The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price is having an absolute clanger today. Afterpay shares are down a nasty 7.52% at the time of writing to below $100 a share at $98.87. That's after it opened at $105.10 this morning.
That's the lowest levels Afterpay has traded at since early December last year, when the buy now, pay later (BNPL) pioneer soared past $100 for the first time. It's been a rough couple of months for Afterpay too. Back in February, the company hit a new record high of $160.05 a share after shooting more than 33% from the start of the year to 10 February. But it's been down, down for the company ever since. In fact, on today's pricing, Afterpay is now close to 40% off of those highs. And down more than 16% year to date. In saying that, Afterpay is still up around 150% over the past 12 months, so longer-term investors don't have too much to complain about. Incidentally, Afterapy's rival Zip Co Ltd (AX: Z1P) is also feeling that pain today, with a share price drop of 4.97% to $7.27.
So why is Afterpay getting hammered? The Fool covered some of the possible reasons earlier today. These include the company's recent third-quarter trading update As well as the recent performance of the US-listed BNPL company, Affirm Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: AFRM). The Affirm share price was sold off last night (our time), losing more than 7% of its value.
So, now the more important question: Are Afterpay shares a buy today?
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Are Afterpay shares a buy at $100?
Well as my Fool colleague James Mickleboro reported last week, broker Bell Potter is extremely bullish on Afterpay, with a price target of $168.50 a share. That implies a future potential upside of almost 70%.
However, not everyone is that bullish. As we covered last month, a broker from the US, Bernstein, recently initiated coverage on Afterpay with a price target of just $40 a share. Bernstein thinks Afterpay will keep growing, only its margins won't. It sees significant margin compression for Afterpay over time in the face of fierce competition.
However, as we reported then, broker Jeffries has a far higher price target of $157.38 per share for Afterpay. Whilst Citi has it at $128.30.
So some brokers think Aftepray is a buy at $100 a share today, others don't. Who said consensus was overrated?
