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UPWK, Upwork Inc.

We define talent as those who deliver services through the Upwork Marketplace, Lifted, or other Upwork workforce solutions.

We define clients as customers who seek and engage with talent through these platforms and other workforce solutions.

We measure economic activity across our portfolio of platforms and other workforce solutions using Gross Services Volume, which we refer to as GSV.

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K

UPWK · Upwork Inc.

The business

What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.

Revenue · FY2025

$788M

+2.4% YoY · 16% 5-yr CAGR

Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average

Revenue $791M 5-yr avg $673M

Gross margin 78% 5-yr avg 76%

Operating margin 15.6% 5-yr avg −0.5%

ROIC 10% 5-yr avg 1%

Owner-earnings margin 29% 5-yr avg 12%

Free cash flow margin 29% 5-yr avg 12%

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.

What moves the needle: Operating margin has reached 16% at its best but run negative through the cycle (median −6.0%) on a 72% gross margin — so the question is which reading is truer: whether the median was pulled below zero by one-off charges, by the cycle, or by spending it is still growing into, and whether it settles back at a profit. Stock-based pay runs about 6.8% of sales, a real and recurring claim on owners that the GAAP margin understates. Read this kind of business on retention and the cost of growth. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on pricing power & competition, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
Is it a good business?: Return on capital has rarely cleared the cost of capital (median −7%, above 15% in 0 of 8 years). The steadier read is owner earnings: roughly 3% of revenue reaches owners as cash, though it swings. This is price-taker territory, where the balance sheet and the cycle matter more than any multiple; the rest is in the 10-K.

Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2016–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left

2016’16	2017’17	2018’18	2019’19	2020’20	2021’21	2022’22	2023’23	2024’24	2025’25	TTMTTMMar 2026
											Income statement
$164M	$203M	$253M	$301M	$374M	$503M	$618M	$689M	$769M	$788M	$791M	RevenueRevenue
62%	68%	68%	71%	72%	73%	74%	75%	77%	78%	78%	Gross marginGross mgn
22%	18%	19%	22%	19%	22%	20%	17%	17%	19%	19%	SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev
23%	23%	22%	21%	22%	24%	25%	26%	27%	24%	23%	R&D / revenueR&D/rev
($14M)	($3M)	($12M)	($19M)	($22M)	($54M)	($93M)	($11M)	$65M	$129M	$123M	Operating incomeOp. inc.
−8.8%	−1.5%	−4.6%	−6.2%	−6.0%	−10.8%	−15.0%	−1.6%	8.5%	16.4%	15.6%	Operating marginOp. mgn
($16M)	($4M)	($20M)	($17M)	($23M)	($56M)	($90M)	$47M	$216M	$115M	$109M	Net incomeNet inc.
—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4%	—	25%	25%	Effective tax rateTax rate
											Cash flow & returns
$3M	($4M)	$14M	$1M	$22M	$11M	$11M	$53M	$154M	$248M	$234M	Operating cash flowOp. cash
$2M	$2M	$2M	$3M	$4M	$4M	$8M	$9M	$15M	$26M	$30M	DepreciationDeprec.
$10M	($8M)	$21M	($4M)	$16M	$10M	$18M	($78M)	($145M)	$42M	$27M	Working capital & otherWC & other
$846K	$2M	$3M	$11M	$6M	$1M	$1M	$692K	$4M	$6M	$5M	CapexCapex
0.5%	0.9%	1.2%	3.6%	1.7%	0.2%	0.2%	0.1%	0.5%	0.7%	0.6%	Capex / revenueCapex/rev
$2M	($6M)	$12M	($2M)	$19M	$10M	$10M	$52M	$150M	$242M	$229M	Owner earningsOwner earn.
1.4%	−2.9%	4.6%	−0.6%	5.0%	2.0%	1.7%	7.5%	19.5%	30.8%	29.0%	Owner earnings marginOE mgn
$2M	($6M)	$11M	($10M)	$16M	$10M	$10M	$52M	$150M	$242M	$229M	Free cash flowFCF
1.4%	−2.9%	4.2%	−3.2%	4.3%	2.0%	1.7%	7.5%	19.5%	30.8%	29.0%	Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
—	—	—	—	—	—	$0	$0	$14M	$58M	$58M	AcquisitionsAcquis.
—	—	—	—	—	—	$0	$0	$100M	$136M	—	BuybacksBuybacks
—	—	-7%	-6%	-8%	-7%	-11%	-2%	10%	14%	10%	ROICROIC
—	—	-8%	-6%	-8%	-22%	-36%	12%	37%	18%	19%	Return on equityROE
—	—	−8%	−6%	−8%	−22%	−36%	12%	37%	18%	19%	Retained to equityRetained/eq
											Balance sheet
$90M	$22M	$129M	$134M	$170M	$685M	$687M	$550M	$622M	$673M	$580M	Cash & investmentsCash+inv
—	$31M	$22M	$30M	$47M	$67M	$65M	$103M	$75M	$76M	$76M	ReceivablesReceiv.
—	$462K	$2M	$652K	$6M	$5M	$8M	$5M	$6M	$8M	$11M	Accounts payablePayables
—	$30M	$20M	$30M	$41M	$62M	$57M	$98M	$69M	$68M	$65M	Operating working capitalOper. WC
—	$144M	$256M	$281M	$361M	$930M	$931M	$883M	$911M	$951M	$883M	Current assetsCur. assets
—	$115M	$128M	$149M	$199M	$234M	$248M	$293M	$268M	$650M	$647M	Current liabilitiesCur. liab.
—	1.3×	2.0×	1.9×	1.8×	4.0×	3.8×	3.0×	3.4×	1.5×	1.4×	Current ratioCurr. ratio
—	$118M	$118M	$118M	$118M	$118M	$118M	$118M	$121M	$149M	$149M	GoodwillGoodwill
—	$275M	$392M	$446M	$529M	$1.1B	$1.1B	$1.0B	$1.2B	$1.3B	$1.2B	Total assetsAssets
—	$34M	$24M	$18M	$11M	$561M	$564M	$356M	$358M	$360M	$720M	Total debtDebt
—	$12M	($105M)	($116M)	($159M)	($123M)	($122M)	($194M)	($264M)	($313M)	$141M	Net debt / (cash)Net debt
-16.9×	-3.3×	-5.7×	-14.3×	-28.8×	-24.9×	-20.7×	—	—	—	33.8×	Interest coverageInt. cov.
($30M)	($31M)	$244M	$259M	$299M	$260M	$249M	$381M	$575M	$630M	$570M	Shareholders’ equityEquity
4.4%	3.4%	4.1%	6.3%	6.8%	10.7%	12.2%	10.8%	8.9%	8.3%	8.7%	Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev
											Per share
32.1M	32.9M	52.3M	110M	119M	127M	131M	137M	143M	141M	136M	Shares out (diluted)Shares
$5.13	$6.15	$4.84	$2.74	$3.15	$3.95	$4.74	$5.02	$5.37	$5.60	$5.83	Revenue / shareRev/sh
$-0.51	$-0.13	$-0.38	$-0.15	$-0.19	$-0.44	$-0.69	$0.34	$1.51	$0.82	$0.80	EPS (diluted)EPS
$0.07	$-0.18	$0.22	$-0.02	$0.16	$0.08	$0.08	$0.38	$1.05	$1.72	$1.69	Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$0.07	$-0.18	$0.21	$-0.09	$0.14	$0.08	$0.08	$0.38	$1.05	$1.72	$1.69	Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$0.03	$0.06	$0.06	$0.10	$0.05	$0.01	$0.01	$0.01	$0.02	$0.04	$0.04	Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$-0.94	$-0.95	$4.66	$2.36	$2.52	$2.04	$1.91	$2.78	$4.02	$4.48	$4.20	Book value / shareBVPS

The diluted share count moved ×1.59 into 2018 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.

The diluted share count moved ×2.1 into 2019 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded

	9-yr	5-yr
Revenue / share	+1.0%/yr	+12.2%/yr
Owner earnings / share	+42.4%/yr	+61.3%/yr
Capital spending / share	+5.1%/yr	−5.0%/yr
Book value / share	—	+12.2%/yr

The year, in the company's words

the filing →

Verbatim from the 10-K's management discussion. Each sentence is shown only because its subject, direction, and stated figures check out against the filed numbers on this page. The words are the company's; the arithmetic is the record's.

Enterprise-2.2%
“Enterprise revenue decreased to $104.9 million, or 2% for the year ended December 31, 2025, as compared to $107.2 million in 2024, largely due to the fact that we paused our efforts to acquire new Enterprise clients as we prioritize the transition to the Lifted platform.”
✓ figure matches the filed record

The record, charted

FY2016–2025

Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked.

Share count

141Mpeak FY2024

ROIC

14%low FY2022

Gross margin

78%low FY2016

Net debt ÷ owner earnings

-1.3×peak FY2025

Owner earnings vs. net income

Owner earningsNet income

The accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.

$242Mowner earningsvs.$115Mnet incomelow FY2017

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetained

Each year's operating cash, by what management did with it: the mix, and how it drifts.

FY2016FY2025

Owner-earnings bridge

FY2021–FY2025cash-flow statement, SEC EDGAR →

Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.

In fiscal 2025 the business turned $115M of profit into $242M of owner earnings: more cash than the profit line showed, after the non-cash charges and the capital it put back in.

Reported net income$115M

Owner earnings$242M · 31% of revenue

	FY2025	FY2024	FY2023	FY2022	FY2021
Reported net income	$115M	$216M	$47M	($90M)	($56M)
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back	+$26M	+$15M	+$9M	+$8M	+$4M
Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost	+$65M	+$68M	+$74M	+$76M	+$54M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items	+$42M	−$145M	−$78M	+$18M	+$10M
Cash from operations	$248M	$154M	$53M	$11M	$11M
Capital expenditurecash put back in to keep running and to grow	−$6M	−$4M	−$692K	−$1M	−$1M
Owner earnings	$242M	$150M	$52M	$10M	$10M
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue	31%	20%	8%	2%	2%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the capital it must spend to hold its position . The cash-flow statement also adds stock comp back as non-cash, but it is a real cost paid in shares; counted as the expense it is (less $65M), owner earnings is nearer $177M.

Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.

III

Quality & stewardship

Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.

Owner’s Scorecard

FY2025 10-K · source on SEC EDGAR →

Will it survive?

Can it pay its interest? 28.8×

Comfortable

Operating income $129M ÷ interest expense $4M

What this means
Operating profit covers interest with the kind of margin Graham wanted for a defensive holding. Necessary, not sufficient, it says solvent, not cheap.
How heavy is the debt, net of cash? +$313M

Net cash

Cash $294M + ST investments $378M − debt $360M

What this means
Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by $313M, on net the company owes nothing, and can act from strength when others can't. Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.
How long is cash tied up? 19d

Tight

DSO 35 + DIO 0 − DPO 16 days

What this means
Days cash is tied up between paying suppliers and collecting from customers. Lower is better; a long cycle means growth itself eats cash. (Little or no inventory, a services / asset-light model, so the inventory leg is ~0.)

Is it a good business?

Return on invested capital -7%

Below average through the cycle

8-yr median, range -11%–14%; 14% latest = NOPAT $97M ÷ invested capital $696M

Industry peers: median 4%

What this means
The rate the business earns on the money tied up in it, Buffett's north star, because over time a stock tracks the ROIC beneath it. Above ~15% sustained hints at a moat; a return below the cost of capital (~8%) erodes value as a business grows rather than building it — the test Buffett weighs most. The headline is the median of the last 8 years (it ran 14% most recently), so one peak or trough year doesn't set the verdict. Asset-light businesses (R&D expensed, little capital) read artificially high, pair this with Owner Earnings.
Owner-earnings margin 31%

High, recently turned positive

latest $242M = operating cash $248M − maintenance capex $6M; positive each of the last 3 years, after an earlier loss stretch (10-yr median 2%)

Industry peers: median 15%

What this means
What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's 31% of revenue this year, a 2% median across 10 years. Treating stock comp as the real expense it is (less $65M of SBC) leaves $177M.
Are earnings backed by cash? 2.15×

Cash-backed

Cash from ops $248M ÷ net income $115M

What this means
How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.

How is the cash used?

Where do the earnings go? 56%

Returns about half

Dividends + buybacks $136M ÷ Owner Earnings $242M

What this means
Of $242M Owner Earnings, $136M (56%) went back to shareholders, $0 dividends, $136M buybacks. Net of $65M stock comp, the real buyback was about $71M. Returning most of it is the mark of a mature business with little left to reinvest at a high return; reinvesting most could mean a long runway, or empire-building. The split doesn't say which; the return earned on it (see ROIC) does.
Investing or harvesting? 0.23×

Harvesting

Capex $6M ÷ depreciation $26M

What this means
Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.

Graham’s defensive tests · 0 of 5 met

Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.

Adequate size Miss

Revenue ≥ $2B · $788M

What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.
Strong liquidity Miss

Current ratio ≥ 2× · 1.46×

What this means
Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.
Conservative debt Near

Debt ≤ working capital · $360M vs $301M WC

What this means
Graham's rule that borrowings not exceed net current assets. Capital-heavy and buyback-heavy firms routinely fail it, read it next to interest coverage, not alone.
Earnings stability Miss

A profit every year (10-yr record) · 7 loss years

What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
Dividend record Miss

Uninterrupted dividends · none paid

What this means
An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. He wanted twenty years; the filings show about ten, and a single suspension breaks the streak. Non-payers, many fine modern compounders, fall outside his defensive net by design.
Earnings growth —

Earnings +33% over the record · —

What this means
Earnings were negative early in the record, a growth rate isn't meaningful.
Moderate price —

P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price

What this means
Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $1.02/share (latest year $0.93), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $5.10/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.

Durability & moat, 2016–2025

Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.

Profitable years 3 of 10

What this means
Lost money in 7 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.
Return on capital ≥ 15% 0 of 8 yrs

What this means
A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.
Operating margin −5% → 8% (3-yr avg ends)

What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about −5% early to 8% lately, median −6% — pricing power intact or improving.
Reinvestment, incremental ROIC 13%

What this means
Reinvested capital came back at only a modest incremental return — near the cost of capital, where extra growth adds little per dollar. The record shows whether it is a soft stretch or a thinning moat.
Worst year 2022 · −15.0% op. margin

What this means
Operations went underwater in 2022, understand why before trusting the good years.

Does AI threaten the moat?

Elevated contestability

The product is software or information, the very thing capable AI now produces more cheaply, so the moat is more contestable than the record alone implies.

In its own filing A competitive risk, new this year

Its FY2025 10-K names artificial intelligence as a competitive threat, in language that was not in the prior year's filing.

“As with many innovations, AI presents new and evolving risks and challenges that could undermine or slow its adoption or cause us to experience brand or reputational harm, competitive harm, legal liability, new or enhanced governmental or regulatory scrutiny, and to incur additional costs to resolve such issues, each o…”

AI has collapsed the cost of building a capable substitute for the very thing this business sells. When a credible alternative can be assembled for a fraction of the incumbent's price, it is pricing power that erodes first, not revenue tomorrow. The live question is whether the moat survives that, not whether it held in the past. Whether that question is answerable at all is yours to decide, against your own circle of competence.

Read from the filing's own risk factors, paired with the industry's structure under its SIC code; the durability is read above, the price below.

All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.

Current Position

as of the latest quarter, Mar 31, 2026

Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.

Current assets$883M

Cash & short-term investments$580M
Receivables$76M
Other current assets$228M

Current liabilities$647M

Debt due within a year$360M
Accounts payable$11M
Other current liabilities$276M

Current ratio1.36×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×

Quick ratio1.36×stricter: inventory excluded

Cash ratio0.90×strictest: cash alone against what's due

Working capital$236Mthe cushion left after near-term bills

Debt due this year vs. cash$360M due · $580M cash covered by cash on hand, no refinancing forced · both figures from the Mar 31, 2026 balance sheet

Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+1.4%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing

Current ratio, recent quarters3.0× → 1.4×

Deeper floors

Tangible book value$386Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles

Net current asset value$211MGraham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities

Debt incl. operating leases$740M$19M of it operating leases

Deferred revenue$8Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float

From the company's latest filing.

How the cash was used, 2016–2025

Over the record, the business generated $513M of operating cash; how management split it reads as a cash builder, a large share of cash simply built up on the balance sheet.

Reinvested$35M · 7%
Buybacks$236M · 46%
Retained (debt / cash)$242M · 47%

Returned to owners$236M
48% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, $0 as dividends and $236M as buybacks.
Source of fundingOperating cash
Operating cash covered reinvestment and returns; over the span cash and short-term investments rose $490M.
Average price paid for buybacks—
Buybacks ran $236M over the span, but the filings don't tag the share count needed to deduce the average price paid.
Net change in share count323.0%
The diluted count rose from 32M to 136M: issuance (stock pay, deals) outran any buybacks, so owners were diluted on net.
Dividend record—
No dividend line was reported in the filing data over the span; the record here neither confirms nor rules out a payout.

Buybacks are gross of stock issued to staff; the share-count line above is the net of that, the figure that decides whether owners gained. The average price paid blends a year of purchases (and any accelerated repurchase), so it is close, not exact. The record of where the cash went and on what terms.

Management, ownership & pay

read the proxy →

From the proxy: how much of the business the people running it own, and how they are paid, beside what the business earned for its owners in the same years.

Fiscal year	Chief executive	Pay, as filed	“Actually paid”	Owner earnings
2021	Ms. Brown	$34.9M	$31.1M	$10M
2022	Ms. Brown	$8.5M	−$27.3M	$10M
2023	Ms. Brown	$9.5M	$10.0M	$52M
2024	Ms. Brown	$9.9M	$7.7M	$150M
2025	Ms. Brown	$17.1M	$41.2M	$242M

Both pay figures are the company’s own, from the pay-versus-performance table its proxy statement files. “As filed” is the Summary Compensation Table total: salary, bonus, and equity awards at their value on the day of grant. “Actually paid” is the SEC’s prescribed recalculation, which re-marks those equity awards to what they became as they vested; it can swing far above or below the filed figure in either direction, and negative years occur. Owner earnings are the whole business's, from the record above, for the same fiscal years.

Insider ownership4.9%
The stake all directors and executive officers hold together, per the 2026 proxy: skin in the game, the first thing Munger reads.
CEO pay ratio287:1
What the chief earns for every dollar the median employee makes, per the 2026 proxy. A high ratio alone settles nothing; some businesses are genuinely top-heavy in scarce skill. A runaway figure is where Buffett starts asking whether the board is doing its job.
Stock-based compensation$65M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares this year, 8% of revenue, equal to 51% of operating profit. Buffett's oldest accounting fight: this is compensation, compensation is an expense, real whether or not the headline earnings admit it. One trap: the cash-flow statement adds SBC back, so the operating cash, and the owner earnings drawn from it, are flattered by exactly this amount; counted as the cost it is, what an owner keeps is lower.

Inverting the record

Invert: instead of why Upwork Inc. is a good business, the question is what would make owning it a mistake, and whether those marks are in the record. Disconfirming tests across 2016–2025.

1 of the 4 tests turned up something to look into; the other 3 came back clean.

Look hereDid the share count rise anyway?323.0%
Diluted shares grew 323.0% over 2016–2025, even as the company spent $236M on buybacks. The repurchases were outrun by issuance — to staff, in a raise, or in a deal — and the filing says which; owners' slice still shrank. Read the buyback line beside this one, not on its own.

And these came back clean

Is it less profitable than it was?
Did reported profit become cash?
Are "one-time" charges a yearly habit?

Each test is read from the filings and is noisy alone; a flag can mark a cyclical trough or a year of heavy investment as easily as a problem. The filing says which.

What an owner would ask, FY2025

read the 10-K →

Which reported numbers are a judgment call?
Management names Revenue recognition, Income taxes, Stock compensation as critical estimates
each rests partly on management's judgment; the filing's note sets out the assumptionsverify →

The questions the record and the charts do not answer on their own; each carries the figure and the place to look.

Peers, IT Services & Consulting

The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each figure is a through-cycle median, so a peak or trough year can’t distort it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each against.

Company	Revenue	Gross margin	Op. margin	ROIC	Owner earn. margin
EVTCEvertec Inc.	$932M	100%	26.5%	15%	33%
CARGCarGurus Inc. Class A Common Stock	$907M	—	11.1%	32%	12%
NRDSNerdWallet Inc.	$837M	92%	0.8%	1%	10%
RAMPLiveRamp Holdings Inc.	$813M	69%	-24.1%	-13%	1%
GDRXGoodRx Holdings Inc.	$797M	—	5.1%	2%	20%
UPWKUpwork Inc.	$788M	73%	-5.3%	-7%	3%
LZLegalZoom.com Inc.	$756M	66%	3.3%	—	15%
CARSCars.com Inc. Common Stock	$723M	90%	8.1%	5%	21%
Group median	—	81%	4.2%	2%	14%

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Type today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what Upwork Inc. has delivered.

Upwork Inc.’s latest year runs above its own through-cycle margin — the reported figure may flatter a peak. So the tool opens on the through-cycle base, Graham’s averaging cutting both ways; clear the toggle below to read the latest year exactly as reported.

Today’s price $

Through the cycle, Upwork Inc. earns about $26M on its 3.3% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s 30.8% margin runs above that; the reported figure may flatter a peak you'd be paying on. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year. It comes pre-checked here for that reason, the same rule that already normalizes a trough; clear it to price the year as filed.

Base Normalize · through-cycle ($26M) Net of stock comp (−$69M)

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The assumptions Required return 9% Years of high growth 10 Terminal growth 2.5%

9.0% = the 4.55% 10-year Treasury (Jul 15, 2026) + 4.45 points of equity premium. The rate you require is yours to set.

Enter a price above to run it.

Implied by the price—

Owner-earnings growth · ’21→’25+110%/yr

Owner-earnings growth · since FY2020+72%/yr

Owner-earnings yield—

P/E (3-yr earnings ’23–’25)—

P/B—

Graham’s price gate—

Graham capped the multiple at 15×; Buffett and Munger let that rule go: a wonderful business can deserve 50× if the thesis holds. The gate marks the bargain-hunter's floor.

Against a high-grade bond: Graham’s yardstick bond yield%

Prefilled with the 10-year Treasury (4.55%, as of Jul 15, 2026). Edit it for today’s exact figure, or a AAA corporate yield.

Graham measured a stock against the bond you could own instead, the heart of his margin of safety. Enter a price above to weigh the owner-earnings yield against this bond.

Owner earnings $229M on 124M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-04-30; net debt $141M. The if-converted diluted count is 136M, 10% above the shares outstanding: the dilution overhang (convertibles, options) a buyer inherits. The base opens on the through-cycle figure (the latest year sits above the record’s own median, and Graham’s averaging cuts both ways); clear Normalize to use the year as filed. Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.

Weigh UPWK against another business →

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "Upwork Inc. (UPWK), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/UPWK, data as of 2026-07-09.

Manual order: ← UPST its page in the Manual URBN →

Industry order: ← TRVG the IT Services & Consulting chapter VRSK →