Affirm Holdings, Inc. vs NELNET, INC., two Credit Services stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
The margin lines defy comparison: Nelnet's net margin reads 111.7%, an artifact of investment and servicing gains exceeding its narrow revenue line, so the honest read is its 11.2% return on equity against Affirm's 10.1%, a near-tie between a student-loan servicer-and-investor and a BNPL lender. Nelnet trades at 11.7 times earnings against Affirm's 71, plus a 7.6% free-cash figure and a 0.4% dividend. Both carry heavy leverage, 2.06 and 2.35 turns. The pair prices two very different credit businesses at near-identical returns; Nelnet is a diversified servicing-and-investment holding priced cheap, Affirm a focused lender priced for growth, and the market pays six times the multiple for the growth on matched capital returns.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | AFRM | NNI |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $79.46 | $134.48 |
| Market cap | $27.7B | $4.9B |
| Sector | Financial Services | Financial Services |
| Stage | Growth | Growth |
| Implied growth (priced in) | — | +16.4% |
| P/E | 71.0 | 11.7 |
| P/B | 7.31 | 1.30 |
| P/S | 6.96 | 12.99 |
| EV/EBITDA | 57.2 | 138.8 |
| Revenue growth | +32.2% | +23.6% |
| Operating margin | 8.5% | — |
| Net margin | 9.6% | 111.7% |
| Return on equity | 10.1% | 11.2% |
| Return on assets | 2.9% | 2.9% |
| Dividend yield | — | 0.4% |
| Debt / equity | 2.35 | 2.06 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 1.81 | 0.67 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 8 / 9 | 8 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.