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Upstart shares plunged 23% in July amid lender pressure fears
The drop comes as macro data highlighted continued pressure for lenders, while concerns grow that agentic AI could replace parts of the software business model.
Upstart stock fell 23% in July, as investors weighed macroeconomic signals that could keep pressure on lenders, alongside worries that agentic AI may reduce demand for software-as-a-service offerings, Yahoo Finance reported. Upstart is an AI-based credit evaluation platform that says it can approve more loans without increasing lender risk. The company uses machine learning and thousands of data points, and it claims its underwriting model has been 2.74 times as good as traditional models over the past eight years.
The source also points to a backdrop in which market confidence has been challenged by tough macro conditions. Upstart had previously struggled to sustain extremely high growth when interest rates rose, and has not fully returned to its earlier performance trajectory.
Still, the company has shown improvement in recent results. In the 2026 second quarter, Upstart reported revenue up 42% year over year, originations up 50%, and net income nearly tripled to $16.5 million, while management targeted 40% full-year revenue growth and projected 35% compound annual growth through 2028, according to Yahoo Finance.