What happened
Shares of recent IPO Upwork (UPWK -1.58%) closed 7% higher Wednesday, after notching as much as a 10% gain earlier in the day.
So what
Why Upwork is up, however, isn't exactly clear. The online workforce company / gig economy facilitator isn't due to report fourth-quarter financial results for another three weeks. About the only real news concerning the company, lately, is that about midday yesterday TheFly.com reported that Stamford, Connecticut-based independent stock research shop Hedgeye Risk Management declared Upwork its "best idea long."
Check out the latest Upwork earnings call transcript.
Is one analyst's endorsement the only thing holding up Upwork today? Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
Of course, without knowing Hedgeye's basis for making this declaration, it's hard to know how much weight to give its endorsement. Until we see the latest Q4 numbers, Upwork still looks to me like little more than just another unprofitable start-up -- losing $20 million a year, burning cash even faster ($27.5 million in negative free cash flow over the last 12 months), and with more debt than cash on its books to boot.
Although it's true that Upwork is currently growing pretty fast, with revenue up 23% last quarter, as far as "best ideas" go, I have to say that so far, this doesn't look like much of one.
