Affirm's stock took a beating this week after shares of small-business lender Upstart crashed, spooking investors generally about the fintech sector as markets dove and rising interest rates hung over the business. The "buy now, pay later" company turned things around with stronger-than-expected quarterly results. Its share price soared 33% after markets closed on Thursday to nearly $24.
The company brought in about $354.8 million in total revenue, with a net loss of $54.7 million compared to $287.1 million in Q3 2021. Its loss was 50% smaller than analysts expected, and revenue was a modest surprise.
Affirm highlighted its diversifying merchant portfolio in the call, announcing a multi-year extension of its partnership with Shopify and a strategic partnership with Stripe for its Adaptive Checkout product. CFO Michael Linford added that “no single merchant accounted for more than 10% of either revenue or GMV for both the three and nine months ending March 31.” For some time, Affirm was heavily dependent on financing Peloton sales — it's past that, which is a good thing given Peloton's current situation.
When asked about the effect of rising interest rates on the company, Linford said that they “really haven't had to take any action today.”
“It is true that as rates go up, there is pressure on the funding side of our business. But it is a mistake to think about that as a full flow-through on a linear basis,” he said. “I think in the very long run, so going out more than a year, you would expect us to narrow in but that's more of a long-term thing.”
Affirm halted a planned bond issuance in March amid market turbulence.
Climate TRACE's data show emissions at the facility-level.Image: Climate TRACE