By Elsa Ohlen

Klarna stock was falling early Thursday after shares of the buy-now, pay-later company closed above its initial offering price in its first trading session Wednesday.

Shares were down 2.4% to $44.71 in premarket trading. The stock opened Wednesday at $52, about 30% above its offering price, but pared gains to end the day up 15% at just under $46 a share, bringing the Sweden-based fintech's market value to $17.4 billion.

The success of several high-profile IPOs this year means investors have become used to eyewatering stock pops on day one.

While Klarna's outcome might seem a little more muted, it's actually the ideal scenario for a company, said Phil Haslett, Chief Strategy Officer at Equityzen. "A modest uplift on day one signals the offering was priced correctly and that there's genuine excitement for the business -- just not the same level of frenzy we saw with names like Circle, CoreWeave, or Figma."

Klarna was founded in 2005 as a buy-now, pay-later service provider but has since expanded to launch debit and credit cards. It also holds a full EU banking license. Klarna was one of the companies, like Zoom and Peloton, that got a big boost during the Covid-19 pandemic.

At one point, Klarna reached a valuation north of $40 billion. However, a year or two later it reset expectations lower.

"It takes guts to admit to the market that the earlier valuation was wrong," Haslett said.

"What we're seeing now in this IPO, through the filings and the numbers, is that Klarna has proven it has a profitable, growing business that can compete -- and, hopefully, withstand the kinds of credit cycles that have tripped up other fintech companies in the past," Noted Haslett.

Write to Elsa Ohlen at elsa.ohlen@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

September 11, 2025 07:05 ET (11:05 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.