Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) shares have caught plenty of attention recently for their volatile price swings. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has swung anywhere between $1.08 and $4.93 a piece.
In early morning trade on Wednesday, Zip shares are up 2.27% to $1.58.
But the shares have crashed over 67% since peaking at an all-time high in October last year, and have now tumbled 53% for the year-to-date.
Image source: Getty Images
What happened to Zip shares?
Zip shares crashed over 43% in mid-February after it posted its half-year FY26 results.
The fintech company delivered a record result but it missed expectations. Zip's revenue margin declined 7.9%, net bad debts increased slightly to 1.73% of TTV. Zip also said it expected its second-half cash EBITDA is expected to be broadly in line with the first half. This suggests that profit growth could moderate from here rather than accelerate.
Investors were spooked by concerns about rising competition, slowing growth and margin compression.
It's just one of many headwinds facing the business over the past six months. The stock faced pressure from short sellers in late-2025, and investors taking their gains off the table after a huge mid-year price rally.
What's ahead for Zip this year?
Despite missing expectations, Zip's financial results have been robust over the past few quarters. And profit growth is expected to keep climbing. UBS is forecasting that US total transaction value (TTV) could grow by 38% in the second half of FY26 and its net profit could more than double.
There are good growth prospects for the business too. Late last year Zip 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.
In early February the company announced it is aggressively expanding its US presence, which now drives over 75% of its total translation volume, by launching its new Pay in 2 product. The new product allows consumers to split a purchase into two installments paid over two weeks.
Zip is also pursuing a dual sharemarket listing on the Nasdaq in the US, which will potentially drive opportunity for business expansion.
How high can its share price go?
I think we can expect great things from the buy-now-pay-later (BPNL) provider this year. At just $1.58, at the time of writing, Zip shares are a bargain, and I expect the share price growth could very well keep climbing higher.
Analysts agree, and TradingView data shows all 11 analysts with a rating on the stock hold a consensus buy rating on Zip shares.
The average target price of $4.21, which implies a huge potential 167% upside at the time of writing. Others think the stock could soar even higher, up another 235% to $5.27 within the next 12 months!
