Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Given Buy Rating at BTIG Research

Key Points

• BTIG Research reissued a Buy on Upstart with a $43 price target—implying about 49.8% upside—while the Street consensus remains a Hold (average target $46.93) with 7 buys, 7 holds and 3 sells.
• Upstart missed Q1 EPS ($0.30 vs. $0.39) despite revenue beating at $308.2M (up 44.3% year‑over‑year); the adjusted‑EBITDA shortfall hurt sentiment and shares traded around $28.70 (market cap ≈ $2.75B).
• The board authorized a $100 million share buyback (roughly 3.2% of shares), but the company also faces multiple securities‑class‑action filings, raising legal and headline risk.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by equities research analysts at BTIG Research in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $43.00 price target on the stock. BTIG Research's target price would suggest a potential upside of 49.83% from the company's current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Upstart from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Upstart in a report on Friday, March 27th. Compass Point raised shares of Upstart from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the company from $20.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Upstart from $66.00 to $51.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market underperform" rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Upstart in a report on Friday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $46.93.

Get Our Latest Analysis on Upstart

Upstart Stock Performance

NASDAQ UPST traded down $2.47 on Wednesday, reaching $28.70. The company had a trading volume of 9,766,807 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,022,829. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.26. Upstart has a 1-year low of $23.97 and a 1-year high of $87.30. The company's fifty day moving average is $28.62 and its 200-day moving average is $38.30.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company's $0.30 non-GAAP earnings per share missed the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $308.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $301.30 million. Upstart had a return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 5.13%.Upstart's revenue for the quarter was up 44.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Upstart will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Upstart declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 19th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Upstart news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 7,982 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.86, for a total value of $238,342.52. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 276,688 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,261,903.68. This represents a 2.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,481 shares of company stock valued at $282,201. 16.67% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kera Capital Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Upstart by 69.8% in the 1st quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 22,947 shares of the company's stock valued at $589,000 after acquiring an additional 9,432 shares during the period. Independent Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Upstart in the 1st quarter valued at about $206,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Upstart by 274.4% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,842 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,350 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Upstart by 28.3% during the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 26,059 shares of the company's stock worth $661,000 after purchasing an additional 5,755 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in shares of Upstart by 726.2% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 4,957 shares of the company's stock worth $127,000 after purchasing an additional 4,357 shares during the period. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Upstart

Here are the key news stories impacting Upstart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: CEO visibility — Upstart’s co‑founder and CEO will appear in a fireside chat at the J.P. Morgan Global TMT Conference, providing management a platform to discuss strategy and respond to investor questions. Business Wire: CEO Fireside Chat
• Positive Sentiment: Partnership momentum — Upstart announced a partnership with Justice Federal Credit Union to expand use of its lending platform, a sign of commercial traction that can support revenue growth. Yahoo Finance: Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Some analysts still constructive despite cuts — B. Riley trimmed its target to $54 (from $66) but kept a buy rating, and other firms reaffirmed buy/overweight stances, signaling that some investors view current weakness as a buying opportunity. MarketScreener: B. Riley target cut
• Neutral Sentiment: Piper Sandler lowered its target to $46 from $56 but kept an Overweight rating — the cut reflects concern after an adjusted‑EBITDA miss but the maintained rating tempers the sell signal. 247WallStreet: Piper Sandler note
• Negative Sentiment: Q1 earnings shortfall — Upstart reported a Q1 EPS miss (company reported a loss vs. consensus) and an adjusted EBITDA miss that triggered selling; revenue grew but the profitability miss and widening loss hurt near‑term sentiment. Business Wire: Q1 Results
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple securities‑class‑action filings and law‑firm notices — Several firms (Pomerantz, Rosen, Faruqi, Bernstein Liebhard, Levi & Korsinsky, etc.) have announced suits or investor notices covering the May–Nov 2025 class period and a June 8 deadline for lead‑plaintiff applications, increasing legal and headline risk. GlobeNewswire: Pomerantz filing GlobeNewswire: Rosen notice
• Negative Sentiment: Broader analyst target cuts after earnings — Beyond Piper, coverage notes that Morgan Stanley and Goldman previously cut targets (cited in industry alerts), adding to downward pressure as sell‑side models are repriced lower. GlobeNewswire: Analyst target coverage mention

About Upstart

(Get Free Report)

 

Upstart Holdings, Inc operates a cloud-based lending marketplace that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to assess borrower creditworthiness. The company partners with banks and credit unions, providing its proprietary AI models and underwriting platform to facilitate consumer credit products. By focusing on non‐traditional data points—such as education, employment history and other real‐time indicators—Upstart seeks to improve approval rates and lower loss rates compared with conventional credit scoring methods.

Upstart's core offering centers on unsecured personal loans, which borrowers can use for purposes such as debt consolidation, home improvements or major purchases.