SAN FRANCISCO — The ride-hailing company Lyft went public in March in a blaze of hype. But it stumbled quickly and its shares slid below their offering price amid questions about whether the company could make money.

On Tuesday, it answered the question by saying 2019 would be its most money-losing year yet.

In its first financial results as a public company, Lyft posted a loss of $1.14 billion for the first quarter, compared with a loss of $234.3 million in the same period a year earlier. The widening loss was driven by a $894 million charge for its stock-based compensation. Excluding that expense, the loss was $211.5 million. The company’s revenue rose 95 percent to $776 million.

Brian Roberts, Lyft’s chief financial officer, said the losses would continue this year, which would be “our peak loss year and then we will move steadily towards profitability.” That’s because Lyft plans to invest heavily in new branches of its business, including its short-term rentals of electronic bikes and scooters, its autonomous vehicle development and its rollout of driver centers that provide vehicle maintenance and other services to drivers, he said.

Lyft reported its earnings days before the scheduled initial public offering by its rival Uber, the largest technology company of the last few years to barrel onto the stock market. Uber has set a pricing range for its offering that values it at up to $91 billion. But it, too, is deeply unprofitable and has prompted questions about whether ride-hailing — which involves hefty spending to attract drivers and passengers — is a sustainable business in the long run.