Fintech Stocks Like Robinhood And Dave Clobbered In AI Stock Rout

Two days after Democrats swept the midterm elections and won control of Congress, stocks are plunging, with the Nasdaq down about 5%. AI-focused companies including SpaceX, Palantir and Nvidia are down as much as 10%. Investors fear that a Democratic Congress will impose tighter restrictions on data center development, says Tom Graff, chief investment officer at West Palm Beach-based wealth management firm Facet.

Fintech and financial services stocks are getting clobbered too. Los Angeles- based Dave, the lender that makes small-dollar loans and caters to cash-strapped customers, is down 21%, dragging its market value to $3.4 billion. Before today, the nine-year-old company was having a standout year. Its stock was up 50% for 2026, after it raised prices and removed fee caps in 2025 and in 2026, which have boosted profits.

But the company’s third-quarter earnings call yesterday raised questions about its profitability, despite reported net income of $64 million. In the spring, Dave saw customers paying back their loans sooner, attributed the result to improvements in its debt-collection efforts and forecasted lower credit losses. Dave’s chief financial officer Kyle Beilman said on yesterday’s call that the collections boost “brought repayments in sooner but didn’t reduce ultimate losses as much as the early data implied.” Despite the larger credit losses, the company said its 28-day delinquency rate fell in September 2026 to 2.09% from 2.15% a year earlier.

Dave’s higher-than-expected provision for credit losses combined with higher funding costs for its loans after moving to a new bank partner led to gross profit of 70% for the quarter, significantly lower than the 73% Wall Street analysts had expected, according to Factset. Its adjusted earnings per share came in below expectations, too.

Have a story tip? Contact Jeff Kauflin at jkauflin@forbes.com or on Signal at jeff.273.