Lyft Typo Took Short Seller on Wild 45-Minute Ride to Tiny Gain
- Stock surged postmarket on outlook that was later corrected
- ‘I was embarrassed to tell people,’ about bet, trader says
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The 45 minutes it took for Lyft Inc. to correct a typo in the company’s earnings release is time that trader Sinisa Sorgic won’t soon forget.
The manager at proprietary firm Bright Trading was working from home Tuesday afternoon when an alert flashed across his screen after regular trading had ended in New York: Lyft’s shares had spiked 50% after its earnings release. It was a stunning move for the ride-hailing company’s stock, prompted by a hard-to-believe prediction that its operating margin would jump 500 basis points this year.