Affirm shares tumbled after the buy now/pay later firm whipsawed investors with an errant, early release of partial financial results and then forecast quarterly revenue that missed analyst estimates.
The company’s shares plunged as much as 33% on Thursday afternoon after it reported results with a third-quarter revenue forecast that missed some analyst estimates, and a widened net loss. Just hours earlier, investors were given a snapshot of what the company called “another great quarter” via an accidental tweet, which was enough of a glimpse to send the shares surging.
The afternoon volatility caused a halt in trading — and prompted the company to explain itself — again on Twitter. Some results had leaked earlier than the official earnings release time, scheduled for after the market closed, “due to human error,” it said.
The second-quarter results, which it went on to release ahead of schedule anyway, showed a 77% gain in revenue. Its net loss of $159.7 million widened from $26.6 million a year earlier, missing the $100.3 million average estimate of six analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
In the accidental tweet posted at about 1:15 p.m., the company had referenced the revenue surge, before deleting the post. The stock had fallen 26% this year through Wednesday’s close.
“Affirm’s strong growth accelerated this quarter, reflecting the key advantages of our superior technology, and commitment to putting people first,” Max Levchin, the firm's founder and chief executive, said in the statement. “We more than doubled gross merchandise volume year over year. Over the last 12 months, we have added nearly seven million active consumers to our network, while enabling 168,000 merchant partners to better serve their customers.”
The San Francisco-based firm offers buy now/pay later loans to consumers through its online platform.
