BofA Anticipates New Uber CFO Will Prioritize Operational Efficiencies

After the recent announcement that Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah will take on the role of Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance at Uber, effective November 13, analysts from Bank of America shared positive insights regarding this leadership transition.

They noted that Mahendra-Rajah has earned recognition as a leading CFO in the semiconductor sector by Institutional Investor for three consecutive years: 2020, 2021, and 2022. Additionally, he is a member of CNBC’s Global CFO Council.

The analysts anticipate that the new CFO will prioritize operational efficiencies. They acknowledged that under the leadership of current CFO Nelson Chai, Uber has transformed into a more efficient and disciplined organization by divesting certain international operations and the self-driving technology unit, as well as setting clear margin targets.

The analysts expressed their expectation that Mahendra-Rajah’s key initiatives will revolve around enhancing operational excellence and margin efficiency, advancing toward an investment-grade capital structure—following a recent upgrade of Uber’s credit rating from B+ to BB- by S&P—planning for shareholder returns, and potentially spinning off Uber Freight.

Regarding guidance for 2024, the analysts expect that Uber will refrain from providing an outlook until the February earnings call but anticipate that the goal of achieving at least 7% incremental margins related to bookings growth will persist.