A few years ago, fintech (Financial Technology) was still largely a fringe phenomenon: digital‑first banks, payments startups, and niche lending platforms squaring off with legacy banks. Over time, that niche quietly grew into a serious corner of finance. According to the 2025 report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) together with QED Investors, global fintech revenues rose 21 % in 2024, up from 13 % in 2023, easily outpacing the ~6 % growth rate in the broader financial‑services sector.
According to a recent estimate from IMARC Group, the global fintech market, encompassing payments, lending, digital banking, and related services, was valued at approximately $218.8 billion in 2024. IMARC projects that by 2033, this market could grow to ~$ 828.4 billion, implying a compound annual growth rate of ~15.8% over 2025–2033.
Yet even with such growth, the industry remains a small fragment of the overall financial‑services universe. The BCG/QED report estimates that fintechs represent only about 3 % of global banking and insurance revenues as of 2024. That implies that a vast amount of white space remains: legacy banking and insurance still dominate the market.
What stands out is fintech’s shift from frenetic growth to discipline. The same 2025 BCG/QED findings note that, among publicly traded fintech firms, average EBITDA margins rose, and roughly 69% of those firms were profitable in 2024, up from under half in the prior year. That suggests the highest‑performance fintechs are turning unit economics and efficiency into real gains.
From now on, BCG and QED point to several tailwinds: increasing adoption of digital payments and digital banking, expansion into lending and credit via fintech, deeper integration of financial infrastructure, and the potential for new technology layers, especially AI, to automate risk, underwriting, payments, and customer service. Emerging markets are also expected to play a growing role in global fintech revenue growth, which could potentially shift global dynamics and increase cross‑border financial flows.
In plain terms, fintech has graduated from a niche disruptor to a serious, growing, yet still underpenetrated segment of global finance. The space has matured: revenue growth remains robust, but now profitability and sustainable operations are coming to the fore. The runway remains long, as global banking and insurance revenues dwarf fintech’s share. Whether fintech companies, especially U.S.-based ones, can convert that runway into lasting value depends on their ability to scale efficiently, adopt new technologies (such as AI), and expand into tightly regulated yet large legacy domains such as credit, lending, and banking infrastructure.
Methodology
To develop our list, we screened for stocks whose core product offering is FinTech. From this pool, we selected stocks with a 12-month average upside of more than 20%. Then we selected the stocks with the highest number of hedge funds holding stakes as of Q3 and ranked them by this metric. The data on average upside is from Marketbeat and is as of December 16.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 427.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 264 percentage points (see more details here).
12. Q2 Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:QTWO)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 28
Price Upside: 33.6%
Q2 Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:QTWO) is one of the best FinTech stocks to buy in 2026, and Wall Street still leans constructive even after a choppy tape.
Analysts tracked by MarketBeat currently assign QTWO a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating, with an average 12‑month price target of $97.40. That implies roughly 34% upside from the stock’s latest levels. The full range of price targets spans $60 to $126, showing some dispersion in views but a generally bullish skew among the coverage. In other words, the Street isn’t pricing in a moonshot, but the average target still sits comfortably above current trading levels if execution holds.
December also saw a burst of insider selling that investors will notice, even if some was mechanical. Chief Business Officer Kirk L. Coleman sold 8,559 shares on December 10, 2025, at $73.68 per share. Chief Operating Officer Himagiri Mukkamala sold 3,024 shares on December 10, 2025, at $73.68, described in filings as an issuer-mandated sale to cover tax withholding tied to RSU vesting. Separately, Chief Revenue Officer Michael A. Volanoski sold a combined 9,300 shares across December 10 and December 12, 2025, including 4,177 shares at $73.68 and 5,123 shares at a weighted average of $75.46, with the latter executed under a pre-arranged trading plan.
Q2 Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:QTWO) provides digital banking and lending software to banks and credit unions, helping them onboard customers, deliver mobile and online experiences, and run modern account workflows across retail and small-business banking.
11. Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CWAN)
Number of Hedge Funds: 33
Median Upside: 37.3%
Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CWAN) is one of the best FinTech stocks to buy in 2026.
On December 10, 2025, DA Davidson analyst Peter Heckmann reiterated a Buy rating on Clearwater Analytics and maintained his $30 price target, following reports of Starboard Value’s stake in the company. In that same vein, DA Davidson has framed the situation as one where a credible strategic outcome could demand a meaningfully higher valuation than the stock had been trading at, with some coverage corroborating the view that a potential buyout could land in the $30 to $34 per share range.
That December stance lines up with the same analyst’s November 2025 positioning. In a Nov 18, 2025 note carried by The Fly, Heckmann kept a Buy rating and a $30 target. His discussion leaned heavily on takeover logic, suggesting Clearwater could be worth roughly $30 to $34 in a buyout scenario after reports of external interest from PE firms Warburg Pincus and Permira (as reported by Bloomberg). Another November writeup similarly characterized DA Davidson’s view as essentially: “If this is getting bought, it probably is not getting bought cheaply,” with the $30 area repeatedly appearing as the threshold that starts to look serious.
Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CWAN) provides cloud-based investment accounting, reporting, and analytics software for insurers, asset managers, and institutional investors, helping clients manage complex portfolios with real-time, automated data.
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