Affirm surges amid growth in customer transaction volumes

Investing.com -- Shares in Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) soared in premarket trading on Friday after the buy-now-pay-later business posted a jump in transactions on its platforms that beat analysts' estimates.

The loss-making firm's results were supported by new deals with travel companies Booking.com (NASDAQ:BKNG) and Cathay Pacific (HK:0293) that aimed to capture a boom in post-COVID consumer demand for experiences. But Affirm said that 2023 has still been a "challenging year" as it confronted a slowdown in online shopping after the pandemic, as well as shifting customer tastes and elevated interest rates.

Gross merchandise value (GMV) -- a total dollar measure of all Affirm transactions -- surged by 25% to $5.5 billion in the California-based company's quarter ended on June 30, topping Bloomberg consensus forecasts of $5.3B. Revenue climbed to $445.8 million, a 22% gain compared to the same timeframe last year.

Affirm's active consumers also grew by 18% annually to 16.5M, while transactions per active customer rose by 30% to 3.9.

Affirm noted that it expects both GMV and revenue to be at similar levels during its current three-month period, although chief executive Max Levchin said in a statement that "macroeconomic headwinds" will persist through the remainder of the 2024 fiscal year.