Stocks · Industrials · Staffing & Employment Services
Upwork Inc. UPWK
$8.36 +3.85% Close, Oct 5, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $994.3M
High qualityWeak trendInexpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Nov 2, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $0.76, down 56.3% year over year.
- Over the past year the stock returned -54.0%, behind the S&P 500 by 69.7 percentage points.
- The stock is 62% below its highest close of the past year.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Industrials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 6, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 25%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 15%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 44%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 34%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 26%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 32%
- Gross marginTop 2%
- Operating marginTop 22%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 32%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 22%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 13%
- Interest coverTop 6%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 5%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 2%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 3%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 24%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 31%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 8%
- 6-month returnBottom 13%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 7%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 11%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 41%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 23%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 39%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 40%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 25%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 40%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 29%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 37%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 13%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 2.5% | 1.9% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -52.1% | -56.3% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 77.8% | 77.2% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 13.7% | 15.1% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 24.9% | 25.3% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 1.9% | 2.5% | ↓ | Bottom 25% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -56.3% | -52.1% | ↓ | Bottom 15% |
| Gross margin | 77.2% | 77.8% | ↓ | Top 2% |
| Operating margin | 15.1% | 13.7% | ↑ | Top 22% |
| Net margin | 12.9% | 31.7% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 25.3% | 24.9% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 8.7% | — | Top 32% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 8.4% | — | Top 34% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 2.05×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -8.4%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 8.5%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +5.5 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- -0.59×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 59.5×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 16.71%
- Shareholder yield
- 16.71%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -7.3%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -1.1%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 10, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 1
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 5 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- -12.0%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +0.9%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 4 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $9.64
- Target vs current price
- +15.3%
- Analysts with a rating
- 23
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 52%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 10, 2026 | +19.7% | +1.7% | -12.2% | -9.1% | — |
| May 7, 2026 | -4.0% | +5.3% | -16.8% | -13.3% | -5.4% |
| Feb 9, 2026 | -47.8% | -0.7% | -30.1% | -29.6% | -45.5% |
| Nov 3, 2025 | -16.0% | -1.9% | +9.5% | +24.7% | +31.9% |
| Aug 6, 2025 | +34.6% | +0.6% | +15.1% | +38.5% | +42.1% |
| May 5, 2025 | +36.0% | -1.2% | +25.2% | +16.4% | -10.5% |
| Feb 12, 2025 | +25.0% | +2.0% | +14.5% | -11.0% | +8.0% |
| Nov 6, 2024 | +26.1% | +1.3% | +9.3% | +21.3% | +8.1% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 10, 2026 | $0.41 | $0.34 | +19.7% | $191.7M |
| May 7, 2026 | $0.24 | $0.25 | -4.0% | $195.5M |
| Feb 9, 2026 | $0.12 | $0.23 | -47.8% | $198.4M |
| Nov 3, 2025 | $0.21 | $0.25 | -16.0% | $201.7M |
| Aug 6, 2025 | $0.35 | $0.26 | +34.6% | $194.9M |
| May 5, 2025 | $0.34 | $0.25 | +36.0% | $192.7M |
| Feb 12, 2025 | $0.30 | $0.24 | +25.0% | $191.5M |
| Nov 6, 2024 | $0.29 | $0.23 | +26.1% | $193.8M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 11.0× | 13.3× | 36th | Top 5% |
| P/E (forward) | 6.0× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 5.3× | — | — | Top 3% |
| EV / Sales | 1.13× | — | — | Top 24% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 20.04% | — | — | Top 2% |
| Earnings yield | 9.09% | — | — | Top 5% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 6.9× – 198.3× since Dec 31, 2023. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- -54.0%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -56.3%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +88.2%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✓ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -2.5%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -8.9%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -4.4%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -28.6%
- RSI (14)
- 48.4
- Relative volume
- 1.21×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 52.4%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 28th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.22
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.33
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -62.2%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -64.5%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 13, 2021 | May 25, 2023 | -87.5% | 471 days | Not yet recovered |
| Feb 16, 2021 | May 13, 2021 | -33.4% | 61 days | 29 days (Jun 24, 2021) |
| Dec 21, 2020 | Jan 4, 2021 | -17.0% | 8 days | 6 days (Jan 12, 2021) |
| Oct 14, 2020 | Oct 30, 2020 | -10.8% | 12 days | 4 days (Nov 5, 2020) |
| Nov 20, 2020 | Dec 1, 2020 | -10.3% | 6 days | 5 days (Dec 8, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $994.3M
- P/E (TTM)
- 11.0
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $0.76
- Revenue (TTM)
- $787.3M
- 52-week range
- $7.44 – $22.84
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $502.8M | $618.3M | $689.1M | $769.3M | $787.8M |
| Gross profit | $367.3M | $457.9M | $518.7M | $595.2M | $613.0M |
| Operating income | -$54.2M | -$92.6M | -$11.3M | $65.2M | $129.3M |
| Net income | -$56.2M | -$89.9M | $46.9M | $215.6M | $115.4M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.44 | -$0.69 | $0.34 | $1.52 | $0.83 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $193.8M | $191.5M | $192.7M | $194.9M | $201.7M | $198.4M | $195.5M | $191.7M |
| Net income | $27.8M | $147.2M | $37.7M | $32.7M | $29.3M | $15.6M | $31.5M | $25.4M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.20 | $1.03 | $0.27 | $0.24 | $0.21 | $0.11 | $0.24 | $0.20 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $10.8M | $11.5M | $52.7M | $153.6M | $248.3M |
| Capital expenditure | -$6.1M | -$8.7M | -$16.4M | -$14.4M | -$5.8M |
| Free cash flow | $4.7M | $2.8M | $36.4M | $139.1M | $242.5M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | $0 | $0 | $0 | -$100.0M | -$131.3M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $614.2M
- Total assets
- $1.27B
- Total liabilities
- $663.1M
- Total debt
- $375.1M
- Net debt
- -$101.0M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $611.3M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 10, 2026).
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 17,876,634
- Days to cover
- 6.11
- Change vs previous report
- -7.6%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.