Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's forecasts. Consensus estimates suggest investors could expect greatly increased statutory revenues and earnings per share, with analysts modelling a real improvement in business performance. Investors have been pretty optimistic on Upstart Holdings too, with the stock up 29% to US$84.16 over the past week. Could this upgrade be enough to drive the stock even higher?

After this upgrade, Upstart Holdings' 13 analysts are now forecasting revenues of US$1.0b in 2025. This would be a substantial 48% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Losses are expected to turn into profits real soon, with the analysts forecasting US$0.063 in per-share earnings. However, before this estimates update, the consensus had been expecting revenues of US$822m and US$0.89 per share in losses. It looks like there's been a definite improvement in business conditions, with a revenue upgrade supposed to lead to profitability sooner than previously forecast.

See our latest analysis for Upstart Holdings

With these upgrades, we're not surprised to see that the analysts have lifted their price target 18% to US$73.43 per share.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. It's clear from the latest estimates that Upstart Holdings' rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 48% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2025 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 11% p.a. over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to grow their revenue at 12% per year. Factoring in the forecast acceleration in revenue, it's pretty clear that Upstart Holdings is expected to grow much faster than its industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away from this upgrade is that there is now an expectation for Upstart Holdings to become profitable this year, compared to previous expectations of a loss. Fortunately, analysts also upgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates sales are expected to perform better than the wider market. Given that the consensus looks almost universally bullish, with a substantial increase to forecasts and a higher price target, Upstart Holdings could be worth investigating further.

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. We have estimates - from multiple Upstart Holdings analysts - going out to 2027, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Of course, seeing company management invest large sums of money in a stock can be just as useful as knowing whether analysts are upgrading their estimates. So you may also wish to search this free list of stocks with high insider ownership.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.