By Mackenzie Tatananni
Affirm Holdings stock slipped Friday even after the fintech posted solid fiscal second-quarter earnings. The reaction is unwarranted, some analysts said.
Quarterly earnings handily topped Wall Street estimates. Revenue of $1.12 billion beat analysts' calls for $1.06 billion, according to FactSet. Gross merchandise volume rose 36% to $13.8 billion, a "record" for the company, Affirm said, and higher than the $13.3 billion Wall Street had forecast.
Although some firms picked up on an implied deceleration in gross merchandise volume growth for the second half of the year, Evercore ISI analysts called it "misconstrued," arguing that the fiscal second quarter appeared to be Affirm's first without Walmart volumes.
GMV, as it is better known, is a key performance indicator representing the total dollar value of all transactions on Affirm's platform, net of refunds. It's a metric closely watched by investors every quarter.
Affirm card gross margin volume more than doubled to $2.2 billion in the quarter as the number of cardholders continued to tick higher, increasing to 3.7 million from 2.8 million at the end of last quarter.
The partnership with Walmart has been gradually winding down for months. Chief Operating Officer Michael Linford earlier told Barron's that the company expected to be rolled off and replaced by Klarna in the second fiscal quarter.
Excluding Walmart volumes from the past three quarters, Evercore actually expects to see an acceleration in GMV for the full fiscal year.
Other firms were similarly upbeat. "With the vast majority of Affirm volume online, we believe the card will help it commercialize in-store shopping," said Susquehanna analysts.
The firm noted that the the Affirm Card "also serves as an important vehicle to push 0% APR loans," another product that is seeing increased popularity with Affirm's customers.
J.P. Morgan analysts continue to view Affirm as a "core holding," despite the recent compression in fintech multiples.
"We are comforted by Affirm's history of beating and raising, and continue to see plenty of white space for Affirm in the form of continued consumer adoption of BNPL and expansion into new verticals and international markets," wrote analysts with the firm.
Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 06, 2026 09:12 ET (14:12 GMT)
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