PayPal Holdings faces pressure from concerns over legacy product growth, yet trades near yearly lows around $60. The online payments company is pivoting towards crypto and agentic AI payments to drive business expansion over the long term amid legacy branded checkout headwinds. PayPal is spending upwards of $6 billion on repurchasing cheap shares in 2025 and has extra cash to initiate a $0.14 quarterly dividend.
PYPL trades below its industry's average P/E as earnings estimates rise, shares decline, partnerships expand and Venmo grows.
The latest trading day saw Paypal (PYPL) settling at $60.04, representing a +1.06% change from its previous close.
PayPal Holdings, Inc. is upgraded to Strong Buy in the high-$50s/low-$60s at ~8-9x 2025E FCF and ~11x forward EPS, due to asymmetric long-term risk/reward. Last quarter, PayPal showed accelerating top-line and bottom-line performance, with management raising FY25 guidance despite near-term macro headwinds, highlighting momentum in Venmo and BNPL. The business is producing record amounts of free cash flow, which the management is proactively deploying towards future business growth and stock buybacks - boosting shareholder returns.
PayPal is upgraded from Buy to Strong Buy, despite recent underperformance and negative sentiment weighing on shares. PYPL trades at a 10x forward P/E, a steep discount to peers and the S&P 500, while delivering strong revenue and EPS growth. Robust free cash flow, high profitability, and aggressive share buybacks underscore management's conviction and support valuation upside.
Paypal (PYPL) is rated a Buy, driven by durable cash generation and disciplined capital return. PYPL's investment case hinges on modest growth and aggressive share buybacks, potentially reducing share count by up to 26.4% in three years. The cannibalization thesis relies on maintaining at least $6–7 billion in annual free cash flow and avoiding structural decline.
Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) lost 0.50% over the past month after losing 13.35% the month prior.
PayPal is my top pick for 2026, rated Strong Buy due to expanding margins, robust buybacks, and a newly introduced dividend. PYPL trades at a deep discount to its growth, with 30% YoY EPS growth and forward P/E near 11.5x, despite strong Q3 results and raised guidance. Shareholder returns remain aggressive: $6B in annual buybacks, dividend initiation, and core free cash flow supporting continued capital allocation.
Recently, Zacks.com users have been paying close attention to Paypal (PYPL). This makes it worthwhile to examine what the stock has in store.
PayPal Holdings, Inc.'s recently announced its pursuit of an industrial loan company charter to increase its alignment with emerging small and medium-sized business lending and digital payments integration opportunities. In addition to anticipated cost-savings, the ILC charter's likely to expand PYPL's TAM as well, with PayPal Bank serving as a potential gateway to additive growth and SMB monetization opportunities. Regulatory and compliance risks from the ILC charter are likely confined to PayPal Bank, limiting valuation multiple compression and preserving balance sheet flexibility.
PayPal Holdings, Inc.'s recent application for a bank charter directly contradicts the asset-light argument that underpinned my September upgrade—I analyze whether this strategic pivot breaks the bullish case. While the market fears balance sheet risk, securing an ILC charter would allow PYPL to capture a funding cost arbitrage on SMB loans that could structurally reset operating margins higher. The Apple Playbook of aggressive capital returns now faces a major hurdle. I detail how new regulatory capital requirements will impact the pace of PYPL share buybacks and short-term ROE.
PYPL files an application to launch PayPal Bank, aiming to boost small-business lending and cut third-party reliance, and, if approved, add FDIC-insured customer deposits.