The stock king with the highest increase will be announced, will the American version of Huabei, Affirm, continue to soar?

The stock king with the highest increase in 2023 - Affirm, will announce its earnings report after the US stock market closes on February 8th, which has attracted much attention from the market.

Affirm is a financial technology company founded by Max Levchin, co-founder of PayPal, in 2012.

It promotes the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) payment method, which allows consumers to divide their purchases into four or more installments over a period of three months to one year (non-compound interest), while lenders profit by charging interest and loan service fees to merchants.

Merchants also benefit from the BNPL model, as it stimulates consumption and improves their sales and profitability.

How was the stock king of 2023 born?

Affirm's stock price skyrocketed by 430% in 2023, outperforming all technology companies with a market value of over $5 billion.

Coinbase (COIN.US) followed closely with a 420% increase, mainly driven by the rebound of Bitcoin.

Analysis shows that the main reason is the huge decline during the bear market, from a high of $176.6 in 2021 to a low of $8.62, a decline of 95%. With improved performance and some positive news, the stock price surged more than four times in a year.

Affirm went public on Nasdaq in January 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic was driving a surge in the adoption of BNPL services. Consumers with stimulus checks were eager to buy clothes, electronics, and Peloton exercise bikes (which once accounted for 30% of Affirm's revenue), and e-commerce platforms quickly added BNPL options at checkout. Therefore, Affirm's stock price soared, but then the bear market came, and the stock price plummeted by 95%.

In addition to improved performance, the stock price also rose due to partnerships with Amazon and Walmart.

Previously, after Affirm announced that it would provide BNPL loans on Walmart's self-checkout machines, the stock price more than doubled in the fourth quarter.

Analyst Predictions

Analysts estimate that Affirm will report an earnings per share (EPS) of -0.55 USD.

In addition to focusing on the EPS situation, the market is also expecting the company to provide positive performance guidance or growth forecasts for the next quarter.

In terms of institutional ratings, opinions are somewhat inconsistent. Most have raised their target prices in the past three months, but Morgan Stanley has downgraded its rating, citing an increase in consumer delinquencies.

Last quarter, the company's earnings per share (-0.57 USD) exceeded expectations by 0.13 USD, and the stock price rose by 14.25% the following day.

In the past few quarters, here are the stock price movements after Affirm released its financial reports:

It is worth mentioning that some investors have already started to exit.

On January 23rd, Hong Kong-listed Brainhole Technology (02203.HK) announced that it had sold a total of 33,500 shares of Affirm on the open market, with a total value of 11.8 million HKD, and is expected to incur a loss of approximately 700,000 HKD.