What Happened?
Shares of online work marketplace Upwork (NASDAQ: UPWK) jumped 4.5% in the morning session after Canaccord Genuity raised its price target on the stock to $24. This action followed Upwork's Investor Day, where the company announced ambitious growth targets. The positive outlook from the company, followed by the analyst's price target increase, appeared to boost investor confidence in the freelance and remote work platform. The stock's upward move also pushed it to a new 52-week high, reflecting the growing interest in the company's position within the modern workforce.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Upwork’s shares are very volatile and have had 25 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 2 days ago when the stock gained 4.3% on the news that the company announced two key partnerships with embedded finance firm YouLend and artificial intelligence leader OpenAI.
The deal with YouLend aimed to give U.S. freelancers, agencies, and small business owners better access to financing directly within the Upwork marketplace. This initiative already provided over $1 million in funding since its ramp-up period started. In a separate announcement, OpenAI revealed its partnership with Upwork as part of a larger effort to train people in AI. The collaboration was designed to make it easier for businesses to hire talent with specific AI skills, creating new economic opportunities for professionals on the platform.
Upwork is up 32.8% since the beginning of the year, and at $21.80 per share, has set a new 52-week high. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Upwork’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $623.39.
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