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Finance & Markets · Global

PayPal’s shares trail their 2021 high as earnings outlook draws scrutiny

The Motley Fool says PayPal’s shares remain more than 80% below their 2021 high, while its projected consensus profit for next year is $5.77 per share. The outlet also reports that PayPal’s second-quarter revenue rose 3% year over year on a currency-neutral basis and projects growth of more than 4% in next year’s revenue and more than 7% in earnings.

AI-assisted synthesis · Based on 3 outlets' reporting · Full text read from 1 of 3 outletsHow it's made

View timeline · 5 entries
3 outlets2 regionsLatest reporting 3 min read
Coverage: Center OnlyL 0 · C 3 · R 0

What happened

Key facts

  • PayPal shares are more than 80% below their 2021 high (per fool.com).
  • PayPal shares remain within sight of a multiyear low reached in February (per fool.com).
  • PayPal is priced at less than 10 times next year’s projected consensus per-share profit of $5.77 (per fool.com).
  • PayPal’s second-quarter revenue increased 3% year over year on a currency-neutral basis (per fool.com).
  • PayPal’s total transactions increased 8% year over year in the second quarter (per fool.com).
  • The Motley Fool says PayPal’s second-quarter progress is expected to support revenue growth of more than 4% and earnings growth of more than 7% next year.

The brief

PayPal’s shares remain more than 80% below their 2021 peak, while the company is priced at less than 10 times its projected consensus per-share profit of $5.77 for next year, according to The Motley Fool. The outlet’s account centers on whether PayPal’s business progress and outlook sit alongside the low valuation implied by that earnings multiple.

The Motley Fool says PayPal’s second-quarter revenue increased 3% year over year on a currency-neutral basis. It attributes that growth to an 8% rise in total transactions and 10% growth in total payment volume. Those figures describe recent operating performance; the outlet presents next year’s growth figures as projections rather than results already achieved.

The Motley Fool expects the second-quarter progress to support revenue growth above 4% next year and earnings growth exceeding 7%. The article does not give a specific forecast provider for those growth projections. Its stated consensus-profit figure is $5.77 per share, and it describes the share price as below 10 times that projected amount.

The outlet also places the current share price in relation to PayPal’s recent market history: shares remain within sight of a multiyear low reached in February, as well as far below their 2021 high. It says the company’s double-digit growth era may be in the past, while arguing that the business’s projected growth and current valuation warrant attention.

That assessment is the outlet’s view, not a reported company announcement. On competition, The Motley Fool says alternatives such as Stripe and Wise, along with Google Pay and Apple Pay, became more popular. It also describes PayPal’s strong position in online payments at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and says that position aligned with the subsequent rise in e-commerce.

The article offers these points as context for its account of PayPal’s share performance and growth outlook. The central figures in the outlook are therefore the $5.77 projected consensus profit per share and the outlet’s forecasts of more than 4% revenue growth and more than 7% earnings growth next year.

The article’s argument rests on those projections alongside the company’s reported second-quarter growth and the share price’s distance from its 2021 high; the forecasts remain projections, not confirmed future results.

Why it matters

  • PayPal’s investors face a valuation tied to projected consensus earnings of $5.77 per share, with shares trading at less than 10 times that figure.
  • The reported second-quarter growth measures were 3% in currency-neutral revenue, 8% in total transactions and 10% in total payment volume.
  • The Motley Fool’s outlook depends on projections of more than 4% revenue growth and more than 7% earnings growth next year.

What to watch next

  • Whether PayPal’s revenue growth next year exceeds the more-than-4% projection cited by The Motley Fool.
  • Whether PayPal’s earnings growth next year exceeds the outlet’s projection of more than 7%.
  • How PayPal’s reported operating measures compare with the $5.77 projected consensus per-share profit cited in the article.

How it's being covered

Coverage analysisShow details
3 source articles · 3 unique outlets
Coverage mix: Center Only· 3 Center
Where the outlets are based: US/Canada 67% · Europe 33%
Coverage mix
Center Only
Left
Center
Right
0 outlets
3 outlets
0 outlets
The marker shows coverage balance: each unique outlet counts once.
Geography
Where the outlets covering this story are based.
3 unique outletsDominant coverage: US/Canada
Coverage imbalance
  • Coverage is currently concentrated among Center-rated outlets (3 of 3 rated sources); comparatively few Left or Right-rated outlets have published on the event.
How we measure coverage

How outlets' accounts compare

Updat3 does not yet have enough full reports to compare how outlets framed this story.

Timeline

Developments from this story's sources, dated background we compiled and fact-checked, and our earlier coverage. Each row says which.
  1. PayPal began in December 1998 as Confinity, a digital-payments company founded by Max Levchin, Peter Thiel and Luke Nosek.
    Background · from our historical context
  2. PayPal became an independent publicly traded company again in July 2015.
    Background · from our historical context
  3. On Feb. 1, 2022, PayPal forecast 2022 revenue growth of 15%–17%, below its earlier expectation of about 18%, and said it would no longer provide long-term financial targets, prompting a sharp share-price decline.
    Background · from our historical context
  4. The company’s later effort to restore growth unfolded under new leadership: Alex Chriss became PayPal’s chief executive on Sept. 27, 2023, succeeding Dan Schulman.
    Background · from our historical context
  5. In January 2024, PayPal announced a set of new products intended to support growth and customer engagement.
    Background · from our historical context

How we got here

PayPal’s 2021 share-price peak came during a pandemic-era surge in online commerce and digital payments; by February 2022, investors were reassessing the company’s growth outlook. On Feb.

1, 2022, PayPal forecast 2022 revenue growth of 15%–17%, below its earlier expectation of about 18%, and said it would no longer provide long-term financial targets, prompting a sharp share-price decline. The company’s later effort to restore growth unfolded under new leadership: Alex Chriss became PayPal’s chief executive on Sept. 27, 2023, succeeding Dan Schulman.

Original sources

2 of 3 articles · US/Canada · Show all

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