Why Upstart Stock Is Blasting Off Wednesday

Upstart Holdings Inc UPST shares are soaring Wednesday after the company reported better-than-expected earnings results and delivered a strong outlook.

What Happened: Upstart reported first-quarter revenue of $103 million, which missed consensus estimates of $108.96 million. The company reported a quarterly loss of 47 cents per share, which was much better than analyst forecasts for a loss of 81 cents per share.

Lending partners originated 84,084 loans worth $997 million across the company's platform in the first quarter, down 78% year-over-year. 

"Despite the headwinds facing our industry, we secured multiple long-term funding agreements, together expected to deliver more than $2 billion to the Upstart platform over the next 12 months," said Dave Girouard, co-founder and CEO of Upstart.

Upstart said it expects second-quarter revenue of $135 million versus estimates of $133.15 million. The company anticipates second-quarter adjusted EBITDA to be approximately flat.

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Analyst Assessment: 

• Piper Sandler analyst Arvind Ramnani maintained Upstart with a Neutral and raised the price target from $16 to $17.
• Mizuho analyst Dan Dolev maintained Upstart with an Underperform and raised the price target from $14 to $16.
• Morgan Stanley analyst James Faucette maintained Upstart with an Underweight and raised the price target from $10 to $13.

UPST Price Action: Upstart shares were up 40.5% Wednesday morning at $19.85 at time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: Firmbee from Pixabay.