Upstart Shares Are Soaring After Hours: What To Know About Earnings, Buyback

Artificial intelligence lending company Upstart Holdings Inc UPST reported fourth-quarter earnings after market close on Tuesday. Here are the key highlights for investors.

What Happened: Upstart reported fourth-quarter revenue of $305 million, up 252% year-over-year. The total came in ahead of a consensus estimate of $262.9 million, according to Benzinga Pro. Adjusted earnings of 89 cents beat the consensus estimate of 38 cents per share.

Fee revenue was $287 million in the fourth quarter, up 240% year-over-year.

The company reported 495,205 loans originated in the fourth quarter for a total of $4.1 billion, up 301% year-over-year.

Full-year revenue was $849 million, representing year-over-year growth of 264%.

Over 1.3 million loans totaling $11.8 billion were originated across the Upstart platform for the full fiscal year, up 338% year-over-year.

“With triple-digit growth and record profits, Q4 was an exceptional finish to a breakout year for Upstart,” Upstart CEO and co-founder Dave Girouard said.

What’s Next: Upstart is guiding for first-quarter revenue of $295 million to $305 million. The company sees full fiscal 2022 revenue hitting $1.4 billion.

Street consensus estimates are $258.3 million in revenue for the first quarter and $1.21 billion for fiscal 2022, according to Benzinga Pro.

“AI lending isn’t a one-category phenomenon. Auto loan originations on our platform are now ramping quickly and will provide growth opportunities to Upstart for years to come,” Girouard said.

Auto transaction volume is estimated to hit $1.5 billion in fiscal 2022.

Along with quarterly earnings, Upstart announced a $400 million share buyback authorized by the Board of Directors.

UPST Price Action: Shares are up 32% to $143.65 in after-hours trading.