What Happened?
Shares of online work marketplace Upwork (NASDAQ: UPWK) jumped 7.1% in the afternoon session after the company outlined an optimistic long-term growth strategy at its Investor Day, a view supported by positive analyst commentary.
At the event, Upwork detailed a multi-year plan focused on making its marketplace AI-native and expanding its enterprise services with a new subsidiary called Lifted. Management provided strong financial targets, forecasting revenue to grow at a compound annual rate of 13% to 15% through 2028. The company also noted that improvements in AI were expected to add over $100 million in gross services volume in 2025. Following the presentation, analysts from both Needham and Citizens reiterated their positive ratings on the stock. Citizens specifically cited growth drivers like AI platform improvements and enterprise expansion through the company's new offering.
The shares closed the day at $18.16, up 6.3% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Upwork’s shares are very volatile and have had 22 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 15 days ago when the stock gained 8.4% on the news that it continued to climb as the company posted strong third-quarter results that beat Wall Street expectations and raised its full-year profit guidance. The online work marketplace reported revenue of $201.7 million and adjusted earnings of $0.36 per share, surpassing analyst estimates on both fronts. The company's profitability was a key highlight, with its adjusted EBITDA margin expanding by 7.3 percentage points year over year. The strong performance came despite a 7.1% decrease in Gross Services Volume, suggesting Upwork successfully increased its monetization from existing customers. Looking ahead, management raised its full-year guidance for adjusted earnings per share by 17.2% at the midpoint. Overall, the significant beats on key metrics and the optimistic outlook for future profitability fueled investor confidence.
Upwork is up 10.6% since the beginning of the year, but at $18.16 per share, it is still trading 9.5% below its 52-week high of $20.07 from September 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Upwork’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $521.55.
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