The Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price hasn't exactly made a reputation for itself as a 'steady' stock.
Just take Zip shares' 52-week range. Over the past 12 months, the buy now, pay later (BNPL) company has traded at a share price of between $4.96 and $14.53. That's a difference of almost 200%.
As it stands today, the Zip share price is currently up 0.77% to $7.88.
But when was Zip's best day for shareholders in 2021 so far?
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Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah
The best day (actually, two days) for the Zip Co share price in 2021 was back on 15 and 16 February. The price soared by more than 13% on 15 February at one point. And by more than 16% on 16 February.
That was the date Zip's current 52-week (and all-time) high of $14.53 a share was hit. In the month to 16 February, the Zip share price ended up putting on an incredible 148%.
The speed of this run-up actually prompted the ASX to issue a speeding ticket to Zip at the time. Zip was forced to tell the ASX that it wasn't aware of any reason why its shares were so 'in demand' over the preceding few days.
As you might have gathered, this incredible run was not to last. The Zip share price fall ended up being just as steep as its climb.
Between 16 February and 30 March, Zip went on to lose roughly half of its share price value. By May, the shares had fallen back under $7.00 a share.
Over the rest of the year to date, Zip has been far more muted, more or less trading in the $6.50-$8.00 range.
Although saying that, Zip has been on another run recently, rising almost 20% in August so far.
Could the Zip share price be a buy today?
As my Fool colleague James covered earlier this week, one broker who thinks there is still some gas left in the tank with Zip shares is Citi.
Citi retained its 'buy' rating on Zip this month and kept its $8.90 price target. This implies a potential upside of 13% from current pricing.
As James covered at the time, Citi listed the recent news that Zip's BNPL rival Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) is working on a merger with the US payments giant Square Inc (NYSE: SQ) as a positive for Zip shares.
It noted that it raises the potential takeover appeal of Zip, even though it also thinks competition in the BNPL space is heating up.
At the current Zip Co share price, the company has a market capitalisation of $4.44 billion.
