James Brumley, The Motley Fool

Sat, Jun 7, 2025, 3:41 PM7 min read

• The world's mobility landscape is changing in several different ways.

• There may be room and reason to own both of these companies right now.

• One of these stocks, however, is experiencing oversized growth for reasons that aren't apt to persist.

• 10 stocks we like better than Uber Technologies ›

Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) and Carvana (NYSE: CVNA) aren't just two different companies. They're seemingly polar opposites. Ride-hailing giant Uber is thriving largely because owning and driving a car is an increasingly expensive hassle. Used car dealer Carvana, conversely, makes it easy and affordable to own your own automobile.

One could reasonably argue there's solid -- even growing -- demand for both businesses. But it's difficult to deny the contrasted underpinnings of what make these two companies tick. Investors could understandably be confused.

The good news is, one of these names is a clearly better bet than the other -- now and for the foreseeable future.

You almost certainly know the companies. Uber Technologies isn't just a major personal mobility name, after all. It largely brought the domestic ride-hailing industry into existence, and now controls three-fourths of the U.S. market, according to data from Bloomberg. It's developing an international presence as well, even if it's not quite as dominant overseas.

As for its fiscals, the $175 billion company's drivers provided over 11 billion rides last year, up 18% year over year, turning that into nearly $44 billion in revenue and almost $3 billion worth of operating net income. Nearly half of its revenue, however, came from deliveries and freight services rather than passenger trips.

Carvana isn't quite as big, although its growth is just as impressive. The used car dealer reported $13.7 billion worth of revenue for 2024, up 27% year over year, generating a record-breaking $404 million in net income. Most of that profit came from sales of used vehicles to retail consumers, although wholesaling accounts for the bulk of its total unit transactions.

A rebound from a inflation-crimped slide in demand after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic helped drive these top and bottom lines higher. Last year's forward progress, however, also extends a choppy trend that's been in place for some time thanks to Carvana's clever marketing, and brilliant use of technology to establish scale.

And yet, these two seemingly growing companies' stocks aren't exactly performing in tandem. Carvana shares are up by more than 200% for the past year, and testing their peak reached in 2021. Uber shares haven't made any real net progress since March of last year, upended multiple times by earnings reports marred by one modest shortfall or another.