Company recently gained approval for a banking charter
SoFi Technologies Inc. shares are soaring for the second-straight day on heavy volume as optimism continues to build for the company’s banking ambitions.
SoFi’s stock SOFI, +9.41% is up more than 15% in Thursday trading and currently the most actively traded stock on major U.S. exchanges with volume of 223 million shares as of 3 p.m. ET. That volume already marks a new record for SoFi.
The stock gained 13.7% in Wednesday trading after the company announced that it won regulatory approval for a banking charter.
Analysts broadly cheered SoFi’s banking win earlier this week, citing multiple opportunities for the company to boost its earnings by leveraging the capabilities that being a nationally chartered bank would afford. The charter can help lower SoFi’s cost of funding and allow it to hold loans for longer, analysts said.
The company has also won growing praise from a different part of the investment community: the retail crowd. Mentions of SoFi on Reddit ballooned shortly after the company announced the approval for its banking charter, as users cheered the company’s potential to layer banking functions on top of its popular digital financial platform.
Despite the nearly 32% rally over the past two days, SoFi shares remain off 39% from their closing high of $25.78 notched on Feb. 1, 2021. The stock had closed at a 13-month low of $12.06 on Tuesday, just before the two-day rally started.