiency. However, minor declines occur in the latter quarters, suggesting some fluctuations in receivables management despite overall good performance.

Summary Observations

Overall, the data portrays a company experiencing significant growth in revenue accompanied by increases in accounts receivable. The rise in receivables is consistent with expanding sales but also indicates some shifts in credit or cash collection policies, especially notable in late 2020. Receivables turnover recovered strongly after that period, suggesting improved collection effectiveness. The combination of increasing revenue and relatively stable turnover ratios points to effective working capital management, supporting sustainable growth.

Cost of revenue, exclusive of depreciation and amortization

The cost of revenue demonstrates a generally increasing trend over the analyzed periods. Starting from a relatively low point of 924 million USD in June 2020, it rose significantly through the subsequent quarters, reaching a peak of 7,234 million USD in December 2024. Notably, the growth displayed some acceleration from early 2021 onwards, with the cost crossing thresholds of 3,000 million USD by the end of 2021 and continuing to rise steadily. Minor fluctuations are observable but the overall trajectory suggests expanding operational scale or rising costs associated with revenue generation activities.

Accounts payable

The accounts payable values indicate a fluctuating pattern with an upward bias. Initial values hovered around the low 200 millions mark in early 2020 but saw notable variation in the mid-2020 quarters, with spikes such as 860 million USD in December 2021. Throughout 2022 and 2023, the figures remained mostly stable in the 700 to 800 million USD range, with a gradual increase observed towards the later periods, reaching over 1 billion USD (1,022 million) by June 2025. This suggests increasing supplier credit or delayed payment cycles over time.

Payables turnover ratio

The payables turnover ratio exhibits considerable volatility throughout the recorded quarters. It began around 21.93 in September 2020, fluctuated significantly with sharp decreases and increases—dropping as low as 10.87 in December 2021 and peaking notably above 30 in multiple recent quarters. The overall pattern from 2021 onwards displays an oscillating yet high turnover ratio, generally above 20 with several peaks above 27, which could imply variations in payment policies, seasonal effects, or changes in the company’s cash management strategies. The high ratios in the latest periods suggest relatively rapid payment processing or higher operational efficiency in managing accounts payable.

Working Capital

The working capital experienced considerable volatility over the reported periods. Initially, it decreased sharply from 4,483 million USD in March 2020 to 99 million USD by June 2021. Subsequently, it fluctuated between negative and positive values, indicating episodes of liquidity strain, particularly noticeable in December 2021 where it was -205 million USD and again in June 2022 at -194 million USD. From mid-2023 onwards, working capital improved markedly, rising steadily and reaching 4,496 million USD by March 2024. In the final quarters through June 2025, it showed another decline, settling at 237 million USD before improving to 1,421 million USD.

Revenue

Revenue showed a consistent upward trajectory over the entire timeframe. Starting at 3,248 million USD in March 2020, revenue demonstrated solid growth each quarter, intensifying throughout 2021 and 2022. By March 2024, revenue had more than tripled compared to the start, reaching 11,188 million USD, and continued upwards peaking at 12,651 million USD in June 2025. Minor fluctuations occurred at the end of the observed period, but the overall trend indicates significant and sustained revenue expansion.

Working Capital Turnover Ratio

The working capital turnover ratio exhibited extreme variations and inconsistent availability of data across the quarters. Early periods lack data for this metric, but from late 2020 through successive quarters in 2021 and 2022, spikes are evident with ratios reaching as high as 129.39 and 1,646.62, indicating periods of very high efficiency in using working capital to generate revenue. However, the ratio also displayed sharp declines and variability, particularly towards late 2023 and beyond, with ratios dropping to single digits or oscillating significantly. This inconsistency suggests fluctuating operational efficiency concerning working capital utilization.

Overall Patterns and Insights

The data reveals a strong growth pattern in revenue, suggesting expansion in business operations or market demand. Contrarily, the working capital figures are unstable, which might point to challenges in managing short-term assets and liabilities effectively, possibly due to increased operational scale or external financial pressures. The volatile working capital turnover reflects this, with periods of high turnover implying effective use of capital, while troughs suggest potential inefficiencies or liquidity management issues. The pronounced fluctuations around 2021-2022 may be indicative of transitional strategies or external impacts on operational liquidity. The later stages show recovery in working capital, which may correspond with improved financial management or operational adjustments, despite continuing growth in revenue.

Receivables Turnover Ratio

The receivables turnover ratio exhibits notable fluctuations over the observed periods. Initially, from March 2020 through December 2020, data is unavailable. Starting in March 2021, the ratio begins at 10.38 and shows a slight decline and recovery through December 2021, ranging between 10.04 and 11.13. In the first quarter of 2022, the ratio decreases to 7.16, marking the lowest point in the dataset. From mid-2022 onward, there is a clear upward trend reaching a peak of 13.59 in September 2023. After this peak, the ratio declines moderately, ending around 12.56 by June 2025. Overall, the receivables turnover ratio reflects improved efficiency in collecting receivables over time after an initial dip in early 2022, suggesting enhanced credit management or changes in sales strategy.

Average Receivable Collection Period (Days)

This metric mirrors the trends observed in the receivables turnover ratio but in the inverse direction, as expected. Beginning data from March 2021 shows average collection days at 35, improving slightly to 33 by December 2021. However, a sharp increase occurs in March 2022 to 51 days, indicating slower collections during that quarter. Subsequent periods demonstrate a consistent improvement, with collection days decreasing steadily to a low of 27 days in September 2023. After this optimal point, collection periods slightly lengthen but remain relatively stable between 28 and 35 days through mid-2025. This pattern indicates that the company improved its receivables management significantly after the rise in early 2022, reducing the collection cycle to a more efficient level.

Summary Insights

The data reflect a period of initial stability followed by a disruption around early 2022, where both a decrease in receivables turnover and an increase in collection period occurred. This disruption could be related to external factors affecting customer payment behavior or internal operational challenges. The subsequent gradual improvement suggests successful measures were implemented to enhance receivables collection efficiency, resulting in faster turnover and shorter collection periods. Despite some fluctuations in the most recent quarters, the overall trend from early 2022 to mid-2025 points to strengthened credit and collection management practices, contributing to better working capital utilization.

Payables Turnover

The payables turnover ratio exhibits notable fluctuations over the observed periods. Starting from a ratio of 21.93 in March 2021, it increased to 23.16 in June 2021 before experiencing a drop to 15.26 in September 2021. Following this decline, the ratio rebounded sharply to 24.8 by December 2021. In March 2022, there was a significant decrease to 10.87, which then gradually improved through subsequent quarters, reaching a peak of 32.37 in September 2024. After this peak, the ratio slightly decreased but remained relatively high, averaging around 30 or above until December 2024, and then settled near 27.93 by June 2025. This pattern indicates periods of both slower and faster payment cycles, with an overall trend towards more rapid turnover in recent quarters.

Average Payables Payment Period

The average payables payment period inversely reflects the movements noted in the payables turnover ratio. Initially recorded at 17 days in March 2021, it shortened marginally to 16 days in June 2021 but then increased to 24 days in September 2021. It rapidly decreased again to 15 days by December 2021. This period lengthened considerably to 34 days in March 2022, signaling slower payments, before gradually reducing to stabilize between 11 and 14 days from mid-2022 onward. From March 2023 through June 2025, the payment period consistently remained low, fluctuating narrowly between 11 and 13 days, suggesting a trend towards maintaining quicker payment practices.

Summary of Trends and Insights

The data reveals variability in the payment behaviors of the company over time, with periods of both slower and faster payments to suppliers. Early volatility in both turnover and payment days around late 2021 and early 2022 may reflect operational adjustments or external challenges affecting cash management. Over the longer term, the company appears to have improved its efficiency in managing payables, as evidenced by increasing turnover ratios and decreasing payment periods, stabilizing at relatively prompt settlement times in recent quarters. These trends may reflect stronger cash flow management or renegotiated payment terms with suppliers, contributing to improved liquidity and operational efficiency in the latest periods.