Uber Technologies, Inc.

Uber now grows riders in suburbs and grocery aisles, not just big-city rides, and hands insurance savings back as lower fares. The story turns on whether that spending pays off faster than the money it keeps per trip shrinks. How much of bookings now comes from grocery and retail?

• Insurance flipped from a cost problem into a growth tool.

  Insurance went from eating Uber's growth to handing money back, and the savings go to riders as lower prices. Trip growth in LA and San Francisco now beats the rest of the US, so cheaper fares are buying riders, not margin.

• Growth now comes from cheap rides and far-out suburbs.

  Cheap rides like Wait & Save bring riders in; premium ones like Reserve carry the profit — both up about 40% last year. Under 10% of US consumers outside big cities use it, so the room to add riders sits in the outskirts. How does delivery growth in sparse markets compare with dense ones?

• Cash is being redirected to bets that pay back years later.

  Free cash flow passed $10 billion, yet Uber spent roughly $4 billion on Delivery Hero stock in one quarter and paused buybacks. Revenue grew at half the bookings rate too, so profit must come from costs, not from each trip. What did the Delivery Hero purchase cost Uber in buybacks?