Qfin (NASDAQ:QFIN) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.08 EPS

Qfin (NASDAQ:QFIN) issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.08, Zacks reports. The business had revenue of $567.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $476.92 million. Qfin had a net margin of 27.48% and a return on equity of 21.04%.

Here are the key takeaways from Qfin’s conference call:

• Qfin reported weaker Q1 results as total revenue fell to CNY 3.91 billion and non-GAAP net income declined 11.6% sequentially to about CNY 950 million, reflecting softer industry demand and continued pricing pressure.
• Management highlighted a meaningful improvement in credit quality, with FPD7 down about 20% sequentially and the C2M2 delinquency metric improving 17% to 0.8%, which they said largely met their risk-optimization targets.
• The company is benefiting from a shift toward higher-quality borrowers, with marketing spend on that segment up roughly 40% sequentially and customer acquisition costs down 17% overall as it prioritizes long-term user lifetime value over pure volume growth.
• Funding conditions remain tight, but Qfin reduced funding costs by about 10 basis points by increasing ABS usage, while still maintaining a cautious approach to leverage and capital allocation.
• The tech solutions business continued to scale quickly, with loan volume enabled by the platform reaching CNY 9.96 billion, up sevenfold year over year, and management said AI tools are becoming a bigger part of operations and future growth.

Qfin Stock Up 25.0%

QFIN opened at $15.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a current ratio of 2.43. Qfin has a fifty-two week low of $11.31 and a fifty-two week high of $46.18. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $13.21 and its 200 day moving average is $16.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.54.

Qfin Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 22nd. This represents a dividend yield of 1,176.0%. Qfin’s payout ratio is 25.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

QFIN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $15.33 price target on shares of Qfin in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Qfin from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Qfin from $30.30 to $23.40 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qfin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.91.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qfin

In other news, Director Xiaohuan Chen bought 190,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $12.89 per share, for a total transaction of $2,449,100.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 190,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,449,100. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 17.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of QFIN. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Qfin by 198.0% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,842,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,501,000 after buying an additional 1,224,164 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Qfin by 1,050.6% during the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 790,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,755,000 after buying an additional 721,950 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC purchased a new position in shares of Qfin during the 4th quarter valued at $13,331,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Qfin by 124.1% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 1,163,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,419,000 after buying an additional 644,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Qfin by 105.4% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 898,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,858,000 after buying an additional 461,023 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.81% of the company’s stock.

About Qfin

360 DigiTech, Inc (NASDAQ: QFIN) is a China‐based fintech company that specializes in providing digital lending solutions to underserved consumer and small business markets. Leveraging proprietary credit assessment technologies and big data analytics, the company connects borrowers with a network of financial institutions and investors through its online platform. Its services encompass unsecured consumer loans, installment credit products, and working capital financing for micro and small enterprises.

The company’s flagship platform offers an end‐to‐end digital lending experience, from application and credit evaluation to disbursement and repayment.