The company has more than a few levers it can pull for growth.
All in all, stock market players did not react well to news of SoFi Technologies‘ (SOFI -1.16%) latest quarterly earnings release at the end of October. While the next-generation financial services company beat the consensus analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines, it hasn’t been posting the hot growth numbers of its past.
Nevertheless, one analyst tracking the stock is sticking to his guns and continuing to recommend SoFi as a buy. Does he have a good case for the stock?
A contrarian analyst
With the post-earnings dip in SoFi’s share price, it’s safe to say that many investors these days don’t share Jefferies prognosticator John Hecht’s bullish view. So it was something of a contrarian move when Hecht raised his price target on the shares by $1 apiece to a new level of $13.
According to reports, Hecht’s continued optimistic take on SoFi was buttressed by some of the elements that propelled the company to those beats. The analyst cited an improvement in loan originations and non-interest revenue from the finance company’s expanding loan platform referral service.
While SoFi’s once-torrid growth is cooling as the business enters more mature stages of its life, the company does continue to improve key fundamentals. Its third-quarter net revenue rose by an encouraging 30% year over year to top $697 million. And in line with a trend that has been in force since the fourth quarter of last year, it posted a net profit (this was nearly $61 million, a dramatic improvement over the year-ago loss of almost $20 million).
Sky-high valuations, but…
I think what’s holding back investors from piling into SoFi stock is the company’s valuation; even with its newfound profitability, it’s priced extremely high in terms of both trailing and forward P/E.
Yes, that’s a sensible reason to be hesitant, but this is a company that has been clever and effective in drawing revenue from numerous sources. I believe it can continue to do so and post some impressive fundamentals on the way. I’d definitely consider buying this stock.
Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Jefferies Financial Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.