Cantor Fitzgerald Upgrades Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) to Strong-Buy

Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) was upgraded by stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on AFRM. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Affirm from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Affirm to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Affirm in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Affirm from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Affirm from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.44.

Affirm Price Performance

Shares of AFRM opened at $68.79 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $72.45 and a 200-day moving average of $74.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 12.80 and a quick ratio of 12.80. The company has a market capitalization of $22.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 3.57. Affirm has a 1 year low of $30.90 and a 1 year high of $100.00.

Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.12. Affirm had a net margin of 6.74% and a return on equity of 7.75%. The company had revenue of $933.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $881.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.31) earnings per share. Affirm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Affirm will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Affirm news, CFO Robert O’hare sold 36,401 shares of Affirm stock in a transaction on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $2,912,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $109,440. The trade was a 96.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Max R. Levchin sold 666,666 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.62, for a total transaction of $53,746,612.92. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 711,256 shares of company stock valued at $57,231,923 over the last three months. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Affirm

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Affirm by 0.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,419,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,784,545,000 after purchasing an additional 223,258 shares during the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Affirm by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 7,389,337 shares of the company’s stock worth $510,899,000 after purchasing an additional 808,455 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Affirm by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,641,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $412,315,000 after buying an additional 1,187,665 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Affirm by 5.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,659,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,195,000 after buying an additional 254,359 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Affirm by 294.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,333,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,706,000 after buying an additional 3,234,260 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.29% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Affirm

Here are the key news stories impacting Affirm this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Needham upgraded Affirm to a Buy following the company’s application for a bank charter, a move investors view as a potential step toward cheaper deposit funding and improved margins. Affirm raised to buy at Needham after bank charter application
• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage with an Overweight rating, which can attract fresh buy-side interest and provide incremental demand for the shares. Cantor Fitzgerald initiates coverage of Affirm Holdings (AFRM) with overweight recommendation
• Positive Sentiment: Bolt selected Affirm as the default BNPL provider across its one?click checkout network in the U.S., expanding merchant distribution and potential GMV lift. Bolt Selects Affirm as Embedded Buy Now, Pay Later Partner Across Its One-Click Checkout Network
• Positive Sentiment: Affirm struck deals to bring BNPL to debit programs via Fiserv and related coverage, broadening reach into banks/credit unions and consumer debit flows — a distribution play that can increase transaction volume. Affirm and Fiserv Team to Bring BNPL to Debit Programs Fiserv and Affirm Join Forces to Bring Flexible Payments to Debit
• Positive Sentiment: Affirm is piloting BNPL for biweekly rent payments, expanding use cases beyond e?commerce and adding potential recurring revenue streams. Affirm Is Expanding Buy Now, Pay Later Services for Rent Payments
• Positive Sentiment: Affirm is moving forward with plans for a banking subsidiary to enhance its financial services capabilities — the bank charter effort and related buildout are being framed as strategic enablers for scale. BNPL Fintech Affirm Advances Plans for Banking Subsidiary to Enhance Financial Services
• Neutral Sentiment: A Seeking Alpha piece reiterates a Buy stance based on GAAP profitability, strong GMV and engagement metrics (24.1M active consumers, rising transactions/user), but it also flags competitive and market skepticism — useful context but not an immediate catalyst. Affirm: Groceries On Credit? The Shift In BNPL And The Credit Market
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short?interest data for January appears inconsistent (zeros/NaN), suggesting a data anomaly rather than a meaningful change in bearish positioning; not a reliable signal today.
• Negative Sentiment: A Yahoo Finance valuation piece warns that recent share weakness and lofty earnings expectations leave AFRM exposed to downside if growth or margin improvements slow — a reminder that multiple expansion has driven much recent gains. Assessing Affirm Holdings (AFRM) Valuation After Recent Share Price Weakness And Lofty Earnings Expectations

About Affirm

Affirm Holdings, Inc is a financial technology company that provides point-of-sale consumer lending and payments solutions for online and in-store purchases. Its core product is a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform that enables consumers to split purchases into fixed, transparent installment loans with no hidden fees. Affirm offers a range of financing options through merchant integrations, a consumer-facing mobile app and virtual card capabilities, and tools for merchants to offer alternative payment methods at checkout.