The Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price just set a new all-time record high

The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price continues to defy gravity and hit another all-time record high on Friday

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Lina Lim holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Economics from Monash University (Australia). She enjoys the analytical aspects of the stock market and hopes that her readers can share the same passion that she does for investing. Lina is also currently undertaking a Masters of Teaching in secondary education, specialising in the Economics and Accounting curriculum. As an aspiring educator, she wants to model by example and to show her students the ropes of the sharemarket. In her spare time, Lina enjoys reading and travelling.

Can’t stop, won’t stop

While other buy now, pay later shares (BNPL) have chopped back and forth throughout FY21, Afterpay has continued to set new record highs, seemingly just weeks apart.

Apart from pioneering the BNPL industry, the Afterpay share price has lifted higher off the back of a number of recent announcements and developments.

Broker updates

Brokers certainly seem to love the Afterpay share price, with Morgan Stanley the most recent broker to raise its share price target.

On Thursday, Morgan Stanley lifted its price target from $120.00 to $136.00 with an overweight rating. The broker anticipates strong first half FY21 performance as downloads of the Afterpay app continue to surge in the US and UK.

However, it is weary of the strong Australian dollar that could weaken earnings.

A new US player emerges

Affirm, a US-based BNPL successfully raised US$1.2 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) at an offer price of $49 per share. Its debut on Wednesday saw its shares close at $97.24, almost double its offer price. This momentum carried over to Thursday where it closed 18% higher to $114.95.

The surging Affirm share price has ballooned its market capitalisation to approximately US$27 billion, very close to Afterpay’s current market cap of approximately A$35 billion.

In FY20, Affirm recorded 6.2 million customers, 6,500 merchants and US$4.6 billion in gross merchandise volume.

By comparison, Afterpay is a global business with 11.2 million active customers and 63,800 active merchants as of 30 September 2020. The company also achieved $4.1 billion in sales in just first quarter FY21 alone.

Pending further global expansion

There are a number of exciting geographic expansions that could see Afterpay continue its global dominance. This includes the company’s pending approval from the Bank of Spain to acquire Pagantis in Europe and the development of a strategy to tackle the South Asia market.