Dave Inc. shares have gone vertical over the past month or so

Every once in a while, I check back on the shares of companies I’ve come across in previous coverage. One of those is neo-bank Dave Inc., whose CEO, Jason Wilk, sat down for a Q&A with Sherwood News earlier this year.

Back then, the shares were clearly on the upswing, having more than doubled in the previous year. But that was small potatoes compared to the move the stock has made since the company reported much better-than-expected earnings a little over a month ago.

Even with a retrenching of 7% today as markets pull back following Irsraeli airstrikes, Dave stock has more than doubled since that earnings report.

The small-cap provider of basic banking services and short-term loans to people who might often overdraft, exposing them to painful fees at large traditional banks, is now up nearly 540% over the last 12 months, giving it a market value of roughly $3.5 billion.

The move seems largely premised on optimism about the fundamentals of the business. Analysts now expect Dave’s top-line growth in 2025 to clock in at 35%, up from the expectation of about 21% before the recent earnings report.

And in terms of price-to-earnings ratios, the 37x multiple the company is carrying versus expected earnings over the next 12 months doesn’t seem too insane, at least compared to Palantir.