If You Had Bought Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) Stock A Year Ago, You'd Be Sitting On A 46% Loss, Today
It's easy to match the overall market return by buying an index fund. Active investors aim to buy stocks that vastly outperform the market - but in the process, they risk under-performance. That downside risk was realized by Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) shareholders over the last year, as the share price declined 46%. That contrasts poorly with the market return of 30%. Upwork hasn't been listed for long, so although we're wary of recent listings that perform poorly, it may still prove itself with time. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 28% in the last 90 days.
View our latest analysis for Upwork
Because Upwork made a loss in the last twelve months, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good revenue growth. That's because it's hard to be confident a company will be sustainable if revenue growth is negligible, and it never makes a profit.
In the last year Upwork saw its revenue grow by 20%. That's definitely a respectable growth rate. Unfortunately that wasn't good enough to stop the share price dropping 46%. You might even wonder if the share price was previously over-hyped. However, that's in the past now, and it's the future that matters most.
The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).
It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. It's always worth keeping an eye on CEO pay, but a more important question is whether the company will grow earnings throughout the years. If you are thinking of buying or selling Upwork stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.
A Different Perspective
While Upwork shareholders are down 46% for the year, the market itself is up 30%. While the aim is to do better than that, it's worth recalling that even great long-term investments sometimes underperform for a year or more. With the stock down 28% over the last three months, the market doesn't seem to believe that the company has solved all its problems. Basically, most investors should be wary of buying into a poor-performing stock, unless the business itself has clearly improved. Before spending more time on Upwork it might be wise to click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares.
If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.
