Few companies personify the boom and bust of the pandemic investing era more than Upstart (NASDAQ: UPST). After going public in late 2020 at around $30 per share, Upstart found itself trading at nearly $400 per share in late 2021. Anyone who rode the train up and got out before it fell off a cliff made an impressive return -- but if you've held on until today, you're just breaking even.
With the stock around $30 today, it's been a pretty flat investment for those who bought and held shares for two years. However, Upstart has grown significantly since then, so does that make the stock a buy now ? Or is Upstart an undesirable holding now that it has burned many investors? Let's take a look.
One factor can sum up why Upstart's stock did so well in 2021: low interest rates. Upstart's products utilize alternative methods to judge creditworthiness, avoiding the traditional FICO score. It promises lenders fewer defaults with the same approval rate, which is a win for the company's customer base. To do this, it utilizes AI (artificial intelligence) to analyze consumers and look into factors a FICO score may ignore.
Source Fool.com