What happened
SoFi Technologies (SOFI +4.64%) soared in May with its share price rising 11.4% for the month, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. As of June 6, its stock price is up 67% year to date, trading at around $7.60 per share
It vastly outperformed the broader markets as the S&P 500 was only up 0.3% in May, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.5%. The Nasdaq Composite fared a bit better, rising 5.9% in May.
So what
SoFi Technologies, a bank and fintech that offers banking-as-a-service (BaaS), soared higher last month due to one primary catalyst -- the resolution of the debt-ceiling debate. The House, led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and President Joe Biden hammered out a deal in the waning days of May that would raise the debt ceiling to cover costs for two years and avoid a default, which would have devastated the U.S. economy.
Avoiding default was itself a significant catalyst for most stocks, but there was a specific provision in the debt-ceiling agreement that sent SoFi's share price surging higher. That provision was to end the moratorium on student-loan repayments, which had been in place since the pandemic first hit in 2020 and extended multiple times.
NASDAQ: SOFI
Key Data Points
It was a welcomed development for SoFi, which began as primarily a student-loan lender in 2011. It is still a huge part of its business, and it has been one of the major reasons the stock has struggled in recent years.
In the first quarter, SoFi did $525 million in student-loan volume, which was down more than 50 percent from the average pre-pandemic volume. The company had filed a lawsuit against the administration to end the moratorium earlier this year, but that now becomes moot with this debt-ceiling deal.
Now what
The surge caused by the debt-ceiling deal has continued into June, as SoFi's stock price has jumped another 15% since the start of the month and is up some 67% year to date.
That's definitely a huge increase, but keep in mind that SoFi was down some 70% in 2022, and since November of 2021 when it topped $24 per share, it is down about 68%.
The company is still not profitable, but it has been steadily growing members and users of its products, as well as revenue on its technology platform. In Q1, revenue was up 43% year over year to $472 million. The stock has a price-to-book ratio of 1.2 and a price-to-sales ratio just under 4.
With the moratorium lifted, SoFi should move closer to profitability, and long-term, patient investors should be rewarded for this relatively cheap, growing fintech.
