AFRM vs. NTRS: Affirm vs. Northern Trust Stock Comparison

Company Profile

Affirm (AFRM) and Northern Trust (NTRS) both fall under the Financial Services industry group, but AFRM is classified in Financial Services while NTRS is classified in Capital Markets.

Northern Trust (NTRS) has more than two decades of public-market history since March 17, 1980, whereas Affirm (AFRM) listed on January 13, 2021 and has a much shorter record to draw on.

Price Performance

Cumulative Growth

Trailing Returns

Calendar-Year Returns

Performance Metrics

Risk Profile

Drawdown History

Return Distribution

Risk Metrics

Affirm (AFRM) carries a highly aggressive beta of 3.70, indicating much higher sensitivity to broad-market moves, whereas Northern Trust (NTRS) is closer to market-like at 1.18 — a noticeable difference in market-sensitivity profile.

Risk-Adjusted Performance

Risk-Return Positioning

Risk-Adjusted Metrics

Profitability

Affirm (AFRM) at 44.49% sits in the top ROE quartile, while Northern Trust (NTRS) at 18.44% is closer to the peer norm — stronger capital efficiency for AFRM.

Affirm (AFRM) at 43.86% retains a top-quartile share of revenue as profit, ahead of Northern Trust (NTRS) at 26.00%, which keeps about the industry-typical share.

Both Affirm (AFRM) at 14.82% and Northern Trust (NTRS) at 34.80% run core operations about as efficiently as their industries’ norm — neither stands out on operating profitability.

Profitability Metrics

Growth

Affirm (AFRM) at 32.15% sits in the top revenue growth quartile, while Northern Trust (NTRS) at -2.46% is in the bottom quartile, showing a clear gap in revenue momentum.

Affirm (AFRM) at 3,586.67% clears its industry range for EPS growth, a much stronger earnings trajectory than Northern Trust (NTRS) at -10.54%, which is closer to a typical peer reading.

Growth Metrics

Financial Strength

current ratio doesn’t apply on either side: Affirm (AFRM) in Financial Services and Northern Trust (NTRS) in Financial Services both report balance sheets without a current/non-current split, so their short-term liquidity is better judged through regulatory and funding measures.

debt-to-equity ratio is set aside for both: Affirm (AFRM) in Financial Services and Northern Trust (NTRS) in Financial Services run businesses where balance-sheet leverage is part of the model, so capital-adequacy and funding measures are the better gauges of balance-sheet risk.

Financial Strength Metrics

Dividends

Affirm (AFRM) pays no dividend (yield 0.00%) — it may be reinvesting, using buybacks, or simply not returning cash through dividends. Meanwhile Northern Trust (NTRS) reports a yield of 1.91%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Affirm (AFRM) pays no dividend (payout 0.00%) — it may be reinvesting, using buybacks, or simply not returning cash through dividends. Meanwhile Northern Trust (NTRS) reports a payout of 25.73%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Dividend Metrics

Valuation

Both Affirm (AFRM) at 11.80 and Northern Trust (NTRS) at 13.55 land around their industries’ usual P/E ratio levels — neither is getting a clear earnings-multiple discount or premium versus peers.

Northern Trust (NTRS) at 3.35 is priced about in line with its industry on P/S ratio, while Affirm (AFRM) at 5.03 sits in the pricier quartile — AFRM costs more per dollar of sales.

Northern Trust (NTRS) at 2.51 is valued about in line with its industry on P/B ratio, while Affirm (AFRM) at 4.01 carries an above-peer premium to book — AFRM is pricier on assets.

Valuation Metrics