Synchrony Financial (SYF) Ties Up to Provide Easy Pet Finance

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) SYF entered into a collaboration with the leading pet insurance marketplace Pawlicy Advisor to enable pet parents to manage pet-related expenses in a better way.

Per the terms of the deal, Pawlicy Advisor will provide CareCredit, SYF’s financing solution for veterinary care in the Pawlicy Advisor pet insurance marketplace.

CareCredit is now the leading and the first financing solution accessible to more than 300,000 pet parents that use Pawlicy Advisor's free online resources each month. Pet parents who do not qualify for pet insurance or simply cannot afford out-of-pocket expenses will be able to leverage this partnership.

Through CareCredit, pet parents can access a budget-friendly financing option for pet care. CareCredit has been a trusted financing option for various kinds of veterinary services and treatments for more than 25 years.

The tie-up is also a great solution for general pet insurance challenges, such as long waiting periods. CareCredit can be used to pay out-of-pocket costs that are not covered by pet insurance and can be used immediately.

The move highlights the financial service provider’s commitment to help pet parents with easy long-term care options. In fact, its business unit Pets Best is dedicated to the same. Pets Best offers a diverse range of affordable pricing and coverage options to address several vet expenses arising from time to time.

The latest collaboration seems a time-opportune one, considering the financial uncertainties stemming from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and escalating healthcare expenses. The tie-up aims to address the scenario of rising pet care costs prevalent in the United States.

Per the American Pet Products Association (“APPA”), expenses incurred on pets totaled $103.6 billion in 2020, up from $97.1 billion in 2019. The same is expected to attain $109.6 billion in 2021.

Moreover, pandemic-induced woes could not affect the households’ interest to adopt pets. Per a 2021-2022 survey conducted by APPA, 70% U.S. households, accounting for 90.5 million homes, own a pet. The same survey was first undertaken in 1988 wherein 56% of U.S. households owned a pet. Evident from the numbers, the pet insurance industry holds immense prospects.

This is not the first time that the currently Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) player took initiatives to ease pet-related costs.

Last September, SYF subsidiary Pets Best Insurance Services teamed up with PEMCO Mutual Insurance to extend pet insurance coverage to the latter’s customers.

Shares of Synchrony have rallied 22.6% in a year compared with the industry’s growth of 11.6%.

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Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks in the finance space are Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI), Inc. HLI, Jefferies Financial Group, Inc. JEF and Moody's (NYSE:MCO) Corporation MCO, all sporting a Zacks Rank of 1 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Houlihan Lokey is an investment bank focusing on mergers and acquisitions, financings, financial restructurings and financial advisory services. HLI’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average being 39.53%.

Jefferies Financial is a diversified financial services company. The bottom line of JEF surpassed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters (while missing the mark in one), the average surprise being 48.92%.

Moody’s is a leading provider of credit ratings, research, data & analytical tools, software solutions & related risk management services, etc. MCO’s earnings outpaced estimates in three of the last four quarters and missed the mark once, the average surprise being 16.34%.

Shares of Houlihan Lokey, Jefferies Financial and Moody’s have gained 60.4%, 45.7% and 31.3%, respectively, in a year.

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