SoFi shares have upside to $9.0: Bank of America

SoFi Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: SOFI) has been a disappointment for its shareholders this year but a Bank of America analyst is convinced the story will be different moving forward.

SoFi shares could jump 50%

On Wednesday, Mihir Bhatia recommended buying SoFi shares as they have upside to $9.0. His price objective translates to about a 50% increase from here.

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He expects the online personal finance company to benefit as student loan payments resume at the start of 2023. On CNBC’s “Closing Bell”, the analyst said:

Biden Administration announced this will be the final extension of the payment moratorium. We think that’ll drive refinance volumes back to normal levels at SoFi as borrowers try to find a lower rate.

SoFi Technologies, Bhatia added, is particularly suitable for investors interested in fintech and consumer finance but are not willing to take the subprime risk. For the year, shares are down close to 60%.

SoFi to benefit from the NFL season

Last month, the Nasdaq-listed firm reported solid results for its fiscal second quarter. Bhatia is bullish on SoFi shares also because it has extensive partnerships with the NFL. He added:

We did an analysis around engagement, google trends, searches, app downloads for SoFi and it’s remarkable that there’s a nice uptick typically around Sundays and Mondays and even more so when it’s LA Rams home game.

Brand awareness, according to the California-headquartered company, jumped from 2.0% to 8.0% during the NFL season last year. Currently, it sits at about 4.0%.

Other reasons for his constructive view include new products like exchange-traded funds and options trading.