It certainly has been a volatile week for the Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price.
After crashing significantly lower on Thursday, the payments company's shares are bouncing back incredibly strongly on Friday.
In afternoon trade the Afterpay share price is up a staggering 62% to $16.00.
This makes it the best performer on the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) ahead of the high flying CIMIC Group Ltd (ASX: CIM) share price.
Why is the Afterpay share price rocketing higher?
There appears to be a few catalysts for today's stellar gain.
The first is bargain hunters swooping in to take advantage of a sharp pullback in its share price. Prior to today, Afterpay's shares were down a massive 75% from their high. This was driven by concerns that the coronavirus was going to limit its growth and cause a spike in bad debts. The company refuting these concerns in a shareholder letter.
Another catalyst for this strong gain could have been news that the big four banks have agreed to allow small business customers to suspend loan repayments for six months to help cushion the blow of the coronavirus.
This should ensure that many retailers can continue to operate during these challenging times, which in turn should support the sales that are coming through the Afterpay platform in the Australia market.
A final catalyst is news that the ultra-bearish analysts at UBS are finally a little more positive on Afterpay after its sharp share price decline.
This morning the broker took its sell rating off its shares and upgraded them to a neutral rating. It made the move after the 75% decline in its share price left its shares trading at a fairer level.
However, with its price target at $13.20, it may not be long until the broker downgrades them again on valuation grounds.
Elsewhere in the industry, the shares of rival Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) are up 20% at the time of writing.
