The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price has been on a rollercoaster ride over the past 3 months.
There have been several catalysts that have propelled shares in the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) share price over this period.
Let's take a look at what's been moving the Afterpay share price.
What moved the Afterpay share price in the last 3 months?
In early June, shares in Afterpay started to claw their way higher after being sold off earlier in the year.
There were several catalysts pushing shares in the BNPL higher during June.
These included overall strength in the broader tech sector and Afterpay strengthening its BNPL offerings.
Arguably, the largest catalyst that moved the Afterpay share price higher in the last 3 months was in early August.
A takeover bid from US payment giant Square Inc (NYSE: SQ) for $39 billion shot shares in the BNPL behemoth higher.
Afterpay has accepted Square's offer which will involve an all-scrip deal.
If the deal does go ahead, Afterpay shareholders will receive 0.375 shares of Square for every Afterpay share owned.
Another catalyst that moved the Afterpay share price was its FY21 results.
How did Afterpay perform in FY21?
For the 12 months ended 30 June, Afterpay delivered a stellar underlying sales growth of 90% to $21.1 billion.
Other highlight's of the company's full-year report included;
- Total income up 78% (or 89% in constant currency) to $924.7 million
- Gross loss to underlying sales ratio flat at 0.9%
- Net transaction loss up 210% to $132.6 million
- EBITDA down 13% to $38.7 million
- Active customers increased 63% to 16.2 million
- Active merchants up 77% to 98,200
- Square-Afterpay transaction on track to complete in Q1 of calendar year 2022
The outlook for Afterpay
In its full-year report, Afterpay acknowledged that the acquisition by Square is expected to go ahead in the first quarter of calendar year 2022.
Regardless of the acquisition, the company continues to work on plans to expand its in-store card offering beyond Australia and the US.
Afterpay also expects to launch its Afterpay iQ platform this September.
Despite surging more than 42% in the last 3 months, shares in the BNPL giant are only 9% higher for the year.
