BUZZ – Citi hikes PT on Australian BNPL co Zip by 75%

04March 2021 09:57

· * Citi raises pricetarget on Australian buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) firm Zip Co Ltd by a whopping 75% and expects QuadPay to support growth

· * Zip acquired QuadPaylast year in an all-share deal that valued the U.S. company at $269 mln

· * Brokerage upgradesprice target to A$11.35 from A$6.50, maintains "neutral" rating

· * "Given Zip'sintention to step up marketing and sign up of new enterprise merchants, weexpect QuadPay to continue to deliver solid growth especially through itsmobile app" - Citi

· * Brokerage forecastsQuadPay's customer numbers to grow to 4.6 mln by June and total transactionvolumes to soar 224% to US$1.7 bln in 2021

· * Last week, Zip saidits first-half revenue more than doubled, as its active customers andtransaction volumes surged during the pandemic

· * Brokerage RBC onWednesday touted further growth potential for BNPL firms

· * Four of 10brokerages rate the stock "buy" or higher, three "hold" andthree "sell"; median PT A$7.79

· * Up to Wednesday'sclose, stock had nearly doubled in value this year

(Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru;Editing by Cynthia Osterman) (([email protected])