Trouble With Waymo? Call an Uber

Uber Technologies (UBER) stock was up on Wednesday after the company received praise from an unexpected source. According to Business Insider, a recent issue with a Waymo ride resulted in extra work for Uber. Here’s what went down between the two ridesharing companies.

Sam Schwartz caught a Waymo ride to take him and his wife to their hotel in San Francisco. However, the Waymo trip ended short due to unexpected congestion due to a protest. When Schwartz reached out to Waymo support for a solution, the company gave him a surprising fix. He was told to request another ridesharing service, such as those offered by Uber or Lyft (LYFT).

Schwartz’s interesting ride with Waymo isn’t unheard of. The company regularly suggests calling alternative services when its own can’t perform. Even so, it isn’t a good look for the company. It also highlights one of the issues with self-driving cars. Schwartz’s situation stumped the AI driver, leaving him in need of help from a third-party. It is much more likely that a human driver would have been able to better navigate the situation and still gotten the passenger to their destination.

UBER Stock Movement Today

While the story of Waymo suggesting Uber for help is fun, it didn’t result in major movement for UBER stock today. The shares saw a slight increase, though the stock remained down 13.72% year-to-date. The shares have also fallen 20.53% over the past 12 months.

UBER trading activity today was muted, as some 4 million shares changed hands. For comparison, the company’s three-month average daily trading volume is about 16.68 million shares.

Is Uber Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?

Turning to Wall Street, the analysts’ consensus rating for Uber is Strong Buy, based on 27 Buy and two Hold ratings over the past three months. With that comes an average UBER stock price target of $104.64, representing a potential 48.68% upside for the shares.