Upwork Inc. (UPWK) experienced a sharp decline of 23.26% in post-market trading on Monday. The significant drop followed the release of the company's latest quarterly financial results.

Despite reporting fourth-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings that exceeded analyst expectations, the company's outlook for the current quarter disappointed investors. Upwork guided for first-quarter revenue in the range of $192 million to $197 million, falling short of the consensus estimate of approximately $200.8 million. Similarly, its forecast for first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.26 to $0.28 missed the expected $0.34.

The soft near-term guidance overshadowed the positive performance in the previous quarter, where growth in artificial intelligence-related work on the platform was a notable highlight. This disconnect between a strong past quarter and a weaker-than-anticipated forward outlook triggered the substantial sell-off in the extended session.