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There's an overall consensus of a buy for UPWK, and one bear that recommends a hold:

In a report issued on August 8, Mark Mahaney from RBC Capital maintained a Buy rating on Upwork Inc (UPWK – Research Report), with a price target of $25. The company’s shares closed on Friday at $15.15, close to its 52-week low of $14.08.

According to TipRanks.com, Mahaney is a top 100 analyst with an average return of 21.8% and a 62.5% success rate. Mahaney covers the Technology sector, focusing on stocks such as Uber Technologies Inc, Trade Desk Inc, and Eventbrite Inc.

Google or Microsoft To Make A Move?

With the stock price depressed and more shares available in the marketplace, sources believe it is only a matter of time before Microsoft will make a move to start acquiring shares of Upwork.

Upwork is disrupting LinkedIn, Robert Half, Zip Recruiter, and pretty much all other recruiting services.   Network effect is increasing and Upwork is attracting more and more businesses, which attracts more talent.

Gone are the barriers to hiring: recruiters, background checks, references, resumes, payroll setup, HR paperwork, and all of the other cumbersome tasks required to setup a W9 employee.

Thanks to Upwork, all of that is simplified and streamlined onto 1 easy to use platform, which I discussed in detail in this article.

Microsoft found itself using Upwork more and more to hire for its projects.   As a natural progression, Microsoft ended up strking an exclusive partnership with Upwork last year and started integrating all of its product offerings, with the exception of LinkedIn.

With that in mind, Microsoft has not yet made a move on Upwork, which leaves the door wide open for other players to take advantage of the depressed stock price.  Google has had a long interest in the recruiting world, and recently announced that it's Google Hire software will shut down in 2020 due to its lack of traction.

Indeed, hiring is changing, and should Google take a controlling position in Upwork, that would place the search giant at the forefront of the recruiting world.  Additionally Google would have a viable tool for monetizing personal name searches on its platform for the first time ever, which has been a long struggle for Google.

Should Google acquire Upwork, that would be a huge blow to Microsoft, whom has fully integrated Upwork into their suite of software services including Sharepoint.  The future of hiring is Upwork, not LinkedIn or Robert Half.   And with no close competitors and a depressed stock price, it certainly increases the odds for Upwork to get acquired.