TD Cowen says new DOL rule unlikely to disrupt Uber or Lyft in near-term

TD Cowen notes that the U.S. Department of Labor recently published a new rule revising prior guidance from 2021 on employee versus independent contractor classification that will go into effect in March. Uber (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT) do not expect the new rule to materially change the classification status of their drivers and view it as “largely a rollback to an Obama-era policy,” according to the analyst, who does not see any near-term disruption at either due to the rule. TD Cowen has an Outperform rating on Uber and Market Perform on Lyft shares.