SOFI is the better-performing stock this year, but PYPL is much higher today
The fintech sector is buzzing today, after two heavyweights stepped into the earnings confessional. SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ:SOFI) and PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) are both trending after their respective reports, while options traders chime in as well.
SoFi stock is down 2.5% to trade at $29.25, even after the company reported adjusted third-quarter earnings of 11 cents per share on $949.6 million in revenue, both of which topped analyst estimates. Better yet, SoFi hiked its full-year guidance thanks to increased loan originations. The stock -- a Top Pick for 2025 -- hit a record high of $31.40 out of the gate before pivoting lower. Recent consolidation has found support at the shares' 50-day moving average.
SOFI still has massive contrarian potential for a name up 97% year to date. A healthy 9% of the stock's total available float is sold short, while 17 of 24 brokerages maintain "hold" or worse ratings on the equity.
Calls are flying off the shelves, with 318,000 contracts exchanged, volume that's five times the average intraday amount and almost triple the number of puts traded. The weekly 10/31 30-strike call is the most popular, as is the standard November 30 call.
PYPL, meanwhile, is 7.9% higher to trade at $75.77, after the Venmo owner reported adjusted third-quarter earnings of $1.34 on $8.4 billion in revenue, a top-line beat. The company also announced a partnership with OpenAI for users to check out through ChatGPT. PYPL stock is breaking out of a multi-month channel of sideways trading and is testing its -10% year-to-date level.
At last check, over 259,000 PYPL calls have changed hands, volume that's six times the average intraday amount and eight times the number of puts exchanged. Most of the attention is on the weekly 10/31 80-strike call.