The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price has been amongst the best performers on the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO).
The payments company's shares were up as much as 37% to $12.19 at one stage today.
In afternoon trade its shares have given back some of these gains, but are still up a massive 21% to $10.79.
This makes Afterpay the third-best performer on the benchmark index behind only Credit Corp Group Limited (ASX: CCP) and Saracen Mineral Holdings Limited (ASX: SAR).
Why is the Afterpay share price rocketing higher today?
The Afterpay share price has been highly volatile in recent trading days due to the uncertainty being caused by the coronavirus outbreak globally.
There are concerns that the buy now pay later provider's rapid growth could come to a grinding halt because of the increasing amount of younger people that are being made temporarily (and in many cases permanently) jobless in the key markets that it operates in.
In addition, there are worries that this could cause a spike in bad debts and weigh heavily on its margins. Combined, this spooked the market that it might not live up to expectations and its shares crashed to a 52-week low on Monday.
However, one broker that believes the company's shares have been oversold is Citi.
According to a note out of the investment bank, its analysts have retained their (high risk) buy rating on its shares and placed a $21.10 price target on them.
Even after today's gain this price target implies potential upside of approximately 95%.
Whilst the broker acknowledges that the uncertainty is likely to weigh on its shares over the next quarter or two, it sees value in its shares at the current level.
It isn't the only broker that has a buy rating on its shares. Last week Morgan Stanley held firm with its overweight rating and ambitious $46.50 price target. It appears optimistic that Afterpay will benefit from more consumer spending going online during the outbreak.
