Affirm stocks surge as pay-later deals succeed

Shares of Affirm Holdings Inc. ticked higher after the bell on Thursday, following better-than-expected third-quarter results due to the success of diversifying its merchant portfolio.

The financial technology company skyrocketed 33.59% or 6.06 points to $24.10 per share. It followed an upturn of 23.31% or 3.41 points to $18.04 per share in the regular trading session.

Affirm notched $354.80 million in total revenue, well above the analysts’ consensus of $344.03 million. The metric also represented an annual gain of 54.00% to $287.10 million in Q3 2021, a modest surprise for investors.

The continued Gross Merchandise Volume drove the upturn, edging up 73.00% year-over-year. At the same time, the firm benefitted from the merchant network revenue growth and higher interest income.

Subsequently, it also came in with a net loss of $0.19 per share, 50.00% smaller than the anticipated $0.46 per share. In addition, it decreased from the $1.23 per share in the same period last year.

However, Affirm stocks took a beating this week after shares of small-business lender Upstart plunged. This downward movement spooked investors triggering a broad sell-off in the fintech sector. In line with this, the firm has traded 81.05% or 77.17 points since the start of the year.

Affirm extends partnerships with Shopify, Stripe

Moreover, Affirm announced that it would continue to strengthen its pay-later agreements.

For instance, it mentioned the multi-year extension of its partnership with Shopify. This deal will cement the financial firm as the exclusive pay-over-time provider for Shop Pay Installments in the United States.

At the same time, the firm inked a strategic partnership with Stripe for its Adaptive Checkout product.

The company also forecasted profitability for the current quarter. It projected revenue in the range of $345.00 to 355.00 million, compared to the market estimate of $251.90 million.

Furthermore, Affirm anticipates revenue from $1.33 billion to 1.34 billion for the full fiscal year. This outlook is in line with the expected $1.33 billion.