There are so many moving parts to this that it becomes very muddled but here are just some differences that makes them difficult to compare like-for-like.
FXL pays a dividend.
Paying a dividend is the sign of a mature business. If you're a fast growing company that can reinvest capital to produce more gains in the future then you don't pay a dividend. Z1P and APT don't have to distribute capital to shareholders yet which means they can use this capital for land grab and aggressively expand into other geographic locations. Hence much higher growth potential.
There is an endless arguement of "But Z1P and APT aren't profitable so must be bad businesses" but when you look at the numbers the reason why they aren't profitable is because they are spending a ton of cash on expansions (e.g. marketing and operating costs). If you look at mature markets such as Australia, APT's latest business update noted that ANZ operations are "highly profitable".
Product differences
When you compare FXL to APT the products are different. APT is very simplified and is very successful in creating revenue from small loans. Z1P too but to a lesser extend as they have Z1P money. So, while APT doens't do credit checks, they have the ability to instantly lower or completely cut limits to existing users that their quantitative behavioral credit risk models identify as higher risk. FXL and Z1P have some higher valued loans and credit limits that cannot simply be reduced or cut. I've only ever used FXL once and that was to buy an engagement ring years ago and it took me 2 years to pay off around $5k. That's very different to me being stuck with a $200 Afterpay bill.
Merchant exposure differences
FXL exposure to Flightcentre is an obvious example that would have caused a drag on share price.
Anyway these are just some hand picked examples but there is a lot more. Hence my suggestion to focus on FXL and not make continuous comparison to Z1P and APT. I hope people don't buy FXL because they think they will catch up with Z1P and APT in valuation, that kind of investment theory is extremely flawed.
All in my opinion. I'm an ex holder of FXL and was lucky to sell out at $2.
FXL Price at posting:
76.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
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