Strong Showings From Affirm and FIS Can’t Stop CE 100 Slide

The CE 100 Index slipped 3.5%, in a week governed by earnings reports. Only the Banking segment and the Be Well pillar, both up 0.5%, were in the green.

Call it a “buy the rumor, sell the news wave,” where runups into quarterly announcements and even strong results from a variety of firms nonetheless led to sell-offs. The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 3.3%. In large part, names with artificial intelligence (AI) as a growth engine were prime targets for those sell-offs. Big Tech names such as Microsoft and Meta were down more than 4%.

Pinterest stands out as a key example of the AI-averse action through the past week. The stock lost 19.4%.

As PYMNTS reported, CEO Bill Ready contended that the company is in the midst of a transformation into an “AI-powered visual-first shopping assistant.” AI now underpins nearly every part of its platform, from search and discovery to shopping recommendations and the new conversational Pinterest Assistant. Ready said Pinterest’s mission is to “anticipate what users will love next,” describing how the company’s AI systems are designed to predict inspiration before users even search.

Third-quarter revenue rose 17% to $1 billion, slightly ahead of Wall Street expectations. Monthly active users climbed 12% to 600 million.

Among declining stocks, Cogent shares slid more than 41%, leading the Enablers pillar down 4% (which included the Big Tech names mentioned above) while representing the largest individual dip in CE 100 names.

The company noted this past week that during the third quarter service revenue was $241.9 million, down from $246.2 million in the second quarter and down 5.9% from a year ago. Wavelength revenue increased by 12.4%, sequentially, and increased by 92.5% from Q3 2024.

In the Live segment, which was 10% lower, Porch Group reported results that indicated Q3 revenue was $115.1 million, with an 82% gross margin. Software and data revenue was $24.6 million, up 7% over the prior year. Shares in Porch have been volatile, as the stock dropped more than 30% through the week.

In the Payments realm, results were mixed, contributing to a 3.3% decline in the overall group.

As PYMNTS reported, Affirm opened fiscal 2026 with a first quarter marked by record volumes, profitable growth and an extended partnership with Amazon.

Gross merchandise volume (GMV) rose 42% to $10.8 billion, revenue increased 34% to $933 million. Direct-to-consumer GMV rose 53% to $3.2 billion, driven by a 135% increase in Affirm Card volume to $1.4 billion. In-store usage jumped 170%, and active cardholders grew by 500,000 to 2.8 million. Affirm’s stock was up 1.7%.

FIS Gains Some Ground

FIS shares added 3.6%.

FIS said in a third-quarter earnings presentation Wednesday (Nov. 5) that adjusted revenue was $2.7 billion, up 6.3%. “Banking exceeded our expectations in the quarter,” Chief Financial Officer James Kehoe said during a conference call with analysts, adding that revenue growth was “well above the high end of our range,” driven by strong transaction volume and digital banking activity.

“Our payment sales have been outstanding, with 50% recurring sales growth year to date and a 5% improvement in win rates,” CEO Stephanie Ferris said on the conference call with analysts.

Sezzle shares lost more than 10%. PYMNTS reported that Sezzle notched its first billion‑dollar quarter in Q3 and said it is steering back to its subscription model. Third‑quarter credit losses were 3.1% of GMV and are trending toward the lower half of the company’s 2025 target range of 2.5%-2.75% of GMV. GMV rose 58.7% year over year to $1 billion, and total revenue climbed 67% to $116.8 million. Sezzle added 36,000 Monthly On‑Demand & Subscribers in the quarter, bringing total MODS to 784,000.

Uber Technologies’ third-quarter 2025 earnings report indicated that total trips grew 22% year over year, and gross bookings climbed 21%. Average pricing stayed flat, signaling volume-driven expansion. Audience size increased 17% and engagement 4%.  Uber shares lost 5% and the Move segment was 1.3% lower.

Uber plans to capitalize on cross-selling efforts across the expanding platform, management said during the call.

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said one top strategic goal is moving “from trip experience to lifetime experience.” Only 20% of consumers in markets where mobility and delivery operate currently use both products, but those users “spend three times more and retain 35% better than single-product users.”