** Shares of buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm Affirm rise 2.7% to $30.16 premarket
** Jefferies upgrades to "hold" from "underperform" and bumps up PT to $30 from $9.50
** Upgrade is based on recent evidence of stabilizing cost of capital and capital markets activity, stabilizing (if not improving) credit performance and ongoing momentum in adoption rates for BNPL - Jefferies
** Stock jumped 12% on Cyber Monday when a record amount of price-pinched holiday shoppers, as per Adobe Analytics, were expected to use BNPL services to relieve stress on their wallets
** About 18.5% of AFRM shares worth $1 bln are in short position - Ortex data
** Stock hit nearly 1-1/2 year high on Monday, taking YTD gains to 203%
(Reporting by Medha Singh)
((medha.singh@thomsonreuters.com))
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