What Happened?
Shares of online work marketplace Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK)
fell 10.2% in the morning session after the company reported second-quarter results accompanied by weak forward guidance, prompting multiple analysts to lower their price targets.
While the company beat earnings and revenue estimates for the second quarter, it lowered its full-year guidance for both revenue and earnings per share. Following the release, Scotiabank lowered its price target on the stock to $10 from $15, and RBC Capital adjusted its price target down to $9 from $20. Both firms maintained a Sector Perform rating on the stock, indicating a cautious outlook after the company's disappointing forecast.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy Upwork? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
What Is The Market Telling Us
Upwork’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 35 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Upwork and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 13 days ago when the stock dropped 2.5% on the news that ongoing concerns about competition from Artificial Intelligence (AI) and a softening labor market continued to weigh on investor sentiment.
The decline compounds a difficult year for the company, which has lost over 55% of its value since a dismal first-quarter earnings report in early May. That report featured weak second-quarter guidance and prompted multiple analyst downgrades. Analysts, including those from UBS, cited risks of AI displacing the freelance work available on Upwork's platform, a concern that continues to affect the stock's performance.
Upwork is down 56.5% since the beginning of the year, and at $8.63 per share, it is trading 61% below its 52-week high of $22.11 from January 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Upwork’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at only $194.65.
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