By Mackenzie Tatananni

Affirm Holdings delivered a strong showing in its fiscal third quarter, hiking its full-year outlook amid a surge in transaction volume and revenue that was bolstered by an expanding customer base.

Gross merchandise volume (GMV) surged 35% to $11.6 billion, marking what CEO Max Levchin referred to as Affirm's "tenth consecutive quarter of over-30% growth" in a letter to shareholders. The metric represents the total dollar value of all transactions processed on Affirm's platform within a specific period, adjusted for any refunds, and serves as an indicator of total sales volume rather than revenue earned.

Revenue, meanwhile, jumped 33% to $1.04 billion, surpassing analysts' calls for $995.3 million. Affirm attributed the change to gains on sale of loans and increases in network revenue and interest income.

On the back of its latest quarter, Affirm hiked its fiscal-year guidance for the second time. The fintech is targeting GMV of $49.27 billion to $49.57 billion, up from an updated outlook of $48.3 billion to $48.85 billion it provided in February. Fiscal-year revenue is expected to land between $4.18 billion and $4.21 billion; analysts were looking for $4.14 billion.

Shares slipped 1.9% in after-hours trading Thursday, reversing course after ending the session up 2.2%. Through Thursday's close, Affirm has fallen 9.5% this year against a 7.2% gain for the benchmark S&P 500.

The fintech earns money by charging merchants a fee for each transaction and by collecting interest from consumers on installment loans. Affirm also generates revenue through its branded debit card, which doubles as a buy-now, pay-later tool allowing customers to split payments into monthly installments. Active cardholders more than doubled year over year to 4.4 million, with GMV for the Affirm Card surging 146% to $2.1 billion.

Concerns are growing over the rising rate of missed payments for buy-now, pay-later loans, which serve as a cornerstone of Affirm's business. In a recent LendingTree survey, 47% of respondents reported a late payment within the past year, marking a steady increase from 41% at the time of the previous survey and 34% in 2024.

However, Affirm asserted that it "continued to drive positive credit outcomes" during its latest quarter. Monthly installment loan delinquency rates remained fairly steady sequentially across 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day delinquencies.

The results come at a time when the financial technology sector is under pressure. Shares of industry peer SoFi Technologies suffered their worst single-day drop on record last month following an earnings beat. The iShares Fintech Active exchange-traded fund, which tracks names in payment processing and digital banking, is down more than 8% in 2026.

Despite this broader weakness, Affirm seems to have no problem drawing in customers. Traction among users continued to grow in the latest quarter, as active customers rose to 26.8 million. Transactions per customer increased by 20%, and active merchant count also grew to 515,000.

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.

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May 07, 2026 18:30 ET (22:30 GMT)

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