By Emily Dattilo

Shares of Upstart Holdings were charging higher after the artificial-intelligence lending platform easily beat quarterly earnings estimates and issued upbeat guidance.

Upstart stock gained 27% to $85.55 in premarket trading Wednesday. Over the last 12 months, shares have soared 155%.

Upstart is a lending marketplace that uses artificial intelligence to assess borrowers' creditworthiness.

After markets closed Tuesday, the company reported a loss of 3 cents per share and adjusted earnings of 26 cents. Wall Street's call was for a loss of 4 cents, according to FactSet. Total revenue was $219 million, above the consensus estimate for $181.9 million.

"In Q4 of 2024, our business grew dramatically across all product categories, delivered adjusted Ebitda at levels not seen since the first quarter of 2022, and came within a whisker of returning to GAAP profitability," said CEO Dave Girouard in a statement. "We launched into 2025 with unparalleled energy and optimism for the future of Upstart AI lending and the mission we're on together."

For the first quarter, Upstart anticipates revenue of about $200 million, while analysts had penciled in $184.6 million.

For 2025, the company expects revenue of about $1 billion, while analysts had anticipated $821.6 million. It also forecasts net income "to be at least breakeven" on a generally accepted accounting principles basis.

The strong quarter and guidance prompted J.P Morgan analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce to upgrade Upstart to Neutral from Underweight and increase their target for the price to $79 from $57.

"We are increasingly confident in underlying business trends (e.g., macro stabilization), and see room for further operating leverage driven by risk model improvement, which should be sustainable moving forward," they wrote.

Write to Emily Dattilo at emily.dattilo@dowjones.com

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February 12, 2025 07:36 ET (12:36 GMT)

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