It's been a decent, if uninspiring, day for the S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO) so far this Wednesday. At the time of writing, the ASX 300 has gained a tentative 0.02%, putting it back above 7,265 points. But let's talk about the Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) share price.
Zip shares are well in the green today. Certainly, the ASX 300 buy now, pay later (BNPL) share is faring far better than the broader market right now. At present, the Zip share price has risen by a wholesome 1.73% up to 41.2 cents a share. That's after the ASX's largest BNPL share closed at 40 cents each yesterday afternoon.
So why might investors be in an enthusiastic mood when it comes to the Zip share price this Wednesday?
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Why is the Zip share price smashing the ASX 300 this Wednesday?
Well, it's hard to say. There's been no news or fresh announcements out of Zip itself today. However, we can point to a big development with another ASX BNPL share that might be having an impact on Zip investors regardless.
BNPL stock Sezzle Inc (ASX: SZL) has just reported its quarterly results for the second quarter of 2023 (2Q23) this morning.
The company revealed that total income for the quarter rose to US$34.9 million, up from the US$29.3 million Sezzle reported for the same quarter last year (2Q22). It was also up slightly from the US$34.7 million that Sezzle reported for the first quarter of 2023.
Sezzle also revealed that its total subscribers rocketed from 14,000 in 2Q22 to 168,000 in 2Q23. But it wasn't all good news. The company also reported that its active consumers declined 18.7% year-on-year to 2.64 million, down from 3.25 million in 2Q22. Active merchants also fell, dropping from 47,000 in 2Q22 to 35,000 in 2Q23.
Even so, investors seem at least moderately impressed. Sezzle shares are currently up 1.06% at $19.10 each after climbing as high as $20 earlier this morning.
So it seems that these results could well be behind the commensurate, ASX 300-beating spike in the Zip share price that we've seen today as well.
Even so, it doesn't make up for what has been quite an awful year for the Zip share price. This ASX 300 BNPL share remains down 26.8% year to date today, as well as down by more than 67% over the past 12 months, as you can see below:
