Vulcan Value Partners is Less Confident About Upstart Holdings (UPST)’s Future Prospects

Investment management company Vulcan Value Partners recently released its second quarter 2022 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The firm carries five strategies and all these strategies trailed their benchmark index in the second quarter of 2022. The fund’s Large-Cap Composite returned -28.4% net of fees and expenses, Small Cap Composite returned net -25.8%, Focus Composite returned net -22.8%, Focus Plus composite returned net -22.9% and All Cap Composite returned net -29.1% during the quarter. You can check the top 5 holdings of the fund to know its best picks in 2022.

Vulcan Value Partners discussed stocks like Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) in the second quarter investor letter. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) operates as an artificial intelligence lending platform. On August 23, 2022, Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) stock closed at $26.65 per share. One-month return of Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) rose to 7.59% and its shares lost 87.55% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) has a market capitalization of $2.168 billion.

Here is what Vulcan Value Partners specifically said about Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST):

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) was a material detractor for the quarter. It was a mistake, and we sold our position. Upstart is an artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-based lending platform. The company uses AI models that are designed to underwrite superior loans with lower interest rates, lower default rates, higher approval rates, and increased underwriting automation. When we purchased Upstart, we believed the company had an excellent product and the addressable market was large. Upstart’s results during 2021 were impressive. In the first quarter of 2022, the company reported solid results but lowered guidance and, more importantly, used its balance sheet to warehouse loans temporarily. The company’s decision to use its balance sheet to finance its growth surprised us and other market participants, and its stock price decreased dramatically. While we admire the management team, we are less confident in the company’s long-term prospects. It will be more difficult than we anticipated for Upstart to extend its competitive advantages with smaller banks into adjacent markets such as auto loans and mortgages. As a result, our value for Upstart is unstable and the company no longer qualifies for investment. We are following our discipline and reallocating capital into companies with more stable values.”

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Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) is not on the list of  30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) was held by 15 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the first quarter, which was 25 in the previous quarter.

We discussed Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) in another article and shared the list of fintech stocks that are under pressure amid economic weakness. You can check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2022 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other prominent investors.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.