Upstart Stock Rallies 7% After-Hours Today — Who Is The New CEO?

• Upstart announced that Paul Gu will take over the helm of the company on May 1, 2026.
• The company said it expects full-year 2026 revenue of $1.4 billion.
• It expects revenue from fees of approximately $1.3 billion, and an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 21% in 2026.

Upstart (UPST) stock jumped nearly 7% in after-market hours on Tuesday after the company announced that its co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Paul Gu will replace Dave Girouard and take over as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. 

The company announced that Gu will take over the helm of the company on May 1, 2026.

Meanwhile, Upstart also reported its fourth-quarter results on Tuesday. The company reported total revenue of $296 million in its fourth quarter, a 35% jump from the year-ago quarter and beating average analysts’ estimates of $288.6 million, as per data from Fiscal.ai.  

New CEO

Co-founder Dave Girouard will remain Executive Chairman of Upstart’s Board of Directors and serve as a special advisor to the company’s CEO and leadership team.

“In a few weeks, I'll celebrate my 60th birthday and for more than five years, we've talked about this milestone as the right time frame for Paul to step into the CEO role at upstart. I can't imagine a succession plan more thoroughly considered or executed with any finer level of detail than what we've done at upstart in the last few years,” Girouard said in the earnings call to analysts. 

“I expect to be quite involved with upstart beyond my role as Upstart's executive chairman, I'll continue to help shape the company's strategic direction,” he added.

FY2026 Outlook

The company said it expects full-year 2026 revenue of $1.4 billion, that compares to $1.27 billion revenue expected by analysts for 2026 for Upstart, as per data from fiscal.ai.  

The company expects revenue from fees of approximately $1.3 billion, and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin of approximately 21%. 

The company also expects to continue the rapid scale up of its new secured product categories in auto and home, which, taken together, is expected to contribute over $100 million in fee revenue in 2026. 

“On the macro environment, as per our tradition, we assume a constant default risk environment with a Umi holding steady at its current value of around 1.4 to 1.5 and a static interest rate environment as well,” Paul Gu told analysts in the earnings call. 

“Looking even further out, our ambition will be to maintain a relatively steady growth clip over the coming several years, paired with improving margins and operating leverage for the three-year period spanning 2025 to 2028. In particular, we are targeting to maintain a 35% compound annual growth rate in a macro neutral environment with a terminal adjusted EBITDA margin of around 25% in 2028,” he added. 

How Did Stocktwits Users React?

Retail sentiment around UPST trended in ‘extremely bullish’ amid ‘extremely high’ message volume. 

One user praised the company’s conference call and opined that the future is good for its investors. 

Another bullish user hailed the company's 2028 percent growth forecast.

Shares in the company have fallen almost 44% over the past year.

Read More: Why Is Robinhood Stock Falling After-Hours Despite Record Q4 Revenue?

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