CE 100 Index Up 0.8% as BNPL Names Gain Ground

There are just a few weeks left to complete a volatile year, and the CE 100 Index continues to inch up, notching gains that have overtaken most benchmarks.

To that end, the CE 100 Index gained 0.8% this past week, bringing its year-to-date gains to nearly 34%. As seen in the chart below, that return trails only the NASDAQ Composite Index, which has soared 48% over the same timeframe.

The Live pillar gained 4.7%. Within that segment, Porch Group was up 25%.

The company said last week that it had launched new partnerships and products in its warranty business.

Warranty has grown profitably over the last two years and now offers products in 49 states, the company said. Porch Warranty, launched in February of this year, features bundled handyman services and micro-warranties protecting homeowners’ service lines and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

The new partnerships include agreements with distribution partners NerdWallet, Inc., Lone Star Insurance Services, and an insurance agency to offer its whole home Porch Warranty product to their customers. In terms of product expansion, Warranty launched its HVAC micro-warranty product. This product offers coverage for homeowners’ HVAC systems.

Pay and Be Paid Names Get a BNPL Bounce

In the Pay and Be Paid segment, which gathered 3.1%, buy now, pay later names (BNPL) were notable winners, continuing to ride a wave of positive sentiment as statistics from the Black Friday to Cyber Monday period show the payment option is proving popular this holiday season.

Sezzle was up 15%, and Affirm was up 11.7%.

As detailed here, Affirm Holdings CEO Max Levchin weighed in with positive comments this week on the state of, and the potential of, BNPL, which he said offers an alternative to high-interest credit cards. In an interview with Bloomberg, the executive said the payment option allows consumers to enjoy the benefits of transparency and control over their finances.

But those gains were offset by WeWork, which plummeted 37.5%, leading the Work segment 1.5% lower.

Sites including Bisnow reported that a number of landlords are objecting to the way the coworking company’s majority owner, SoftBank, has laid out plans to fund its bankruptcy proceedings as debtor-in-possession lender.

The landlords, including Boston Properties, Brookfield Properties, and Starwood Capital, have reportedly asked the judge presiding over proceedings to reject WeWork’s motion for debtor-in-possession financing.

Mongo DB lost 12.3%, helping push the Enablers 0.8% lower. The company reported earnings this past week that saw revenues gain 30% year on year to $432.9 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2024. Subscription revenue was $418.3 million, an increase of 30% year-over-year, and services revenue was $14.6 million, an increase of 13% year-over-year.

As detailed by Investors.com, Stifel analyst Brad Reback said in a note that the company’s results, although better than expectations, “likely fell short of the buyside’s elevated estimates.”

Morningstar said that the earnings were “stellar, coming in well above our estimates and the FactSet consensus as enterprise revenue exceeded expectations, partially thanks to higher volumes in multiyear deals.”

XPO shares slipped 9.2%, tempering the Move sector’s 2.4% gain. The company is paying $870 million to buy 28 terminals from bankrupt Yellow Corp., Reuters reported.