Buy Now Pay Later stocks rally to new highs

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) stocks were subject to an investment frenzy this week with major and mid-tier BNPL companies enjoying the upward ride.

It was a wild ride for BNPL heavy-weight Afterpay (ASX: APT), which hit an all-time high of $53.81 on Thursday, closing at $50.61 per share on Friday, up 8.77% for the week and 32.56% higher over the last four weeks.

Of note, that $53.81 peak this week is more than 570% higher than the COVID-19 induced low of $8.01 on 23 March, with the company revealing last month it had reached more than 5 million active customers in the US.

BNPL stocks not to be left behind included Zip Co (ASX: Z1P), which gained an impressive 50.40% this week alone to finish Friday at $5.64 – despite sliding from its Wednesday high of $6.79.

Spurring Zip’s surge was news it was acquiring New York-based BNPL entity QuadPay Inc as part of its global expansion plans.

Smaller BNPL company OpenPay (ASX: OPY) also rocketed to an all-time high this week – hitting $4 on Thursday before paring back to close Friday at $3.08 – still up more than 128% for the week.

Underpinning OpenPay’s ride was a £25 million debt facility from UK fancier Global Growth Capital – with the facility to support the company’s business in the UK.

OpenPay also launched a $33.77 million placement to further accelerate the company’s growth across Australia and the UK.

Splitit Payments (ASX: SPT) which has a similar $200 million market cap to OpenPay also enjoyed a wild ride this week – reaching a high of $0.955 on Thursday (although this wasn’t the company’s all-time high).

Driving Splitit’s ride was the company’s May sales update, which showed it had achieved record monthly merchant sales of US$25.8 million for the month. This was 321% higher than the previous corresponding period and a 39% increase on April’s results.

Splitit attributed the record month to a shift in e-commerce sales.

The company closed Friday at $0.80 – up 72% on the week.

Another BNPL company in the $200 million-plus market cap space is Sezzle (ASX: SZL), which clawed to an all time high of $3.07 on Thursday.

The share price rise followed the company’s annual general meeting on Monday. By end of trade Friday, Sezzle was at $2.95 – a gain of 42.20% for the week.

Flexigroup (ASX: FXL) saw its shares rise 25.22% this week. The company not only operates in the BNPL space but also offers credit cards and SME lending services.

Quickfee (ASX: QFE) rallied a healthy 42.86% for the week and is up 95.65% over the past month. The company offers a BNPL service for accountants and lawyers.

Payments companies catch a ride

Not a BNPL stock, but worth mentioning was IncentiaPay (ASX: INP) which told investors it had seen a gradual increase in cash inflows as lockdown restrictions eased across Australia and New Zealand.

The company produces loyalty products from organisations and major brands that offer discounts across dining, take away and travel.

IncentiaPay rose 56.25% this week to end trade at $0.025.

Another junior in the payments space to surge was Mint Payments (ASX: MNW), which gained 150% this week, soaring more than 60% on Friday alone before finishing at $0.020.

The sudden rise caught the regulator’s attention and saw the company issued with a speeding ticket. In its response, Mint stated it did not know what had caused its rise.

Mint offers what it calls as “seamless, omni-channel payment suite”, which is available online, in-store, and in-app.