← Affirm Holdings, Inc.

AFRM · Forward model · Levchin case

The Levchin case, 20 quarters out

Model as of

Each segment is projected from its own operating driver, rolled up into consolidated cash flow, and discounted back to a fair value per share. The assumptions below are editable — change them and every number on this page moves with them.

Affirm reports five revenue lines on the face of every shareholder letter - merchant network, card network, interest income, gain on sales of loans, servicing income - and this model carries all five exactly as filed for seven quarters, from FQ2'25 (December 2024) to FQ4'26 (June 2026). Nothing is apportioned and no line is invented, so no quarter is flagged estimated. Quarter labels are FISCAL: '2026 Q4' is the quarter ended 30 June 2026, because Affirm's year ends 30 June. The FQ4'26 lines sum to $1,165,961K against $1,165,960K of reported total revenue - a $1K rounding difference and nothing else. Because this is a fiscal fourth quarter there is a full year to check against, and it checks: the four FY2026 quarters sum to merchant $1,149,932K + card $293,990K + interest $2,047,484K + gain on sale $596,553K + servicing $173,124K = $4,261,083K against $4,261,082K of reported FY2026 revenue, again $1K of rounding. Every line is disclosed; nothing here is derived. What IS assumed is the cost side. Affirm publishes no segment economics at all, so the split of the four transaction-cost lines across the five revenue lines is ours: funding costs and the provision for credit losses are charged entirely to interest income, the loss on loan purchase commitment entirely to merchant network (it arises on the 0% promotional loans merchants pay for), and processing and servicing is split across the four remaining lines. THOSE FIVE MARGINS ARE STILL CALIBRATED TO FQ3'26 AND THIS ROLL-FORWARD DELIBERATELY DID NOT RE-CUT THEM. At FQ4'26 revenue mix they produce $569.4M of RLTC against the $589.1M Affirm reported, a 3.3% shortfall, and 21% corporate overhead then produces a 27.8% adjusted operating margin against the 30.3% reported. The model is therefore conservative on margin by about 2.5 points at the basis. It was left that way on purpose: recalibrating the five to sum to $589M, on the same allocation rule, pushes card network to 49-54% and gain on sale to 92-93%, at or above their own terminal margins of 48% and 92% - so the glide would run backwards. That cannot be fixed without moving terminal margins, which is a re-thesis rather than a roll-forward. It is the first thing a future revision should settle. Two known distortions, stated rather than tuned away. First, this spec carries no seasonality array even though the engine supports one (four factors per vertical, supported by the model engine), so merchant network and gain on sale grow at a smooth sequential rate. That is why the model cannot be solved onto the FQ1'27 revenue guide of $1,190-1,220M: June is Affirm's seasonal peak and September steps down from it, so any growth rate that lands on the September guide is negative and destroys the path. Growth here is therefore calibrated on the FY2027 guide instead, and the near-quarter residual is reported in each vertical. Second, corporate overhead is a fixed share of revenue here, so the operating leverage Affirm promises - the same RLTC yield carrying a lower opex ratio - has to be carried in each vertical's terminal margin instead of in a falling overhead line. One sourcing limitation, stated rather than worked around: the FQ4'26 shareholder letter is furnished to the SEC as an image-only HTML exhibit, and the IR PDF's extractable text drops several letters, so no new verbatim sentence could be taken from it beyond the management quotes captured for the quarter. Two source items therefore still quote the FQ3'26 and FQ2'26 letters where the FQ4'26 print has superseded the figures - funding capacity is now $30.0B against the $28.0B in the quoted sentence, and Affirm Card grew 124% with cardholders up 125% against the 159%/121% in the quoted one. The quotes are accurate as of their own dates; the current figures are in the vertical notes.

AFRM forward model
Horizon
Fair value per share $155.36 +124% against $69.23
Terminal-year revenue $13.13B last four projected quarters
Enterprise value $52.86B $8.15B explicit + $44.71B terminal

Affirm's own medium-term framework taken at face value: 25%+ GMV growth to $100B a year, revenue at 7.5-8.5% of it, RLTC at 3.75-4.0%, and a 30-35% adjusted operating margin. This case reaches the framework early rather than differently - $100B of annual GMV lands around 2029 instead of 2030, and margins settle at the top of the published band. What it does NOT reach is the version of the story where the Card and the adjacent verticals make Affirm something other than a lender: even here, interest income plus gain on sale is still more than half of terminal revenue, and the merchant fee rate still erodes. The framework is a bigger Affirm, not a different one - and that gap, not the growth rate, is what the multiple is arguing about. Which is why this case carries a 6x exit rather than the bull case's 6.5x: the company's own numbers, delivered in full, still describe a lender.

AFRM REVENUE MODEL

Latest: $3.46B (2031Q4E)

Period Value
2025Q2 $866M
2025Q3 $783M
2025Q4 $876M
2026Q1 $933M
2026Q2 $1.12B
2026Q3 $1.04B
2026Q4 $1.17B
2027Q1E $1.25B
2027Q2E $1.34B
2027Q3E $1.44B
2027Q4E $1.54B
2028Q1E $1.65B
2028Q2E $1.76B
2028Q3E $1.88B
2028Q4E $2.01B
2029Q1E $2.14B
2029Q2E $2.29B
2029Q3E $2.43B
2029Q4E $2.59B
2030Q1E $2.69B
2030Q2E $2.79B
2030Q3E $2.89B
2030Q4E $3.00B
2031Q1E $3.11B
2031Q2E $3.22B
2031Q3E $3.34B
2031Q4E $3.46B
Scenarios

Where each case comes from

Levchin case — primary sources

The primary sources this case is built from — filings, calls and posts. Where they are claims by an interested party rather than disclosures, every number in the Levchin column is what happens if they are taken at face value.

Valuation

From cash flow to fair value

The published model, discounted at 12.0% a year with an exit multiple of 6.0x on revenue. The horizon and sliders above do not change this walk.

Present value of free cash flow, 20 quarters$8.15B
Terminal-year revenue$13.13B
Terminal-year EBITDA$4.76B
Exit multiple, on revenue6.0x
Terminal value$78.80B
Discounted at 12.0% a year, terminal value becomes$44.71B
Share of enterprise value from the terminal85%
Enterprise value$52.86B
Net cash$1.47B
Equity value$54.33B
Shares0.35B
Fair value per share$155.36
Against the deployed price of $69.23, as of +124%

5x terminal revenue against roughly 6.3x trailing at $77.33 today. A business still compounding near 20% with a 33% adjusted operating margin deserves a real multiple, but it is a levered consumer lender at the end of this horizon rather than a hypergrowth network, and paying today's multiple for that is an argument this model does not make. The 12% discount rate is deliberately above what a software business would carry: Affirm funds a loan book, and the cost of that funding is the risk.

Read the other way round: at $69.23 the market is paying 2.0x terminal-year revenue, holding every other assumption on this page fixed. That is the number to argue about.

Quarter by quarter

The projected path

The published model's 20 quarters. The horizon and sliders above do not change this table.

Quarter Merchant network revenueCard network revenueInterest incomeGain on sales of loansServicing income Revenue YoY EBITDA Capex FCF R40 PV of FCF
2027 Q1E $323M$96M$608M$178M$49M $1.25B +34% $418M $70M $272M +56 $264M
2027 Q2E $345M$106M$651M$191M$52M $1.34B +20% $454M $73M $298M +42 $281M
2027 Q3E $369M$117M$695M$205M$55M $1.44B +39% $492M $76M $325M +61 $298M
2027 Q4E $394M$128M$742M$221M$58M $1.54B +32% $532M $80M $353M +55 $315M
2028 Q1E $422M$140M$790M$238M$61M $1.65B +32% $575M $83M $383M +55 $333M
2028 Q2E $452M$152M$841M$256M$65M $1.76B +31% $619M $87M $415M +55 $350M
2028 Q3E $484M$164M$894M$275M$69M $1.88B +31% $667M $91M $449M +55 $368M
2028 Q4E $518M$176M$948M$296M$72M $2.01B +30% $717M $96M $484M +54 $386M
2029 Q1E $556M$189M$1.01B$318M$76M $2.14B +30% $770M $101M $522M +54 $405M
2029 Q2E $596M$202M$1.07B$342M$81M $2.29B +29% $826M $106M $562M +54 $423M
2029 Q3E $639M$215M$1.13B$368M$85M $2.43B +29% $886M $111M $604M +54 $442M
2029 Q4E $685M$228M$1.19B$396M$90M $2.59B +29% $949M $117M $649M +54 $462M
2030 Q1E $692M$242M$1.26B$401M$94M $2.69B +25% $984M $120M $673M +50 $466M
2030 Q2E $697M$257M$1.33B$405M$100M $2.79B +22% $1.02B $124M $698M +47 $469M
2030 Q3E $702M$271M$1.40B$409M$105M $2.89B +19% $1.05B $127M $723M +44 $473M
2030 Q4E $707M$287M$1.48B$413M$111M $3.00B +16% $1.09B $131M $749M +41 $476M
2031 Q1E $713M$302M$1.56B$417M$116M $3.11B +16% $1.13B $135M $776M +41 $479M
2031 Q2E $718M$318M$1.64B$421M$123M $3.22B +16% $1.17B $139M $804M +40 $483M
2031 Q3E $724M$334M$1.73B$426M$129M $3.34B +16% $1.21B $143M $832M +40 $486M
2031 Q4E $730M$351M$1.82B$430M$136M $3.46B +16% $1.25B $148M $861M +40 $489M

Every row is projected. A year-over-year change is shown only where the quarter it compares against exists — an em dash means there is no comparable quarter, not a flat year.

Track record

Model revisions

Assumptions are marked to reality as each quarter prints. Every change is appended here, with the fair value the model produced at the time, so the model's own history stays visible.

DateFair value thenNote
2026-08-21 $107.49 First publication. Five reported revenue lines from FQ2'25 to FQ3'26, basis FQ3'26. Segment margins calibrated so they sum to the reported $498M of RLTC and 21% corporate overhead reproduces the reported 27.0% adjusted operating margin. Base fair value $107.49 against $77.33; bear $41.44, Levchin $153.50, bull $175.92.
2026-08-31 $108.92 Roll-forward to FQ4'26, the quarter ended 30 June 2026, reported 27 August. Basis moves from FQ3'26 to FQ4'26 and the five filed revenue lines get a seventh quarter: merchant network $302.4M, card network $85.2M, interest income $567.3M, gain on sales of loans $165.1M, servicing income $46.1M. They sum to $1,165,961K against $1,165,960K reported, and because this is a fiscal fourth quarter the four quarters also sum to $4,261,083K against $4,261,082K of reported FY2026 revenue. All five disclosed; nothing estimated. Every guided line for the quarter printed above its high end, and this was the 11th consecutive quarter of 30%+ GMV growth after the May outlook had guided the streak to end. Drivers move to the reported levels: GMV $14,057M on both the merchant and gain-on-sale lines, cardholders 5.2M against 27.8M active consumers, loans held for investment $9,561M. Market inputs: 349,731,167 diluted shares from the release, price $77.49 from the close file, and net cash $1,473M on Affirm's own definition - cash and equivalents plus securities available for sale minus convertible senior notes - which reproduces the previous $1,352M from the March balance sheet exactly. Base fair value $108.92 against $107.49, on a share price that has barely moved. WHAT WAS DELIBERATELY LEFT ALONE, because the print argues with it and a roll-forward is not the place to settle it. First, the merchant fee rate: it fell to 2.151% from 2.310%, below a band that had held at 2.30-2.49% for six quarters, and the model still drifts it down only 0.75% a quarter. The letter says the cause is D2C mix, which is exactly the cannibalisation this line was built to fear. Second, the five segment margins are still calibrated to FQ3'26 and now sum to $569M of RLTC against $589M reported, leaving the model 2.5 points light on adjusted operating margin at the basis; re-cutting them to $589M on the same allocation rule would push card network and gain on sale to or above their own terminal margins, so it cannot be done without moving terminal margins, which is out of scope here. Third, revenue per cardholder printed $5.46 against an assumed $5.00 and the -0.5% drift stays. Fourth, active consumers grew 3.7% in the quarter against an assumed 2%, and the loan book added $988M against an assumed $600M - both left where they were, both understatements now on the record. The only growth rate that moved is servicing, 6.5% to 5.0%, because its last three sequential prints were 7.7%, 4.4% and 3.2% and the published rate was above every one of them. GMV growth stays at 6.5% a quarter: it cannot be solved onto the FQ1'27 revenue guide because this spec carries no seasonality array and September steps down from Affirm's June peak, so any rate that lands on the near quarter is negative. Calibrated on the year instead, and it lands well: the first projected quarter is $1,239.9M against a $1,190-1,220M guide, 2.9% above the midpoint, and FY2027 comes out at $5,433M of revenue on $66.0B of GMV against a guide of more than $64B at about 8.5% of GMV, which is $5,440M - 0.1% below. The mechanical consequence to surface: with the basis quarter now $14.1B instead of $11.6B, the $30B quarterly GMV ceiling binds about two quarters earlier, from 2030 Q1. The ceiling was not moved to hide that. A future revision should settle the cost allocation and the merchant fee drift, and should give this spec the seasonality array the engine already supports.