Why Upwork Stock Jumped This Week

Shares of Upwork (NASDAQ: UPWK), the online employment marketplace, popped this week after the company reported sales and earnings that were better than Wall Street's consensus estimates and after management issued strong guidance for the full year.

Upwork's shares were up 12% as of this writing, contributing to the stock's 30% gain over the past 12 months.

Upwork impresses with latest quarterly results

Investors were optimistic about Upwork after the company reported revenue of $193.8 million, up more than 10% from the year-ago quarter and ahead of analysts' consensus estimate of $182 million. The company's non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.29 also outpaced Wall Street's estimate of $0.23, and was a significant jump from earnings of $0.21 in the year-ago quarter.

Upwork's management highlighted its investment in artificial intelligence (AI), with its Uma AI bot, to help customers and freelancers to complete projects. CEO Hayden Brown said on the company's earnings call, "We unveiled new capabilities for Uma as a powerful work companion that helps customers brainstorm work ideas and solutions, analyze problems, write content, code for projects and more, all enhanced by rich historical signals from the Upwork platform."

The company said that the number of clients engaging in AI-related projects grew 30% from the year-ago period, which shows the importance of artificial intelligence to the company's platform.

Where Upwork is headed

Not only did Upwork report impressive sales and earnings growth in the quarter, but the company's management also issued strong guidance. Management said full-year 2024 sales will range between $756 million and $761 million, representing a 10% increase at the midpoint.

With its new focus on improving its platform and freelance productivity through AI, investors are taking notice of Upwork's growth. While the stock is up about 30% over the past year, it's also been volatile. Investors should take the company's latest impressive quarter as an indicator of Upwork's solid position in the online job marketplace space and continue to look for signs that it can tap into AI to spur additional growth on its platform.

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Chris Neiger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Upwork. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.