Upwork (UPWK) and The Competition Critical Review

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) is one of 203 public companies in the “Professional Services” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Upwork to related companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and profitability.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Upwork and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Upwork	$787.78 million	$115.43 million	12.02
Upwork Competitors	$3.30 billion	$228.39 million	37.01

Upwork’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Upwork. Upwork is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Upwork and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Upwork	1	9	3	0	2.15
Upwork Competitors	1593	6489	9187	433	2.48

Upwork currently has a consensus price target of $13.55, indicating a potential upside of 39.12%. As a group, “Professional Services” companies have a potential upside of 27.92%. Given Upwork’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Upwork is more favorable than its competitors.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

77.7% of Upwork shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.3% of shares of all “Professional Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 4.9% of Upwork shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.2% of shares of all “Professional Services” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Upwork has a beta of 1.03, indicating that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Upwork’s competitors have a beta of 0.96, indicating that their average stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Upwork and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Upwork	13.53%	16.92%	8.79%
Upwork Competitors	0.25%	36.77%	4.43%

Summary

Upwork competitors beat Upwork on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

Upwork Company Profile

Upwork operates an online marketplace that connects businesses with independent professionals and agencies for contract and project-based work. The platform supports hiring across areas such as software development, design, marketing, writing, customer service and consulting. Its services include the Talent Marketplace, where clients can find and hire professionals, and Project Catalog, which offers predefined services with set scopes. Upwork also provides solutions for larger organizations seeking to source and manage freelance talent.