Dave initiated with a Buy at Benchmark

Benchmark initiated coverage of Dave with a Buy rating and $53 price target. The analyst believes the company’s digital fintech platform, accessible to U.S. consumers through a mobile app, is well positioned to sustain profitable growth given its “strong product-market fit.” The firm says Dave’s ExtraCash cash advance product is designed to provide the 65% of U.S. consumers living paycheck to paycheck with access to short-term liquidity while enabling them to avoid the overdraft and mandatory account maintenance fees charged by legacy banks. The company reached an inflection point in Q4 of 2023 when it achieved adjusted EBITDA profitability for the first time since its founding in 2016, the analyst tells investors in a research note.