** Shares of Affirm Holdings AFRM.O down 3.3% premarket to $62.58 after BTIG downgrades buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm to 'neutral' from 'buy'
** Traditional prime point-of-sale lenders such as Capital One COF.N and Synchrony Financial SYF.N expected to begin loosening underwriting standards and take market share across the credit spectrum, a trend likely to hurt fintechs such as Affirm AFRM.O, BTIG says in note
** BTIG says it worries AFRM will continue to experience revenue less transaction costs margin pressure as co experienced last qtr, while also not showing accelerating gross merchandise value growth
** In turn, BTIG upgrades SYF to "buy" and assigns PT of $100, about 42% above that stock's last close
** Prior to downgrade, BTIG had a $75 PT on AFRM
** Avg rating among 24 analysts covering AFRM is "buy" and median PT is $69, latest LSEG data reflects
** Through Fri close, AFRM shares up 6% YTD, including ~60% gain over the past three months
(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)
((lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))
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