Affirm's Expanded Stripe Partnership to Boost In-Store BNPL

Core Insights - Affirm Holdings, Inc. has expanded its partnership with Stripe, becoming the first buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider integrated into Stripe Terminal, enhancing its presence in physical retail locations [1][9] - The integration allows customers to select Affirm at checkout, facilitating purchases from $35 to $30,000 with flexible repayment terms [2][3] - This partnership is significant as over 80% of retail spending occurs in physical stores, providing Affirm an opportunity to penetrate in-person transactions [3] Company Performance - Affirm's transaction volume surged 45.6% year over year to 31.3 million in the last reported quarter, indicating strong growth potential from the new partnership [4] - The stock has gained 27.6% year to date, outperforming the broader industry and the S&P 500 Index [7] - Affirm trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 6.23X, higher than the industry average of 5.84, reflecting a premium valuation [10] Industry Context - Competitors like PayPal and Block are also expanding their BNPL services, with PayPal's total payment volume growing 6% to $443.5 billion and Block's BNPL gross merchandise value increasing 17% year over year to $9.11 billion [5][6] - The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Affirm's fiscal 2025 earnings suggests a 103% improvement year over year, indicating strong future growth expectations [12]