Affirm stock dips as Deutsche Bank lowers price target, maintains Hold
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Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) shares are sliding nearly 6.2% in Wednesday morning trading as Deutsche Bank analyst Bryan Keane lowered his price target and maintained a Hold rating in light of lower peer group valuations.
Cut price target to $35 per share, implying around 16% upside from Tuesday's close. Shares of the Buy Now, Pay Later platform are falling more than 70% YTD. Take a look at how AFRM has fared with BNPL rivals here.
Moreover, "the bigger issue facing the company, in our view, is the perception that AFRM has more characteristics of a financial company than a tech firm, which is pulling the stock lower," Keane wrote in a note to clients. "The fear of future credit deterioration/macro weakness coupled with its financials more closely resembling those of a financial firm has impaired the valuation," he added. 
Still, the company has recently added its services to a slew of large retailers and marketplaces in the U.S., namely ecommerce giants Amazon (AMZN) and Shopify (SHOP), which have helped accelerate merchant acceptance and should continue to strengthen gross merchandise volume over time, Keane noted. In mid-April, Affirm expanded its partnership with social marketplace Poshmark (POSH) for another two years.
SA's Quant Rating in mid-February had screened AFRM at high risk of performing badly due to declining growth and inferior profitability when compared with peers.
In the beginning of April, Piper Sandler lowered its price target on Affirm.