The stock market has been resilient lately, but as investors learned in 2022, you can't expect stocks to move straight up without even a pause. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -2.05%) showed that again on Thursday, as gains from the morning session disappeared by midday, sending the index down a third of a percent as of 1 p.m. ET.

A pair of stocks listed on the Nasdaq were big losers on Thursday. Affirm Holdings (AFRM -0.45%) has been a pioneer in the buy now, pay later space, but its stock hasn't kept up with the potential in the industry. Meanwhile, Digital Turbine (APPS -3.14%) fell prey to the same downward pressure that has affected so many other software companies in the cloud services industry. 

Here's more on what sent both of these stocks lower Thursday.

Affirm looks to cut costs

Shares of Affirm Holdings dropped 21% early Thursday afternoon. The provider of buy now, pay later installment payment plan services reported fiscal second-quarter financial results for the period ending Dec. 31 that showed continuing pressure on the fintech disruptor's business.

Affirm's key business metrics weren't as strong as most had wanted to see. Gross merchandise volume was higher by 27% year over year to $5.7 billion, even including the negative impact of substantial declines in business volume from key customer Peloton Interactive. Total revenue rose 11% to $400 million.

However, sales net of transaction costs dropped 21% from year-ago levels, due entirely to rising provisions for credit losses. Net losses more than doubled to $322 million.

Affirm said that it failed to boost prices for merchants and consumers as soon as it should have. Now, pricing initiatives are intended to increase revenue again, while improved underwriting practices will hopefully keep delinquency rates in check.

Along with many other high-growth companies, Affirm announced it would lay off 19% of its workforce. Blaming economic uncertainty, the company said it would return its focus to its core businesses and delay some of its more speculative projects. In particular, the Affirm Crypto initiative won't be moving forward, at least at this time.

With no end in sight to high interest rates that have caused some consumers difficulty, Affirm might have trouble gaining traction until economic conditions improve.

Digital Turbine spins down

Digital Turbine also saw its stock fall dramatically, losing 23% in early-afternoon trading on Thursday. The advertising-technology specialist continued to suffer in a weak ad market.

Digital Turbine's fiscal third-quarter financial report for the period ending Dec. 31 was in line with how poorly the advertising industry has performed lately. Revenue came in at $162 million, down 25% year over year. Adjusted net income of $30.2 million was down about 40% from year-ago levels, working out to adjusted earnings of $0.29 per share.

CEO Bill Stone cited macroeconomic headwinds in hitting Digital Turbine's short-term financial performance. Stone doesn't see anything having changed the long-term prospects for the digital media industry, and he believes that Digital Turbine's views toward capitalizing on opportunities in that industry remain optimistic. That could lead to weakness in the first half of 2023, but ad spending tends to be one of the first parts of the economy to rebound after a slowdown.

Digital Turbine is far from the only company to get hit hard by the slowdown in advertising. Yet, with the stock down 85% from its late-2021 highs, it'll take a long recovery to make long-term shareholders happy with their investment.