4 Top Fintech Stocks To Watch This Week
Fintech stocks are among the best-performing stocks in the stock market over the past year. Many of the major players in the industry have been trending upwards since the market crashed back in March last year. After all, we are seeing a big shift towards a cashless society. Moreover, fears of coronavirus transmission through banknotes have also accelerated this transition. Whether it is the wave of a card or a tap on a smartphone app, fintech makes things easy. Simply put, as consumers continue to experience the pure convenience brought by the fintech industry, general adoption trends will likely persist.
When you think about it, fintech has existed in one form or another for a while. For instance, Green Dot (NYSE: GDOT) is a fintech company known for its prepaid debit card. Meanwhile, tech giant Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) has also been showing interest in the industry by introducing Apple Pay. Imagine this, you could now make a payment using your Apple Watch. All you need to do is set up Apple Pay in the Apple Watch app on your iPhone. Then, you could now make purchases even when you don’t have your iPhone with you. Safe to say, fintech is here to stay and this could just be the beginning. Overall, with the economy showing signs of recovery, investors could be eyeing the top fintech stocks in the stock market today. If you are one of them, here are 4 names to look out for before August 2021.
Best Fintech Stocks To Buy [Or Sell] This Week
- Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL)
- Visa Inc (NYSE: V)
- Square Inc (NYSE: SQ)
- Mastercard Inc (NYSE: MA)
Paypal Holdings Inc
Let us start the list with the fintech giant, Paypal. Put simply, it is a technology platform and digital payments company that allows digital payments on behalf of consumers and merchants. Its combined payment solutions include PayPal, Venmo, Xoom, and Braintree. So, as a customer, you could use your account to purchase goods and transfer funds. PYPL stock has risen over 70% over the past year.
With the company reporting its second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, let us review its first-quarter performance to gauge what to expect. Impressively, its revenue grew by 31% to $6.03 billion year-over-year. Furthermore, its net profit rose to $1.10 billion from a mere $84 million the prior year. There were also an additional 14.5 million new active accounts from its first quarter. From this, we can see the digital payment transition is well underway. So, would there be reasons to believe its second quarter would disappoint?
Not to mention, PayPal also launched the PayPal Zettle in the U.S. a month ago. Hence, small businesses will get an integrated solution that allows them to accept a range of payments in-person with the Zettle card reader. So, it would help them to start selling online and help them manage sales, inventory, reporting, and payments across channels, all in one place. The timing for the launch comes at a perfect time as we see a historic shift in consumer behavior towards digital commerce. Businesses need to adapt to meet their customer’s needs wherever they are. Now, would you add PYPL to your August watchlist?
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Visa Inc
Next, we have one of the leaders in payment technology, Visa. Essentially, it is a company that connects consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses, and government entities to electronic payments. Visa provides digital payment options across more than 200 countries and territories. So, chances are, you may already have a Visa-branded credit or debit card in possession. V stock has been on a slow and steady climb, rising over 14% since the start of the year.
Last Thursday, Visa announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Currencycloud. It is a global platform that enables banks and fintechs to provide innovative foreign exchange solutions for cross-border payments. As of now, the Currencycloud platform supports nearly 500 banking and technology clients in over 180 countries. Thus, it will strengthen Visa’s existing foreign exchange capabilities and improve payment transparency for clients.
Visa is certainly on an acquisition spree as it also signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tink last month. Basically, Tink is a European open banking platform that allows financial institutions, fintech, and merchants to build tailored financial management tools. Given the company’s recent activities, is now the best time to watch V stock ahead of its earnings report scheduled to be released on July 27?
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Square Inc
Following that, we have Square. For the uninitiated, this company provides a commerce ecosystem that enables its sellers to accept card payments. It also has a Cash App that provides financial tools available to individuals such as peer-to-peer payments, stock investing, and even purchasing bitcoin. SQ stock has been on many investors’ radars and with good reasons. It has more than doubled in price over the past year.
Just last week, the company launched Square Banking, a suite of financial products to help small business owners easily manage their cash flow. By offering essential banking tools that work seamlessly with Square’s ecosystem solutions, sellers now have a single home for their entire business. This is a major milestone in Square’s continued efforts to expand access to financial tools for underbanked populations.
Furthermore, Square has also acquired Crew, a frontline employee platform for consolidating and streamlining day-to-day operations of hourly workforces. With this acquisition, Square gains a robust workplace messaging platform that will strengthen, complement, and scale its existing labor management tools. After all, communication is a critical element for all employers managing teams. Given the initiatives taken by the company recently, would SQ stock be a top fintech stock to watch now?
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Mastercard Inc
Lastly, we have a tech company that specializes in electronic forms of payment, Mastercard. The company allows its users to make payments by creating a range of payment solutions and services using its brands which include MasterCard, Maestro, and Cirrus. Just like Visa, it is known for its credit, debit, and prepaid cards.
Recently, the company announced it will enhance its card program for cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges. Mastercard will be working with Evolve Bank & Trust, Paxos Trust Company, and Circle to test this new capability. This makes it simpler for partners to convert cryptocurrency to traditional fiat currency. So, it enables more banks and crypto companies to offer a card option to people wanting to spend their digital assets anywhere Mastercard is accepted.
Today, when consumers spend cryptocurrencies, they must enter and settle on Mastercard’s network as traditional fiat currency, such as the U.S. dollar. Hence, crypto providers that were planning to launch card programs have found it operationally challenging to perform currency conversion. With this new development, it would solve the challenges faced by players across the industry. All things considered, would you consider adding MA stock to your list of top stocks to watch in August?
