Affirm stock rockets after Square announces $29 billion deal for rival Afterpay

Shares of buy-now pay-later (BNPL) company Affirm Holdings Inc. /zigman2/quotes/223715966/composite AFRM +20.77% are surging more than 18% in Monday trading after Square Inc. /zigman2/quotes/205989440/composite SQ +6.50% announced its plans to purchase BNPL rival Afterpay Ltd. /zigman2/quotes/207831648/delayed AU:APT -2.18% for a 31% premium in a vote of confidence for the payment trend. The deal is valued at $29 billion. Afterpay and Affirm are among companies offering financial technology that lets consumers split their purchases into installments in a break from the traditional credit-card model of compounding interest. Some BNPL products are interest-free, while others carry simple interest. Affirm's stock "will now include an M&A premium," Bernstein's Harshita Rawat wrote in a note to clients. In her view, the deal announcement translates to a negative read for PayPal Holdings Inc. /zigman2/quotes/208054269/composite PYPL +4.84% , which also has expanded into BNPL and is seeing a 0.2% drop in its stock during Monday's session. She saw a positive read through for Marqeta Inc. /zigman2/quotes/227203754/composite MQ +7.40% , which works with both Afterpay and Square on debit-based products, though Marqeta shares are off 0.4% in Monday trading.

/zigman2/quotes/223715966/composite

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Affirm Holdings Inc. Cl A

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 21.40

+3.68 +20.77%

Volume: 13.37M

Feb. 2, 2023 10:49a

P/E Ratio

N/A

Dividend Yield

N/A

Market Cap

$5.14 billion

Rev. per Employee

$564,863

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Block Inc.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 89.35

+5.45 +6.50%

Volume: 4.27M

Feb. 2, 2023 10:49a

P/E Ratio

N/A

Dividend Yield

N/A

Market Cap

$50.18 billion

Rev. per Employee

$1.99M

/zigman2/quotes/207831648/delayed

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Afterpay Ltd.

AU : Australia: Sydney

$ 66.47

-1.48 -2.18%

Volume: 0.00

Jan. 19, 2022 4:10p

P/E Ratio

N/A

Dividend Yield

N/A

Market Cap

$19.97 billion

Rev. per Employee

N/A

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PayPal Holdings Inc.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 86.92

+4.01 +4.84%

Volume: 4.71M

Feb. 2, 2023 10:49a

P/E Ratio

44.10

Dividend Yield

N/A

Market Cap

$94.52 billion

Rev. per Employee

$865,405

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Marqeta Inc.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 7.48

+0.51 +7.40%

Volume: 1.40M

Feb. 2, 2023 10:49a

P/E Ratio

N/A

Dividend Yield

N/A

Market Cap

$3.79 billion

Rev. per Employee

$712,643