Strong origination and revenue growth
Q1 originations of $3.4B, up 61% year-over-year and 8% sequentially. Total revenue ~ $308M, up 44% year-over-year and 4% sequentially; fee revenue ~ $277M, up 49% year-over-year and 4% sequentially.
Upstart Holdings
· UPST
May 5th, 2026
Summary
- Earnings Call Date:
- 2026-05-05
- Change Since:
- +4.75%
- Next Earnings Date:
- 2026-08-11
Earnings Call Sentiment
PositiveThe call presents a largely positive outlook: very strong top-line growth (originations +61% YoY, revenue +44% YoY), demonstrable product momentum (auto and home rapid growth, Cashline launch), clear AI/modeling advantages, and a robust capital platform (>$4B committed capital, oversubscribed securitizations, strong vintage performance). Q1 profitability and margins were pressured by seasonality, deliberate front-loaded investments (marketing, hiring, compensation), and mix effects from newer products—resulting in a modest GAAP loss and a sequential dip in contribution margin. Management reiterated full-year guidance (revenue ~ $1.4B and adjusted EBITDA $294M) and emphasized that Q1 is expected to be the low point for contribution margin. Overall, the positive operational and capital developments outweigh the transient expense- and mix-driven headwinds.
Company Guidance
Upstart reiterated its full‑year 2026 guidance and three‑year outlook, calling for total revenues of approximately $1.4 billion and fee revenues of roughly $1.3 billion in 2026, with adjusted EBITDA of about $294 million (≈21% of revenues) and a three‑year annualized revenue CAGR of 35%; the guidance assumes a stable macroeconomic backdrop and that adjusted EBITDA will be weighted to the second half of the year. Management said it expects absolute contribution profit dollars to grow within at least five percentage points of fee revenue growth, that Q1 will be the low point for contribution margin, and that marketing and OpEx growth should moderate going forward. For context, Q1 originations were $3.4 billion (+61% YoY, +8% QoQ), Q1 contribution profit was ~$137 million (+34% YoY, -2% QoQ) with a 50% contribution margin (down 3 pts QoQ), Q1 adjusted EBITDA was ~ $40 million (13% margin), GAAP net loss was ~ $7 million (EPS -$0.07), loans on balance sheet were just over $1 billion, and year‑to‑date committed capital additions exceeded $4 billion with securitizations of ~ $1 billion.
Robust contribution and profitability trajectory
Contribution profit of $137M, up 34% year-over-year (down 2% sequentially). Adjusted EBITDA of ~ $40M (13% margin) in Q1 and reiteration of full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance of $294M (~21% of revenues). GAAP net loss was modest (~$7M) with management on track to be GAAP profitable for the year.
Capital platform strength and funding wins
Signed over $4B in new committed capital year-to-date, including ~ $2B from Altura, Centerbridge, and Wafra. Closed first 24-month commitment and maintained a 100% renewal rate with partners since 2022. Completed ~$1B of securitizations that were multiple times oversubscribed and upsized, and included auto secured loans for the first time.
Credit performance and investor returns
Average return of the last 12 quarterly vintages exceeds treasuries by 651 basis points, with every individual vintage exceeding treasuries by at least 385 basis points—supporting investor demand and funding resiliency.
AI and modeling leadership driving underwriting gains
Increased personal loans model accuracy lead by 1.4 percentage points; model advantage now 173.6%. Extended models to predict post-default recoveries, enabling ~3.5% more originations at equivalent risk. Doubled daily AI-assisted borrower conversations, launched AI features in mobile app, and deployed AI QA tools.
New product momentum: Auto and Home
Auto originations grew >300% year-over-year and 30% sequentially; auto retail originations ~13x year-over-year and nearly doubled sequentially. Home originations grew 250% year-over-year and 16% sequentially; >25% of home loans fully automated and average time to close reduced to 6 days (industry ~40 days).
Launch of Cashline and platform scale
Launched Cashline (unsecured revolving product) with very strong early results and broad availability. Platform scale: >425k loans originated in Q1 and over 20 million unique consumers have created accounts to check rates.
Share repurchase and capital efficiency focus
Repurchased 3.2M shares for $100M in February with ~$122M remaining under authorization. Management reiterated capital-efficient strategy and emphasis on reinvesting profits from core personal loans.
Operator
Good afternoon, and welcome to the Upstart Holdings, Inc. First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode to prevent any background noise. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Sonya Banerjee, Head of Investor Relations. Sonya, please go ahead.
Sonya Banerjee
Thank you. Welcome to the Upstart Holdings, Inc. earnings call for 2026. Joining me today are Paul Gu, our Co-Founder and CEO, and Andrea Blankmeyer, our CFO. During today's call, we will make forward-looking statements, which include statements about our outlook and business strategy. These statements are based on our expectations and beliefs as of today, which are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions and should not be viewed as a guarantee of future performance. Actual results may differ materially as a result of various risk factors that have been described in our SEC filings. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events except as required by law.
Our discussion will include non-GAAP financial measures, which are not a substitute for our GAAP results. Reconciliations of our historical GAAP to non-GAAP results can be found in our earnings materials, which are available on our IR website. With that, Paul, over to you.
Paul Gu
Thank you, Sonya, and thank you everyone for joining us today. I want to start my first official earnings call as CEO by stating ...
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