PayPal - I’ve suffered so much because of you. The eternal question: “cheap” or cheap. 
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Personally, I’m reading the stars and thinking a sure entry point is probably somewhere around $40. My common sense tells me it can’t go that low, but if it does, I’ll buy.
I’ll also add that, in theory, the price is good even now, but the sentiment is sour and we’ve been lower before, so I don’t believe this level will hold.
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Institutional ownership has increased (see image)
Language model content, DYOR
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The tweet highlights that PayPal’s new advertising platform utilizes extensive purchasing data to provide businesses with more precise information on consumer behavior; for example, Ulta Beauty achieved significant growth in areas such as sales and brand favorability through its use.
Unlike models based solely on clicks, PayPal’s solution combines the actual purchase transactions of hundreds of millions of users, creating better commercial insight for businesses, etc.
A 20% increase in transaction spend and 136% above-benchmark brand favorability lift doesn’t sound bad at all.
https://x.com/JuanRodrig07/status/2008585886368153749
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The tweet below explains how PayPal and Microsoft are joining forces for Copilot Checkout.
Microsoft’s AI-powered shopping experience integrates with PayPal payments, allowing products to be purchased directly and seamlessly from AI suggestions without separate checkout steps.
https://x.com/JuanRodrig07/status/2009291210859401330
Here is PayPal’s press release on the matter:
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There are many highlights like this, or rather, different valuation multiples or figures are used, but the idea is the same – the stock has plummeted, but the stock has become cheaper and/or revenue has increased.
Then again, when coming up with excellent competitive advantages and moats, you have to explain or come up with a bit more.
https://x.com/qualtrim/status/2012494324445921742
I was playing around with Koyfin again
Of course, there are many variables, and these are a small part of the big picture.
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The idea that it either has to be ridiculously mispriced and the buying opportunity of the century, or a terrible value trap, is in my opinion quite weak thinking from this X user. They’re looking for extremes. You see the same thing in many other areas. In politics especially, decision-makers act childishly stupid in their conclusions when they want to stir up their own, perhaps even quite simple-minded, supporters. Usually, things aren’t black or white, but something in between. The best estimate isn’t as marketable as some rigid opinion from an extreme end, even though it’s more likely to be wrong. Isn’t it possible that in PayPal’s case, it’s just slightly mispriced in either direction, or perhaps even priced exactly right? You won’t find those options on their list, but the correct assessment is likely somewhere in between. Sure, it could hit an extreme, but I think that’s less likely. PayPal is unlikely to be a massive value trap at these prices, but it’s probably not as severely mispriced as, for example, Meta was at its bottom in 2022. However, I lean more toward the slightly undervalued side, and my quick-take target price is $70.
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I agree with that tendency towards polarization. In a way, for all growth companies, a moment eventually arises where the gap between bull/bear scenarios is enormous. However, in PayPal’s case, I find this “double or nothing” narrative quite acceptable because the market leader position, speculative pricing, fundamentals, unique growth drivers, and other smaller factors support it. It would probably be more accurate and intelligent to say that the upside is very good compared to the downside risk?
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A rough ride. I’ve clearly missed something very essential in this case. It’s that toxic corporation. Apparently, it can’t be fixed. And the Chairman of the Board becoming the CEO…
Doesn’t inspire confidence. The cash cow seems to be ravaged by chronic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
This investment has cost me a great deal. For now, I don’t know what I’ll do; luckily, I halved my position in December.
I don’t trust the current management, but I don’t want to make any hasty decisions.
It would be best if Elon bought the company out with pocket change.
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This is a bit like Nokia.
but if there’s anything positive, they can now buy back many more of their own shares with the same amount of money…
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I won’t comment on the valuation, but I’ve been using PayPal for work for over 4 years now, with an annual PayPal volume of about €1M across the US/UK/EU axis. I really don’t have anything good to say: the backend is terrible, customer service is poor, and the fees are higher than the competitors’. The only reason it’s in our selection is that it has a strong position among US consumers.
I won’t touch this stock purely on principle 
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Hard to pick a direction. The market is pricing in a sharp drop in EPS for the coming years. Now one would need to know why PayPal is losing market share, but it seems they don’t even know it themselves.
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Varma had increased its PayPal holding. PayPal is the only American bet in my portfolio. Quite bleak years behind in terms of share price development. The business, however, has grown in recent years. The stock has become drastically cheaper, both in absolute and relative terms. Time will tell if 2026 is a small air pocket or if the house of cards collapses completely. Share buybacks are definitely a good thing.
I have never heard of Varma’s PayPal ownership. Can you say where more information on this could be found? At what prices has Varma bought more?
I have also been eyeing PayPal stock for a long time, and in hindsight, I can be glad that I haven’t bought yet. Reddit is full of warnings about this stock, where it is described as a “value trap” and a “legacy” stock. However, I don’t completely agree with Reddit. My gut feeling is that PayPal is just “too big to fail”.
By the way, I heard an interesting thing: that US companies pay salaries to Filipino workers via PayPal so that the employee doesn’t have to pay taxes. In the Philippines, there are many workers who do these “graveyard shifts” in the middle of the night for US companies.
There is an article regarding Varma’s PayPal purchase
According to the article, other large purchases of PayPal have also been made by, among others, Norges Bank (Norges Bank bought a new PayPal position in the second quarter worth $921,570,000).
I also hopped on the PayPal journey myself, but with a position a few notches smaller, so it apparently didn’t make the news 
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Below is a piece about how PayPal is losing its position in e-commerce wallets as, for example, Apple Pay grows and BNPL services (Buy Now, Pay Later services, e.g., Klarna) become more common.
According to Bernstein, PayPal’s share has dropped from about 90 percent (in 2017) to around 40 percent. In addition, “guest checkouts” (purchases without logging in?) are decreasing, which is likely not a good thing for PayPal, and furthermore, shopping is concentrating more on Amazon, Walmart, and Shopify, where PayPal’s services are not as necessary, as their own services etc. are preferred instead.
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A tweeter considers PayPal cheap based on valuation metrics but warns that its competitive advantages have weakened.
Apple Pay and Google Pay are becoming increasingly dominant. The company is relying more on Braintree, which in turn puts more pressure on margins. The tweet also highlights how the leadership change and declining earnings forecasts are increasing market concern.
PayPal is no longer a high-growth fintech disruptor, but a legacy utility that must now compete on price and heavy reinvestment, which typically leads to a permanently lower valuation multiple.
https://x.com/qualityequities/status/2025596199110062129
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Something like this today:
And
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PayPal Subject to Acquisition Rumors!
According to unconfirmed reports, one potential buyer could be Stripe Inc.
PayPal and Stripe have declined to comment on the potential takeover rumors. PayPal’s share price closed up 7% following the announcement.
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