** Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Afterpay
APT.AX by 25% to A$170.1 on strong revenue growth expectations
** The buy-now-pay-later giant is set to report strong H1
growth next Thursday
** Morgan Stanley sees 13% upside to its PT
** Says APT's U.S. app downloads in Jan and Feb are running
around 80%-100% above last year
** APT can further expand its offerings, challenging rivals
already in areas such as peer-to-peer payments, bill payments
and small business credit lines - Morgan Stanley
** The broker envisions more financial partnerships, and
looks ahead to the launch of Afterpay saving accounts later this
year via Westpac Banking Corp's WBC.AX banking service
platform
** APT shares up 27% so far this year; underperforming
smaller rivals Zip Co Ltd's Z1P.AX 121% surge and Sezzle's
SZL.AX ~70% jump
(Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan)
((NikhilKurian.Nainan@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter:
@NikhilKurianN))