Why SoFi and Nordstrom Soared After Hours Tuesday

The macroeconomic picture got even cloudier as the month of March began, with markets continuing to react to war in Ukraine. Oil prices rocketed above $100 per barrel, and bond prices soared as investors started to believe the Federal Reserve might not be as hawkish as previously believed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.06%), S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.22%), and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -0.52%) finished off their worst levels of the day but still posted substantial losses.

Data source: Yahoo! Finance.

After the market closed, though, a couple of stocks announced financial results that gave shareholders some optimism. SoFi Technologies (SOFI -0.42%) and Nordstrom (JWN 4.40%) gave very different perspectives on the health of the economy and the markets, but both saw big rises in their stock prices in after-hours trading. You'll find the details below.

SoFi looks to get back on track

Shares of SoFi Technologies were up 19% in after-hours trading late Tuesday afternoon. The fintech disruptor  posted fourth-quarter results that helped to quell concerns about the company's prospects for future growth.

Image source: Getty Images.

SoFi's numbers were mixed. Adjusted revenue rose 54% year over year to nearly $280 million. Losses widened from year-ago levels, but SoFi did manage to post modestly positive adjusted pre-tax operating profits for the sixth straight quarter. Growth was generally across the board, with sales gains from the financial services segment, the Galileo technology platform, and SoFi's lending segment.

Fundamentally, SoFi continued to make progress. The company brought on 523,000 new customers in the quarter, bringing its total to 3.5 million. That was up 87% from 12 months earlier, and with cross-selling of multiple product offerings, customers added more than 900,000 product accounts to bring SoFi's total to nearly 5.2 million -- more than double the 2.5 million from the end of 2020.

Best of all, SoFi anticipates it should start seeing meaningful contributions from its newly chartered SoFi Bank in the second quarter of 2022, with the recently acquired Technisys looking to see 20% to 25% growth in its business for the full year and contribute to SoFi's results once the merger goes through. All in all, that brought a sigh of relief for shareholders who've seen SoFi's stock fall precipitously in the past year.

Nordstrom celebrates the holidays

Nordstrom (JWN 4.40%) saw even bigger gains of 36% after hours following its release of fourth-quarter results. The upscale department store retailer has been under pressure for several years now, but its latest report suggests its longer-term strategy for a turnaround is gaining momentum.

Fourth-quarter numbers were extraordinary at Nordstrom. Net sales jumped 23% year over year, almost catching up with where revenue was in the 2019 holiday season before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gains were evenly distributed between full-price Nordstrom stores and the off-price Nordstrom Rack store concept, and while digital sales eased lower by 1% from 2020 levels, they were still markedly higher than in 2019 and represented 44% of total sales for the period.

Nordstrom was also able to turn a much larger profit in the quarter than in 2020. Earnings per share climbed to $1.23, and that helped produce full-year 2021 earnings of $1.10 per share, reversing a $4.39 per share loss in 2020.

Looking ahead, shareholders liked what Nordstrom is predicting for 2022. Revenue growth of 5% to 7% would keep Nordstrom's momentum up, and earnings of $3.15 to $3.50 per share would make the current stock price look cheap. There are still plenty of challenges to overcome, but for now, Nordstrom's strategy is paying off and producing the results investors have wanted to see for a long time.