Shares of SoFi Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SOFI) are climbing Friday afternoon, hitting a new 52-week high, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell struck a notably dovish tone in his Jackson Hole remarks, signaling that downside risks to the labor market are rising and that interest rate cuts may be warranted if the slowdown deepens.
What To Know: The pivot from a singular focus on inflation toward concerns over employment has significant implications for high-growth companies like SoFi.
Growth stocks such as SoFi are particularly sensitive to changes in interest rate expectations. When rates are high, the present value of future earnings is discounted more steeply, which compresses valuations and makes long-duration growth stories less attractive.
Conversely, when the Fed signals rate cuts, the discounting effect eases, bolstering growth company valuations and improving their access to cheaper capital for expansion.
Read Also: SoFi Technologies Stock Rally Thursday: What Happened?
For SoFi, a fintech firm aggressively reinvesting in customer acquisition and product expansion, lower borrowing costs could reduce funding expenses while increasing investor appetite for riskier, growth-oriented equities.
Friday's dovish remarks also come against a backdrop of cooling GDP growth and fading consumer spending, which had pressured financial technology stocks in recent months.
Investors appear to be recalibrating expectations, betting that a friendlier monetary policy environment could sustain SoFi's rapid expansion in lending, digital banking and new partnerships.
Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, SOFI shares are trading higher by 7.66% to $25.12 Friday afternoon. The stock has a 52-week high of $25.25 and a 52-week low of $6.75.
Read Also: 10 Stocks Rocketing After Powell’s Dovish Shift
How To Buy SOFI Stock
By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for SoFi Technologies – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.
Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy “fractional shares,” which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share.
In the case of SoFi Technologies, which is trading at $25.02 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you 4.0 shares of stock.
If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to “go short” a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.
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