What happened

Shares of Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST), Block (NYSE:SQ), and Lemonade (NYSE:LMND) were down big once again on Monday, down 10.seven%, 7%, and 8.ane%, respectively on the 24-hour interval.

While each of these companies is slightly different in what they practice -- Upstart uses artificial intelligence to underwrite consumer loans, Cake is a payments processor, lender, and consumer broker and digital wallet, and Lemonade is a digital insurance brokerage -- each is a type of loftier-growth fintech stock.

Fintechs benefited over the past few years equally the involvement rate environment was acquiescent to loftier-growth technology stocks, and the economy was relatively good for you. Nevertheless, the current surround is causing concerns that both those trends might reverse.

So what

There wasn't whatsoever material news out of any of these companies today. Notwithstanding, with oil prices and geopolitical tensions remaining high, at that place'due south a lot of dubiousness over the economy. Investors are as well concerned near inflation; tomorrow, the markets will receive producer price index readings from February. And on Midweek, there is a Federal Reserve meeting in which officials will probable raise interest rates for the first fourth dimension since the start of the pandemic.

What may take really driven these stocks lower today is the 10-year Treasury Bond yield rocketing vi.viii% higher to 2.14%, the highest reading since 2019, and at present even college than in the months prior to the pandemic. That could signal that inflation metrics are becoming more embedded. High inflation tends to lead to college interest rates, which decrease the value of earnings far out into the future.

That hurts the value of growth stocks similar Upstart, Block, and Lemonade. Upstart trades at 62 times earnings, Block trades at 287 times earnings, and Lemonade is still unprofitable. Therefore, it's no surprise they got hurt along with other high-growth tech stocks today.

The market place is currently treating these companies more than like tech stocks and less like financials or banks, which were trading higher today. Nonetheless, that high aggrandizement rate could besides cause economic growth to tiresome, or fifty-fifty a recession. The uncertainty is leading investors to ask if, perchance, Upstart's underwritten loans volition see more charge-offs, or if Block's loans to merchants will suffer as businesses deal with higher energy and labor costs.

Person looks pensively at smartphone.

Epitome source: Getty Images.

Now what

Obviously, the market's moves don't have to practice much with each company's recent results. Block and Upstart each had very solid earnings reports that beat analysts' revenue expectations, while Lemonade suffered from a disappointing outlook and higher loss ratios on newer lines of insurance.

Still, equally long every bit the threat of stagflation -- a combination of loftier interest rates and low economical growth -- remains, fintech stocks that benefited from low rates and good growth over the by few years will continue to struggle. On the other hand, if the Fed can get aggrandizement to come up down without dipping the U.S. economy into recession -- what marketplace participants call a "soft landing" -- these stocks could soar again. But the market won't know that for a while, since the Fed is just most to start raising rates.

In the terminate, high-quality stocks with long runways for growth should do well, and today's discounted prices could exist a good long-term opportunity, with an emphasis on the words "long-term." However, the concluding few years have seen a speculative frenzy in these types of loftier-growth stocks. So, investors should really drill down on these companies' future profit potential, and not merely profit-less revenue growth.

With higher involvement rates and global uncertainty, investors are focused on intrinsic value, so investors should accept a realistic view of these companies' time to come greenbacks flows before investing. Don't but buy because these stocks are down so much. Equally we've seen, things can ever fall farther, and these companies don't accept electric current profitability to fall back on.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the "official" recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. We're motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our ain -- helps u.s. all retrieve critically near investing and brand decisions that help us get smarter, happier, and richer.