Upstart Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UPST) shares are trading higher by 6.46% to $44.80 during Thursday's session after Affirm Holdings Inc's strong financial results, which has potentially boosted investor confidence in the broader fintech sector.

What Happened: Affirm's fourth-quarter earnings exceeded analyst estimates by a significant margin (72%), and its revenue grew nearly 50% year-over-year. This strong financial performance demonstrates the growth potential of the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) industry, which Affirm and Upstart are both part of.

Investors may also see Affirm's recent success as indicative of broader industry trends, leading to increased optimism about Upstart's future prospects.

What Else: Following Affirm's strong results, several analysts raised their price targets and maintained or reiterated positive ratings. This can lead investors to re-evaluate their positions in similar companies like Upstart, potentially leading to increased buying activity in Upstart's stock as well.

Affirm's guidance for the upcoming quarter exceeded expectations, signaling continued strong performance. Investors may extrapolate this optimism to Upstart, expecting it to also issue favorable guidance in the future.

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How To Buy UPST Stock

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Upstart Holdings – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy 'fractional shares,' which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share. For example, some stock, like Berkshire Hathaway, or Amazon.com, can cost thousands of dollars to own just one share. However, if you only want to invest a fraction of that, brokerages will allow you to do so.

In the the case of Upstart Holdings, which is trading at $45.08 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you 2.22 shares of stock.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to 'go short' a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.