DJ Oportun Financial Swings to 1Q Loss, Tightens Underwriting Criteria
By Maria Armental
Financial technology company Oportun Financial Corp. swung to a loss in the March quarter, dragged down by a reduction in the so-called fair value of its loan portfolio amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The California-based company didn't give financial projections, citing uncertainty about the business impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but said it has tightened underwriting criteria to reduce its credit risk exposure and put on hold its retail-footprint expansion.
Company officials said that beginning in the last week of March, Oportun started offering emergency-hardship deferrals, which allow customers to skip payments for 30 days. Those deferrals peaked at 14.6% in the last week of April and stood at 8.6% as of May 12, the company said.
Shares rose 19% to $7.15 in after-hours trading, but the stock remains far below its $15.70 market debut last year.
Overall, Oportun reported a first-quarter net loss of $13.3 million, or 49 cents a share, compared with a profit of $14.6 million, or 51 cents a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, the loss was 4 cents a share.
Net revenue fell to $80.6 million from $98.7 million a year earlier.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected a profit of 9 cents a share, or 17 cents as adjusted, on $99.8 million in revenue.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 14, 2020 18:56 ET (22:56 GMT)
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