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There is no defensible “cheapest fintech” verdict from the available reports alone. SoFi combines consumer lending, financial-services products and a technology platform, while PayPal is primarily payments-oriented, Robinhood is brokerage and trading-oriented, and Affirm is focused on consumer credit and buy now, pay later. The useful comparison is therefore business-line by business-line: match revenue drivers first, then examine growth quality, GAAP profitability, credit and funding risk, capital needs, regulation and finally valuation using the same date and denominator.
The latest verified results illustrate why. SoFi reported $1.4 billion of GAAP net revenue in the third quarter of 2026, up 44% year over year; PayPal reported $8.6 billion of net revenue, up 2%; and Affirm reported $1,262.2 million of revenue and $164.2 million of net income in its first fiscal quarter of 2027. Those figures come from different business models and reporting definitions, so they are context—not a league table.
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| Name | Best for | Key spec from latest cited report | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| SoFi | Comparing a diversified fintech with lending, financial services and technology-platform exposure | $1.4B GAAP net revenue in Q3 2026, up 44% year over year; $929.5M net interest income | Nov 2026 |
| PayPal | Payments, checkout and transaction-margin analysis | $8.6B net revenue in Q3 2026, up 2% year over year; transaction-margin dollars reported separately | Nov 2026 |
| Robinhood | Brokerage, trading activity and transaction-based revenue exposure | Q3 2026 filing details transaction-revenue drivers and risks from trading activity, pricing and payment-for-order-flow restrictions | Nov 2026 |
| Affirm | Consumer-credit and merchant-funded buy now, pay later economics | $1,262.2M revenue, $164.2M net income, 28.7M active consumers and $14.4B GMV in Q1 fiscal 2027 | Nov 2026 |
Figures are company-reported and are not normalized across periods or metric definitions. Sources: SoFi Q3 2026 release, PayPal Q3 2026 release, Robinhood Q3 2026 Form 10-Q and Affirm Q1 fiscal 2027 letter.
How should you compare SoFi stock with other fintech stocks?
Start with overlap, not ticker symbols. A peer is useful when its economics resemble the part of SoFi you are analyzing. Compare lending with lending, payment monetization with payment monetization, and brokerage activity with brokerage activity. Only after that should you compare growth, margins or valuation.
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- Map each company’s businesses. Identify lending, deposits, payments, brokerage, software or platform revenue and any transaction-based income.
- Use comparable operating measures. Revenue, active customers, products per customer, originations, transaction volume and engagement can all be informative, but a company-defined “member,” “consumer,” “product,” “volume” or “adjusted profit” is not automatically equivalent to another company’s metric.
- Test the quality of growth. Ask whether monetization, margins and cash generation are keeping pace with customer or volume growth.
- Stress credit and funding. For lenders, examine delinquencies, charge-offs, provisions, allowances, funding costs and loan-sale or retention choices.
- Normalize valuation. Use the same market-price date, reporting period and earnings, sales or cash-flow denominator, while accounting for cash, debt and dilution.
This method prevents a common error: calling one stock cheap because its headline growth rate is higher or its price-to-sales ratio is lower, even though the companies have different revenue recognition, balance-sheet intensity and risk.
What businesses does SoFi contain?
SoFi’s reporting spans three broad areas: lending, financial services and a technology platform. The lending activity makes interest income, credit performance and funding central to analysis. Financial-services products introduce deposit, payment and customer-engagement considerations. The technology platform adds a business-to-business component that should not be valued as though it were another consumer loan book. SoFi’s Q3 2026 Form 10-Q and earnings release provide the segment and balance-sheet context.
In Q3 2026, SoFi reported $1.4 billion of GAAP net revenue, a 44% year-over-year increase from $961.6 million in Q3 2025. Net interest income was $929.5 million. Net revenue is not the same as loan originations, assets, cash flow or net income; the comparison must retain that distinction.
For a SoFi analysis, create separate lines for:
- Lending economics: originations, loan balances, yields, credit losses, provisions, allowance coverage and whether loans are held or sold.
- Financial-services economics: deposit funding, fee revenue, customer activity and the cost of acquiring and serving accounts.
- Technology-platform economics: recurring or usage-linked revenue, customer concentration, contract terms and operating margins.
A consolidated growth rate can hide a change in mix. A faster-growing line may have a different margin, capital requirement or risk profile from the line that generated most of the current earnings.
Which fintech is the closest comparison for each SoFi business line?
No single peer is a complete substitute. Use the following matching exercise before calculating any multiple.
| SoFi exposure | Most informative comparison | Questions to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer lending | Affirm, with differences in product and funding model | How are originations priced? Who retains credit risk? What are loss rates, provisions and funding costs? |
| Payments and financial services | PayPal for transaction and payments monetization | What is payment volume, take rate or transaction margin, and how much revenue is sensitive to mix and incentives? |
| Investment products and trading activity | Robinhood for brokerage and transaction-based drivers | How dependent are results on trading activity, spreads, pricing and regulatory treatment? |
| Technology platform | Analyze as a separate platform business | Are revenue, customers, contracts and margins disclosed distinctly enough to support a software-style comparison? |
The table identifies analytical comparables, not statements that the companies have identical products or risk. Affirm’s merchant-network and installment-credit model, PayPal’s payments network and Robinhood’s brokerage model each illuminate only part of SoFi.
How do you judge whether fintech growth is high quality?
Use a chain of evidence rather than a single percentage. A durable growth pattern normally links customer or transaction expansion to monetization, then to improving or resilient profitability and cash generation.
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1. Separate customer growth from activity growth
Active consumers, members, merchants, products per customer, transactions and assets are different measures. A larger registered account base may have little economic value if engagement, balances or revenue per account decline. Record the exact definition and period used in each filing.
2. Reconcile volume with revenue
Gross merchandise volume (GMV), payment volume and loan originations describe activity, not income. Affirm’s Q1 fiscal 2027 shareholder letter reported $14.4 billion of GMV alongside $1,262.2 million of revenue. GMV should not be substituted for revenue when calculating growth or valuation.
3. Check monetization and incentives
Revenue can rise because of more customers, higher prices, a favorable product mix or temporary incentives. Affirm’s filing notes that merchant fees vary with negotiated arrangements, loan characteristics and pricing incentives. PayPal separately reports transaction-margin dollars, so its net revenue should not be treated as a complete proxy for payment economics.
4. Look through to profit and cash
Compare GAAP net income, operating income, margins and cash generation over the same period. If you use adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income or another non-GAAP measure, reconcile it to GAAP and apply the same discipline to every peer. Stock-based compensation, one-time items and acquisition costs can materially affect the bridge.
5. Examine retention and concentration
Customer or merchant retention, repeat usage and concentration by partner or channel help distinguish repeatable growth from one-off volume. A business reliant on one large distribution, banking or merchant relationship may have a different risk-adjusted growth profile from a more diversified platform.
What do the latest company reports actually show?
SoFi: diversified growth with material interest-income exposure
SoFi’s Q3 2026 results show the scale and growth of a multi-line platform: $1.4 billion in GAAP net revenue, up 44% year over year, including $929.5 million of net interest income. Read the earnings release with the Form 10-Q so segment trends are tied to loan balances, funding and credit disclosures.
The key analytical question is mix. If lending drives most incremental revenue, SoFi should be evaluated partly like a lender; if financial services or the technology platform gain share, consolidated margins and capital intensity may evolve differently. Do not infer the answer from consolidated revenue alone.
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PayPal: payments revenue is not the same as transaction margin
PayPal reported $8.6 billion of net revenue in Q3 2026, up 2% year over year. Its Q3 release reports transaction-margin dollars separately and describes multiple payments-related revenue sources.
For PayPal, pair payment volume and active-account engagement with transaction margin, operating expenses and cash generation. Comparing its total revenue directly with SoFi’s net revenue can mislead because payment-network pass-throughs, incentives and transaction costs shape the reported figures differently.
Robinhood: activity and regulation are central
Robinhood’s Q3 2026 Form 10-Q identifies transaction-based revenue drivers and warns that lower trading activity, pricing or spread changes, and restrictions on payment for order flow or similar practices could reduce profitability or increase compliance costs.
That makes brokerage assets, trading activity, interest-related revenue and regulatory exposure more informative than a simple revenue comparison. A strong trading quarter may not represent a sustainable run rate; a quiet market can pressure activity-linked income even when customer accounts continue to grow.
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Affirm: volume growth must be tested against credit economics
Affirm’s Q1 fiscal 2027 (quarter ended September 30, 2026) shareholder letter reported $1,262.2 million of total revenue, $164.2 million of net income, 28.7 million active consumers and $14.4 billion of GMV. Its Form 10-Q also reports that loss on loan originations increased as revenue grew.
This is the critical lesson for a credit comparison: merchant-network revenue growth and transaction volume do not by themselves establish attractive loan economics. Track loss provisions, delinquency and charge-off trends, allowance levels, funding costs and the proportion of loans retained or sold.
How should profitability be compared?
Put GAAP results first, then explain any adjusted measure. A practical worksheet has GAAP net revenue, operating income, net income, operating margin, diluted share count and operating cash flow for the same trailing period. Add the company’s adjusted metric only after recording what it excludes.
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Margins are not interchangeable across models. A payments company may report large transaction-related costs; a lender’s interest income is affected by funding and credit losses; a broker’s revenue can swing with market activity. Compare margin trends within each business model before comparing absolute percentages across models.
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Also separate accounting profit from capital consumption. A lender can report positive net income while retaining loans that require additional funding and loss absorption. Conversely, a platform can show high operating leverage but face customer-acquisition or regulatory costs that are not visible in a single quarter.
How do credit, funding and capital change the risk comparison?
Credit and funding are the dividing lines between many fintech models. For lending businesses, review:
- Originations and growth in balances: faster growth increases exposure unless loans are sold or otherwise transferred.
- Yield and pricing: higher contractual yield can compensate for risk, but only after expected losses, funding and operating costs.
- Delinquencies and charge-offs: early deterioration can precede higher provisions and lower earnings.
- Allowance and loss provisions: compare coverage and the assumptions behind expected losses.
- Funding sources: deposits, warehouse facilities, partner banks, securitizations and loan sales have different costs, liquidity terms and renewal risks.
- Retention versus sale: selling loans can reduce balance-sheet exposure but may change gain-on-sale income, servicing obligations and future revenue.
- Capital and dilution: equity issuance, stock-based compensation and regulatory or corporate capital requirements affect per-share economics.
Affirm’s Q1 fiscal 2027 disclosure that loss on loan originations increased as revenue grew demonstrates why credit must be evaluated alongside volume. For SoFi, tie lending indicators to the balance-sheet and funding notes in its 10-Q. PayPal and Robinhood may have less direct consumer-loan exposure in the comparison, but they still have liquidity, counterparty, operational and regulatory dependencies.
How can you compare valuation without claiming a stock is cheap?
A valuation conclusion requires a synchronized snapshot that the available data does not provide. Before calculating, choose a single market-price date and collect each company’s diluted shares, cash, debt, trailing or forward earnings, revenue and operating cash flow from comparable periods.
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- Set the date. Use closing prices from the same trading day for every company.
- Choose the denominator. Price-to-earnings, enterprise-value-to-revenue, enterprise-value-to-EBIT or price-to-cash-flow answer different questions.
- Align the period. Use trailing-twelve-month or the same forward period; do not mix one company’s fiscal quarter with another’s annualized quarter without explaining the adjustment.
- Normalize definitions. Keep GAAP with GAAP. If using a non-GAAP denominator, document exclusions for every company.
- Adjust for capital structure. Enterprise value should reflect cash and debt; per-share measures should use diluted shares and consider stock-based compensation.
- Interpret by business mix. Apply a lender-appropriate lens to lending earnings, a payments lens to transaction-margin economics and a platform lens to recurring technology revenue.
Only after these steps can you discuss relative valuation. A lower multiple may reflect slower growth, weaker margins, greater credit risk, funding pressure, dilution or a less valuable business mix—not a bargain.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Which concentration and regulatory risks belong in the comparison?
Read each company’s risk factors for dependencies that a headline metric omits. For SoFi, consider partner-bank, funding, credit and technology-platform concentration. For PayPal, examine merchant, network, geographic and payments-regulation exposure. For Robinhood, trading activity, payment-for-order-flow policy and compliance costs are explicit considerations in its filing. For Affirm, merchant arrangements, credit performance, funding and consumer-credit regulation are central.
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Regulation can alter economics without immediately changing customer counts. A rule affecting interchange, payment-for-order-flow practices, underwriting, disclosure or data use may change margins, product availability or compliance spending. Treat regulatory scenarios as business-model sensitivities rather than assigning a generic “fintech” risk premium.
What should a side-by-side investor worksheet contain?
Build one row per company and one column per measure, with the period and definition in the column header. A useful template is:
| Category | Measures to record | Comparison discipline |
|---|---|---|
| Business mix | Lending, payments, brokerage, deposits, platform and transaction revenue | Map only overlapping lines; keep unmatched businesses separate |
| Growth | Revenue, active customers, products, transactions, originations, GMV or payment volume | Label each measure and avoid treating volume as revenue |
| Profitability | GAAP operating income, net income, margins, cash flow and reconciled adjusted metrics | Use the same accounting basis and period |
| Credit | Delinquencies, charge-offs, provisions, allowance, yields and loss on originations | Most important for lenders; do not infer credit quality from volume |
| Funding and capital | Deposits, warehouses, loan sales, cash, debt, equity issuance and dilution | Assess liquidity and per-share effects |
| Risk concentration | Partners, merchants, networks, market activity and regulatory dependencies | Stress the dependency that could change earnings fastest |
| Valuation | Same-date market cap or enterprise value and consistent earnings, sales or cash-flow multiples | Record the price date and denominator beside every multiple |
Keep a source link beside each number. That makes it easier to detect when a company changes a definition, shifts segment presentation or reports a fiscal period that does not line up with peers.
What is a repeatable step-by-step process for comparing the stocks?
- Define the decision. Decide whether you are comparing lending risk, payments exposure, brokerage growth, platform economics or a diversified fintech portfolio.
- Choose the peer set. Use SoFi with Affirm for credit questions, PayPal for payments questions and Robinhood for brokerage questions; do not force a single ranking across all three.
- Download the latest filings. Start with the cited Q3 2026 or Q1 fiscal 2027 reports and note each fiscal period.
- Copy GAAP figures first. Record revenue, operating income, net income, diluted shares and cash flow before any management-adjusted measure.
- Capture operating metrics verbatim. Preserve labels such as active consumers, GMV, transaction margin, members or originations.
- Analyze the balance sheet. For lenders, inspect funding and loss reserves; for payments and brokers, inspect liquidity, counterparties and regulatory capital disclosures where applicable.
- Write a scenario view. Describe what would have to go right and what could break: credit losses, funding costs, trading activity, payment volume, partner concentration or regulation.
- Update valuation on one date. Recalculate after collecting synchronized prices and consistent denominators. Do not reuse an old multiple with a new earnings figure.
- Record uncertainty. Mark estimates, company-defined metrics and data that cannot be normalized rather than filling gaps with assumptions.
What mistakes should you avoid?
- Ranking by raw revenue. PayPal’s $8.6 billion and SoFi’s $1.4 billion are not directly comparable because the businesses and revenue models differ.
- Using GMV or payment volume as sales. Volume measures activity; revenue reflects monetization and accounting.
- Mixing GAAP and adjusted profit. A non-GAAP margin can look stronger simply because exclusions differ.
- Ignoring credit costs. Rising originations can increase losses, provisions and funding needs.
- Annualizing one quarter without qualification. Trading activity, credit losses and incentives can be seasonal or unusually volatile.
- Calling a company cheap without a price date. A multiple is meaningless if prices and denominators come from different dates.
- Assuming customer growth equals shareholder value. Acquisition cost, engagement, monetization, dilution and capital requirements determine whether growth benefits each share.
- Overlooking regulation and concentration. A partner, network, merchant or policy change can alter economics quickly.
This is educational information, not individualized investment advice. Company filings are management disclosures and company-selected metrics can emphasize favorable aspects of performance. Verify subsequent filings, prices and material business changes before making an investment decision.
How we picked the comparison dimensions
The dimensions follow the economics disclosed in the cited primary reports: SoFi’s multi-segment lending, financial-services and technology-platform structure; PayPal’s payments revenue and separately reported transaction-margin dollars; Robinhood’s transaction-based revenue and trading-regulation risks; and Affirm’s consumer-credit metrics, GMV and loan-originations losses. The framework prioritizes measures that can change earnings, risk or per-share value rather than superficial similarities between fintech brands.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are SoFi and Affirm direct competitors?
They overlap in consumer credit, but their products, distribution and funding arrangements are not identical. Affirm’s reported economics are tied to merchant relationships, installment transactions and GMV, while SoFi also has deposits, other financial-services products and a technology platform.
Which PayPal number should I use when comparing payments businesses?
Use transaction-margin dollars and the related payment-volume and expense disclosures alongside net revenue. Net revenue alone can obscure transaction costs, incentives and mix, so it is not a clean stand-in for the profit generated by payment activity.
Why can a fintech add customers while earnings weaken?
New customers may be less active or expensive to acquire, and revenue may be offset by higher credit provisions, funding costs, incentives, compliance spending or stock-based compensation. Check engagement and per-customer monetization instead of assuming account growth is profitable.
How often should I refresh a fintech-stock comparison?
Refresh operating and balance-sheet figures after each quarterly filing, and refresh valuation whenever you change the market-price date. Recheck metric definitions because companies can revise segment presentation or introduce new adjusted measures.
