The Afterpay share price just hit a new record high: Should you invest?

The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price has continued its positive run and charged higher again on Monday.

At one stage the payments company’s shares were up as much as 10% to a new record high of $49.00.

Why is the Afterpay share price charging higher?

Investors have been buying Afterpay’s shares on Monday due to a combination of positive investor sentiment and the announcement of board changes.

In respect to the latter, this morning the company announced that Elana Rubin will become its Chair with immediate effect. She had been in the role on an interim basis but has been made permanent now.

Rubin will retire from the ME Bank board following its June 2020 meeting, but remain as a Non-Executive Director for Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) and Slater & Gordon Limited (ASX: SGH).

In addition to this, the company has appointed Sharon Rothstein as an Independent Non-Executive Director. She will formally join the board on 1 June 2020.

Rothstein is based in the United States and presently sits on the board of crowd sourced reviews business Yelp. She is also an Operating Partner at growth equity firm, Stripes Group.

What else is driving the Afterpay share price higher?

Investors have been buying the company’s shares this month after it provided a very positive update on its U.S. operations.

That update revealed that there are now more than five million active customers using its buy now pay later service in the country. This makes it the company’s largest geographic segment by some distance, despite it only launching there two years ago.

Impressively, more than one million new customers joined during a ten-week period at the height of the pandemic.

Nick Molnar, Co-Founder and U.S. CEO of Afterpay, commented: “At a time in which ecommerce has become the primary way people are shopping, there is a growing interest and demand among consumers to pay for things they want and need over time using their own money – instead of turning to expensive loans with interest, fees or revolving debt.”

Can its shares go higher?

I feel Afterpay’s shares are probably fully valued at this point. So, I wouldn’t recommend buying shares if you’re only making a short term investment.

But if you’re in for the long haul, then I certainly would be a buyer. I believe its global expansion and potential new product launches in the future will drive strong earnings growth and returns for investors over the next decade and beyond.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Telstra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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