Fintech, or financial technology, has become an integral part of everyday life.
Firms like Fitch Ratings and McKinsey & Co are projecting continued growth in the market moving forward, and since the fintech umbrella covers such a wide range of companies, diverse businesses could profit as the industry develops.
Read on for a look at the top-performing NASDAQ fintech stocks of the year. Data was gathered using TradingView’s stock screener on December 20, 2023 and companies with market caps of at least US$50 million at that time were considered.
1. Opendoor Technologies (NASDAQ:OPEN)
Year-to-date gain: 242.8 percent; market cap: US$2.69 billion; current share price: US$4.01
Our first top NASDAQ Fintech stock on the list is Opendoor Technologies. First launched in 2014, Opendoor is a leading e-commerce platform for residential real estate transactions.
Rising interest rates in 2023 have not been kind to the real estate market, and this has been reflected in the company’s quarterly financial reports for much of the year. However, there are signs that the Fed will soon make interest rate cuts, which will in turn bring fresh live to the real estate sector. This optimism has helped to buoy Opendoor’s share price.
After starting out the year at under US$1, shares in the company rose to a year-to-date high of US$5.41 on August 1st. After falling back to the US$2 level in the fall, Opendoor shares are trending upward as the year comes to a close and Fed rate cuts are closer on the horizon.
2. Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST)
Year-to-date gain: 223.64 percent; market cap: US$3.71 billion; current share price: US$43.63
Fintech firm Upstart’s lending platform uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to reduce lending risk and costs for its bank partners while providing applicants with access to affordable credit. The platform provides personal loans, car loans and debt consolidation.
Upstart’s new partners for 2023 are numerous and include the Bank of Denver; several Federal credit union’s such as CorePlus, Texas Bay, Arbor Financial, and Farmers Insurance; and auto dealers Acura and Mercedes-Benz. Shares of Upstart rose from a year-to-date low of US$11.93 on May 3 to a high of US$72.58 on August 1.
In its Q2 2023 financials released in early August, Upstart co-founder and CEO Dave Girouard stated, ‘As a result of our efforts over the past year to improve efficiency and operating leverage in our business, we achieved record-high contribution margin and positive cash flow in Q2.’ Highlights for its Q3 2023 financials released in early November included a positive EBITDA for the second straight quarter with contribution margins near record highs.
3. Inter & Co (NASDAQ:INTR)
Year-to-date gain: 139.86 percent; market cap: US$2.134 billion; current share price: US$5.31
Next on our list of top NASDAW Fintech stocks is Brazilian digital bank Inter & Co, which through its Super App provides financial and digital commerce services to more than 29 million customers. The app offers banking, investments, credit, insurance and cross-border services, and a marketplace of retailers in Brazil and the United States.
The company filed its fiscal Q1 2023 report in early May, showing total gross revenues were up 6 percent quarter-over-quarter and up 41 percent year-over-year. In its Q2 report released in mid-August, Inter put up another 33 percent year-over-year increase for its total gross revenues, and achieved a number of major profitability milestones for the company.
Published in November, its Q3 represented a continuation of this positive momentum in strong financials for the company. ‘Quarter after quarter, we are showing that we have created a virtuous cycle: the more value we offer to clients, the more they reward us with their business across our diversified banking platform.’ stated Inter & Co CEO João Vitor Menin. ‘As our scale and profitability grows, we are empowered to continue innovating, and the cycle starts anew.’
Shares in Inter & Co rose from a low of US$1.37 on March 23 to a year-to-date high of US$5.95 on November 21.
4. Root (NASDAQ:ROOT)
Year-to-date gain: 139.5 percent; market cap: US$152.716 million; current share price: US$10.46
Founded in South Africa in 2016, cloud-native end-to-end insurance platform Root gives organizations the ability to build, sell and manage digital insurance products through easy-to-use APIs. The company has plans to expand into the UK and Europe.
“Root Insurance is like cloud services for the insurance industry,” said Root CEO Louw Hopley. “It gives software developers all the building blocks they need to create and launch a fully compliant insurance product in a matter of days. The platform not only reduces costs and time to market drastically, it also takes care of administering the insurance policies – everything from issuing policies to collecting premiums and handling claims.”
Root’s stock price hit its highest point for the year on June 22, at US$14.80 per share.
5. Jiayin Group (NASDAQ:JFIN)
Year-to-date gain: 130.44 percent; market cap: US$285.604 billion; current share price: US$5.26
Last on our list of top NASDAQ fintech stocks is Jiayin Group, a leading fintech platform in China that uses big data analytics to assess the risk profiles of borrowers.
In its Q1 2023 financials, the company posted a 119.5 percent increase to its net revenues compared to the same period last year. Net revenues for the Q2 2023 saw a 57.4 percent increase over the same quarter in 2022; and Q3 2023 brought a 64 percent year-over-year increase to total net revenues.
‘These results once again prove that our development path is healthy and sustainable, and our strategy is precise and practical,’ stated Yan Dinggui, the company’s founder, Director and CEO. ‘We are confident and capable of continuously creating value for our investors and growing into a significant player in the global fin-tech industry.”
Shares in Jiayin hit a year-to-date high of US$8.19 on June 5.
Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
