FINRA's twice-monthly counts for the AI lending platform from its 2021 listing through the 2022 guidance cuts to a peak near 40% of shares outstanding in early 2023.
Figures are the short interest as a percentage of shares outstanding, from FINRA data, 85 points between 14 May 2021 and 31 Dec 2024.
Short interest in Upstart stood at 6.86% of shares outstanding on 14 May 2021 and fell to a low of 3.44% on 13 Aug 2021, in the company's first summer as a listed company. It then rose through 2022 to 39.29% on 15 Feb 2023, and ended the window at 21.76% on 31 Dec 2024.
On 9 May 2022, with its first-quarter results, the company lowered its full-year guidance, citing rising interest rates and the higher risk premiums its funding partners demanded; it also said it would stop holding loans on its own balance sheet, reversing a decision taken earlier in the year. On 7 July 2022 it published preliminary second-quarter figures with revenue of about $228 million against guidance of $295 million to $305 million.
The peak of 39.29% on 15 Feb 2023 came seven months after the second cut, and the position stayed above a fifth of the company for the rest of the window. FINRA's days-to-cover figure, which reached 9.42 days on 28 Apr 2023, is shown on the company page. Nothing here says whether any of it was right; the page records what was published, and when.
Full history and today's figure: Upstart Holdings, Inc..
US short interest data: FINRA (finra.org). FINRA® is a registered trademark of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by FINRA or the SEC; displayed for personal reference, bulk redistribution is not permitted (see terms). The narrative describes what the published figures showed and widely reported public events around them; it is not a description of any company's prospects and is not investment advice.