Can Upstart Succeed in a Rising-Rate Environment?

I have largely been a skeptic of the artificial intelligence lender Upstart (NASDAQ: UPST), not because it's necessarily a bad business, but more so because the valuation of this stock has at times seemingly gotten out of control. There's no denying that the company delivered an incredibly strong fourth quarter. Diluted adjusted earnings per share of $0.89 on revenue of $305 million easily beat analyst estimates, and I was particularly impressed by the $4.1 billion of loan origination volume in the quarter, up nearly $1 billion from the third quarter.

The stock has performed well since the company reported those results on Feb. 15. The development of Upstart's auto business looks to be coming along, and Upstart also provided revenue guidance for this year that exceeded prior analyst estimates.

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Source Fool.com