10 Best AI-Powered Financial Stocks to Buy According to Analysts

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4. Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM)

Market Cap: $23.15 billion

Average Upside Potential: 42%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 57

A transformer-based model, the same kind of technology behind modern chatbots, now sits inside Affirm’s underwriting. Chief Executive Max Levchin said on the latest call that “the first version of the transformer-based model delivered an incremental 3.4% of end-to-end conversion,” meaning more shoppers completed purchases, and that credit losses stayed flat.

The buy now, pay later lender keeps growing quickly. In its fiscal first quarter, gross merchandise volume rose 34% to $14.4 billion, the twelfth straight quarter above 30% growth, and revenue climbed 35% to $1.26 billion. Management guided to fiscal second-quarter revenue of $1.44 billion to $1.47 billion.

Earnings per share of $0.47 fell short of expectations, and loans more than 30 days past due rose 35 basis points to 2.9%. On November 9, Bernstein reiterated an Outperform rating with a $110 price target, saying the quarter beat expectations and that a stock down about 20% over three months offered a chance to buy. On October 26, Morgan Stanley kept an Equal Weight rating and lowered its target to $79 from $82. Whether the lender’s profitability turn has earned it a place in a major index is the focus of our analysis of Affirm’s index case.

3. Circle (NYSE:CRCL)

Market Cap: $17.79 billion

Average Upside Potential: 54%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 44

AI agents that need to pay for things can now hold wallets built by Circle. In May the company launched Circle Agent Stack, which includes Agent Wallets for agents to hold and send funds, an Agent Marketplace where agents find and pay for services, and Nanopayments for gas-free USDC transfers as small as a millionth of a dollar. Chief Executive Jeremy Allaire called it “the first full suite of services we’re launching where AI agents themselves are the customers.”

The core business is the stablecoin itself. USDC in circulation ended the third quarter at $73.9 billion, flat from a year earlier, while revenue and reserve income came to $865 million and net income from continuing operations to $226 million.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods kept a Market Perform rating and cut its target to $90 from $105. Needham analyst John Todaro cut his price target to $103 from $134 on November 5 and kept a Buy rating, pointing to slower growth in USDC supply while still expecting the Arc network to begin diversifying Circle’s revenue from 2028. Leadership changes at the company are covered in our report on Circle losing its CFO and a co-founder on the same day.

2. Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD)

Market Cap: $76.15 billion

Average Upside Potential: 54%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 87

Robinhood is putting AI agents inside the brokerage itself. About 200 thousand customers have opened Agentic Trading Accounts, which let AI agents trade on their behalf and have generated more than $1.6 billion in notional volume. The accounts are part of a new set of agent tools that also includes Robinhood Agents and Agent Apps.

Prediction markets went from side project to real revenue in a single year. The brokerage booked $173 million from event contracts in the third quarter, up more than six times from a year earlier, as customers traded a record 16.4 billion contracts.

The core business gives that bet a base. Gold subscribers reached a record 5.2 million, up 34%, and total platform assets rose 19% to $396 billion.On October 28, Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani kept an Outperform rating and a $160 price target, expecting prediction markets and new products to drive the next leg of growth, while Wells Fargo kept an Equal Weight rating and cut its target to $100 from $120, pointing to lower take rates. How far it has spread beyond trading is the subject of our piece on its 13 businesses that each bring in $100 million.

1. Pagaya (NASDAQ:PGY)

Market Cap: $1.55 billion

Average Upside Potential: 61%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 38

Banks and lenders that want AI-driven lending without building it themselves can plug into Pagaya. The company describes itself as a technology firm delivering AI-driven products for the financial ecosystem, using machine learning and a network of data to offer consumer credit through its lending partners. In the third quarter it signed up Citizens Financial Group and First National Bank of Omaha for personal loans and point-of-sale financing, which brings its total to seven new partners over the past 12 months.

Those partners are feeding the network. Network volume rose 29% to $3.6 billion, and GAAP net income reached $50 million, up $27 million from a year earlier. Revenue and other income grew 12% to $390 million. Management raised its full-year net income guidance, and its outlook now calls for $162 million to $182 million of GAAP net income.

On October 30, B. Riley Securities reiterated a Buy rating and raised its price target to $38 from $36. Whether the AI approach is paying off is the question in our look at whether AI lending is finally working at Pagaya.

READ NEXT: Robinhood Rallies on a Framework Its Stock Tokens Can’t Use and S&P Global (SPGI) Is Benefiting From the AI Boom. Is the Stock Undervalued?

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