Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) shares jumped 6.07% higher to close the day at $2.62 a piece on Tuesday.
The digital financial services company's shares have caught headlines and investor attention over the past year for its volatile price swings. The shares have swung anywhere between $1.08 and $4.93 each over the past 52 weeks.
But this week, investors are buying back in. Since closing at $2.36 a piece on Friday afternoon last week, Zip shares have climbed 10.78%. And they're now 18.55% higher than this time last year.
It's welcome news. But now the question is, can it keep on going?
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What's ahead for Zip in 2026?
Zip has posted strong financial results over the past few quarters, and the business has robust growth plans for 2026.
In October the company announced its Q1 results for FY26. It revealed that its total transaction value had jumped 38.7% to $3.9 billion and income was 32.8% higher at $321.5 million. Zip also confirmed it is on track to meet its FY26 results target.
Late last year Zip also made some significant progress in plans to broaden its product range and expand its global presence.
The company announced that its US segment is expanding its partnership with programmable financial services business, Stripe, a move which caused investor panic at the time.
Zip is still considering plans to tap into the US capital markets too in order to boost its presence among US-based investors. It is mulling over plans for a secondary sharemarket listing on the Nasdaq to potentially drive opportunity for business expansion.
On paper, Zip's rapid expansion plans and growing profit margins make the stock a no-brainer buy. And it looks like investor confidence could finally be returning too.
What do the experts expect from the shares?
I think Zip shares are a bargain at the current trading price, and I expect the share price growth could very well keep climbing higher.
TradingView data shows that analysts also expect great things from the buy-now-pay-later (BPNL) provider this year. All 11 analysts are incredibly bullish and have a buy or strong buy rating on the stock and the maximum target price is $6.72. At the time of writing this implies the shares could soar 156.48% higher over the next 12 months.
Zip is due to post its FY26 half-year results on the 19th of February which it is expected to reveal whether the business is still on track and any news about the potential US expansion.
