AI lending platform Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) missed analyst expectations in Q3 FY2022 quarter, with revenue down 31.2% year on year to $157.2 million. Guidance for the next quarter also missed analyst expectations with revenues guided to $135 million at the midpoint, or 27.1% below analyst estimates. Upstart made a GAAP loss of $56.2 million, down on its profit of $29.1 million, in the same quarter last year.
Is now the time to buy Upstart? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Upstart (UPST) Q3 FY2022 Highlights:
- Revenue: $157.2 million vs analyst estimates of $169.4 million (7.2% miss)
- EPS (non-GAAP): -$0.24 vs analyst estimates of -$0.08 (-$0.16 miss)
- Revenue guidance for Q4 2022 is $135 million at the midpoint, below analyst estimates of $185.3 million
- Free cash flow was negative $106.8 million, compared to negative free cash flow of $57.5 million in previous quarter
- Gross Margin (GAAP): 57.9%, down from 84.7% same quarter last year
“We’re eyes wide open to the challenges of the current macroeconomy, and determined to make the decisions that will optimize for the long-term success of Upstart,” said Dave Girouard, co-founder and CEO of Upstart.
Founded by the former head of Google's enterprise business Dave Girouard, Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) is an AI-powered lending platform that helps banks better evaluate the risk of lending money to a person and provide loans to more customers.
Businesses have come to use data driven insights to stratify their customers into more granular buckets that enable more personalized (and profitable) offerings. Lending software is a prime example of fintech democratizing access to loans in a still-profitable manner for financial institutions.
Sales Growth
As you can see below, Upstart's revenue growth has been incredible over the last two years, growing from quarterly revenue of $66.7 million in Q3 FY2020, to $157.2 million.
But this quarter Upstart's revenue was down 31.2% year on year, which might be a disappointment to some shareholders.
Upstart is guiding for revenue to decline next quarter 55.7% year on year to $135 million, a big change on the 247% year-over-year increase in revenue the company had recorded in the same quarter last year. Before the earnings results were announced, Wall St analysts covering the company were estimating revenues to decline 14.6% over the next twelve months.
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Profitability
What makes the software as a service business so attractive is that once the software is developed, it typically shouldn't cost much to provide it as an ongoing service to customers. Upstart's gross profit margin, an important metric measuring how much money there is left after paying for servers, licenses, technical support and other necessary running expenses was at 57.9% in Q3.
That means that for every $1 in revenue the company had $0.57 left to spend on developing new products, marketing & sales and the general administrative overhead. This would be considered a low gross margin for a SaaS company and it has been going down over the last year, which is probably the opposite direction shareholders would like to see it go.
Key Takeaways from Upstart's Q3 Results
Since it has still been burning cash over the last twelve months it is worth keeping an eye on Upstart’s balance sheet, but we note that with a market capitalization of $1.51 billion and more than $683.9 million in cash, the company has the capacity to continue to prioritise growth over profitability.
We struggled to find many strong positives in these results. On the other hand, revenue growth has stalled and the revenue guidance for the next quarter missed analysts' expectations. Overall, it seems to us that this was a complicated quarter for Upstart. The company is flat on the results and currently trades at $19 per share.
Upstart may have had a tough quarter, but does that actually create an opportunity to invest right now? It is important that you take into account its valuation and business qualities, as well as what happened in the latest quarter. We look at that in our actionable report which you can read here, it's free.
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The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.