Morgan Stanley Downgrades Affirm to Equalweight After Rally

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Summary · why it matters

Morgan Stanley downgraded Affirm Holdings from Overweight to Equalweight with a $79 price target, removing it from the firm's Top Pick list, citing a more balanced risk/reward after the stock's recovery from late-March lows. The downgrade came one session after Affirm surged on a forward-flow deal where CPP Investments agreed to buy between $1.7 billion and $2.2 billion of Affirm loans over 24 months, supporting roughly $8 billion in loan volume and pushing total funding capacity to $28.2 billion. Truist raised its price target to $80 from $75 the same day, maintaining a Buy rating. The Federal Reserve held rates steady in June, but markets are pricing in an 85% probability of at least one hike by year end, keeping pressure on consumer lending names.

Impact on stocks 2

Digital Finance & Tokenization▼ · 1 stocks
Affirm Holdings Inc
AFRM
▼ NegativeCapitalrelevance

Morgan Stanley downgraded Affirm from Overweight to Equalweight and removed it from Top Pick list, citing balanced risk/reward after rally.

Financials▲ · 1 stocks

Theme Impact 1

Off-coverage companies 1

Canada Pension Plan Investment BoardPrivate▲ Positive
Demandrelevance

CPP Investments agreed to buy $1.7B-$2.2B of Affirm loans, supporting loan volume and funding capacity, which is a positive business deal for CPP Investments as an investor.

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