Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

In this episode of Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing, Motley Fool contributors Travis Hoium, Lou Whiteman, and Rachel Warren discuss:

PayPal’s offer.How Stripe gets a deal done.Why PayPal says “no.” J&J’s earnings.Uber in D.C.How Uber became the incumbent.To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center. When you're ready to invest, check out this top 10 list of stocks to buy.

A full transcript is below.

This podcast was recorded on July 15, 2026.

Travis Hoium: PayPal may finally have a buyer. Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing starts now. Welcome to Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing. I'm Travis Hoium, joined today by Lou Whiteman and Rachel Warren, and guys, we may finally have a deal for the company that has been on the block, a value stock. What in the world are they doing there? PayPal. Rachel, what did we find out this morning and overnight about Stripe potentially buying the company?

Rachel Warren: Major breaking news reports. Payments giant Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have reportedly submitted a joint confidential proposal to buy PayPal for $60.50 a share. That would value PayPal at over $53 billion. As of the stock's closing price yesterday, that was a 28% premium based on their share price at the time. The deal is reportedly backed by about $50 billion in committed bank financing. Now, what's interesting about this is under the terms of the proposal, both Stripe and Advent would take equal stakes to run PayPal as a 50/50 joint partnership, and the idea would be to keep the company intact rather than breaking it up or selling off its core assets. Back to that $53 billion valuation based on the reported terms of the offer.

This is tracking to be larger than the years ago Musk's purchase of Twitter for 44 billion, but it also really highlights how far PayPal has fallen from its pandemic-era peak back in 2021. Back in those days, it posted a market cap of about $360 billion. This is interesting. This is in the middle of what some might call a chaotic internal transition for PayPal. They've got the new president and CEO. He's been pushing a turnaround plan targeting over 1 billion in cost savings.

Now, for Stripe, this is still a private company. We've heard a lot of reports that they might go public in the last few years. Their private valuation is reportedly around $160 billion. Absorbing PayPal could really be a massive way to scale their footprint. Obviously, grants them access to hundreds of millions of active consumer accounts; it would match that consumer brand that PayPal has, with Stripe's backend developer infrastructure could also hand them a place within the digital currency race as they absorb PayPal's stablecoin into their ecosystem. Now, we haven't seen any response from PayPal formally responding to these initial overtures. Wall Street seemed happy in early trading, but there's still a lot that we don't know, guys.

Travis Hoium: Lou, that is the thing here, is if you squint, some of this makes a little bit of sense. But then you look at the structure: 50/50 deal. Stripe is buying PayPal and not can't exactly fold it into your current business, at least seamlessly. This also puts Stripe in a little bit of a strange position because a lot of the payment companies have built on top of Stripe, and now you're a competitor with PayPal. What should we think about this strategically, and how does the private equity piece of this play into it in your mind?

Lou Whiteman: A lot of thoughts here. For once, so Stripe is building their own PayPal. I guess they don't worry about the competition as much as I do. I think you're right. I think that would be an awkward conversation, but they either feel like they have to get there, so they just need to, or they're not worried about that. Here's the thing. There is value in PayPal. There really is. It's a good brand. I don't particularly like the stock. I don't think this is going to work. For one thing, you always, with these things, somebody leaked it. Who leaked it? That's the acquirer who leaked it. The offer was made a month ago or so. This is [OVERLAPPING].

Travis Hoium: That was the other thing that stuck out to me is it's apparently been on the table for a while.

Lou Whiteman: Yes. This is trying to light a fire under PayPal to get a response. Here's the thing. The value in PayPal for me right now is their cash flow, 6 billion of free cash flow. This is a mature company. This is a company that I don't think has a natural pathway for growth. It makes sense to take it private. The advent side of this deal makes all the sense of the world. Use that cash flow to pay down the debt you take on and create value that way. That's just private equity 101? There's a tension here, though. Because a private equity firm has a different motivation and different set of goals than a growthy fintech. This 50/50 partnership, if done right, I guess, is possible.

But there is some inherent tension of running it for Advent's needs versus running it for whatever reason Stripe thinks they need it. It's not impossible, but there's a lot of ways you can go wrong. I think PayPal will reject this. The other thing to note here is because they're such a mature company, about 75% of their ownership is institutional. I'll be honest with you, if I was sitting at that desk, I don't want to own PayPal personally, but if I was one of those institutional holders and I was looking at that cash flow, I would want at least 80. It starts with 80. I don't think, and I could be way off here, but I don't think for the people who matter — if the shareholders that could pressure PayPal to the table — I think there's still a long way to go before this makes sense.

Travis Hoium: Lou, I wanted to ask about this: would be a private company being involved in buying a public company, which means that, in theory, unless they're going to go public through the back door of buying PayPal, which I don't think is probably the case. Like Rachel said, $160 billion valuation in private market, but that's private markets, and a lot of these companies, PayPal, Advent have taken it on the chin over the past year or so. That number may not actually be what the market is going to bear. They're going to have to come up with the capital. I think the reports are they make a couple billion dollars in free cash flow. I have seen numbers that almost all of this deal could be funded with debt through that private equity piece.

What I guess I worry about with a company like Stripe is this was supposed to be one of the hot fin techs, one of the great IPOs potentially coming to the market, and now you're looking at potentially levering up a business I don't know if it's fundamentally in decline, but there's at least a lot of questions about how profitable these payment infrastructure companies are going to be in the future. Is that a massive risk to think about? Stripe is just making a last-gasp effort to grow the business when there's not a lot of growth necessarily left in the core business.

Lou Whiteman: If Stripe is public, that would be a big worry of mine. I think another way of saying what you're saying is that I don't want their cash to go to just paying off the debt if they have opportunities to grow. The thing is, again, PayPal generates so much cash. I do think that whether it's Advent 100% or Stripe involved, I do think that the target cash flows can basically cover the debt or go a long way for there. I think it is more what can we partner with? How can we make this synergistic? But look, that $160 billion number, that is great until you have to try to deploy it. There's a lot of great reasons to be a private company, but one of the great things about being a public company is price discovery. There are millions of people giving their opinion every day on what the value of your shares are versus just a couple of people desperate to get in and a couple of employees desperate to get out. You tend to have higher valuations in private companies for that reason.

This might be more intriguing if they were trying to use it as some crazy way to go public, where they are just putting their arguably overvalued shares to work to swallow this up and generate that cash flow. That might be a neater deal. Then we're talking like Rocket Lab/Iridium, where a young growth company is buying a cash stream. This is just a convoluted mess right now. I see a world where PayPal is taken private. I think it makes a lot of sense in a PE portfolio. The Stripe element, I think they have to go significantly higher to make this work. I could be wrong here, but I do think that, and if so, how far can Stripe go?

Travis Hoium: Definitely a lot that we'll be covering in the future, because PayPal's been in one of these companies that looks like a value stock for a very long time, but the stock just hasn't worked for investors, and maybe this is the best path out. When we come back, we're going to talk about Johnson and Johnson's earnings. You're listening to Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing.

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Travis Hoium: Welcome back to Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing. Johnson and Johnson reported earnings this morning. Results look solid. At least premarket, the market didn't like what it saw, but Rachel, what do you think about the results from J&J?

Rachel Warren: A few key numbers here. Johnson and Johnson, they brought in just over $25 billion in revenue for the quarter. That was up about 7% from a year ago, adjusted earnings per share of $2.90. That was up about 5% year over year. Both on the top and bottom line, they beat Wall Street's expectations. Management actually hiked their full-year sales guidance to over $101 billion. That's putting Johnson & Johnson on track to cross the hundred-billion-dollar milestone for the very first time in roughly 140 years of company history, across all its iterations.

Now, what did investors like? There was a minor revenue miss in their medical device division, their med tech division. They saw a slight drop in sales for their Abiomed heart Pumps. But I think also we're seeing some hyperfixation on short-term patent anxieties. Now, this is something that flicks the life cycle of every pharmaceutical company, even the biggest and best in the world. For a long time, they have generated tremendous growth from their blockbuster drugs to Alora. That is a drug that is now seeing a lot of competition from biosimilars, and so that's dragging down some of their legacy.

Now, I'm a long-term shareholder of Johnson and Johnson. If you're a long-term investor in this business, I think today's drop, at least in the early morning hours, this is short-term market noise. This is a business that has increased its payout for over six decades every single year in counting. They have a very diversified revenue engine. They have a lot of newer business additions as well from new blockbuster drugs, and they're rolling out their next Gem Blockbusters, no major patent risks until the early 2030s beyond Sta. A lot to like about this business.

Lou Whiteman: Rachel summed up pretty well. One note on the med tech business, and I think it's an interesting aspect. We don't think of healthcare as cyclical because people are always getting sick and always need to get better. But there is a cyclical element in here, and I think the med tech part yesterday we saw Intuitive Surgical down a lot and a lot of device companies and supply companies fall. HCA, the big public hospital chain, said the number of surgeries they performed in the quarter are down. To me, that says that whatever's going on in the med tech business, that isn't a J&J problem. That isn't anything specific to STEM. That's a macro problem. But it is, I think, as investors, that's just the cyclicality of healthcare. We don't want to get political here, but there are a lot of reasons why that surgeries may go down right now, from healthcare coverage to economic woes. We saw this in the pandemic, where surgeries just went down. That's probably the most obvious example. But I think for J&J, it's investors and Intuitive Surgical, too. I don't think there's anything to worry about when you see it affecting everybody, but it is just an interesting odd thing. I don't think we think with healthcare is that there is a cyclicality.

Travis Hoium: You would think that raising guidance, I think both on the top and bottom line, would be a good thing for a stock, but investors don't seem to think that at least early in trading shares are down about 0.6% as we're recording. We'll see where this one goes in the future. When we come back, we're going to talk about the drama that Uber is having in Washington, D.C. You're listening to Motley Fool Hidden Investing.

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Travis Hoium: Welcome to Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing. We've talked a lot on this show, at least, especially on Wednesdays, about Uber autonomous vehicles and the future of that business long term. I'm a bull on Uber's case as the disruptor and the aggregator, but Lou, seems like they're taking a little bit of a different approach in D.C.

Lou Whiteman: They are not acting like a disruptor anymore, Travis. Uber is acting like a nervous dinosaur, a nervous incumbent, period.

Travis Hoium: I actually hate that you're making, I think, a compelling argument that that is the case.

Lou Whiteman: I'm not going to rub it in your face and say we were talking about this a year ago, Travis. We should have seen this coming. But look, the good news here is that for all of us is that I think the age of autonomy has arrived. Companies tend to act as partners and be friendly and work together when technology is experimental, when we're just trying to figure it out. The second that it has arrived, that's when the knives come out, and they fight, and that is really what's going on. In Washington, specifically, Waymo would like to just operate Waymo. Uber opposes the bill that would allow this, and they have been lobbying instead for a system that will require Robotaxis to operate on a ride-hailing network that also uses human drivers. Do you catch that? They would like Waymo to have to go to an existing third-party network. I don't know who that would be. In Lyft, maybe, but I think we know what they're trying to do.

Here's the thing. Uber doesn't have a driverless solution. That was their choice, and it probably was a good choice, considering the money that they'd have to spend, but their product at this moment is their inventory of customers. It is very important for them to make sure that that product is exposed to the surface that you can't bypass that product, 15 years ago, Uber was the disruptor. They were the ones trying to tear down regulations. They were the ones trying to rip out the rules. Now they are the defenders of the horse carriage in the age of the automobile. Their goal is to use regulatory, capture regulation to slow down the transition, not disrupt the status quo that works pretty well for them. It will work for a while. It's a very compelling story. Uber is up there talking about all of the jobs that will be lost, which is really funny if you look back at their narrative over the years. But it won't last forever, and as an investor, I think we have to be aware of that.

Travis Hoium: Yes, Rachel, the interesting thing here is, it seems like Uber is not opposed to autonomous vehicles. They just want to make sure that their business model is still intact and is, like Lou said, not disrupted. The other angle to this, and the thing that we've talked about a couple of different times, is their strategy is to basically arm as many autonomous vehicle companies as possible. We can get to Lucid and the challenges that they've had this week, at least in the market. But that's one of the companies that they helped fund. Lucid is working with Nuro to bring autonomous vehicles to market. Uber is going to be one of the buyers of those vehicles. That's not the only company. There's a half dozen or a dozen companies. But none of them are really hitting market at scale yet. I think that seems to be the challenge for Uber is you can't use that network to build the autonomous vehicle fleet if the fleet isn't quite ready to hit the road.

Rachel Warren: I think that's right. There's a couple of things to look at here. First, just taking a step back, you look at Uber's history, which Lou touched upon briefly. Over a decade ago, Uber won the ride-sharing war by using aggressive lobbying to crush a lot of the local tax monopolies. Today, they're facing a different threat from driverless cars. Maybe the old playbook isn't working, and as Lou said, there is a lot of lobbying happening on the Hill, trying to block standalone AVs from taking over, pushing for laws that would force taxes to work on these hybrid networks. There was documentation reporting that came out that showed that, in New Jersey, for example, Uber tried to pass a rule that would force any driverless company to have human drivers handle 85% of their. We saw Uber, Waymo, and their partnership pilot in Phoenix last month.

Uber used to pride itself on being this asset-light tech company that didn't own cars. They have invested billions to buy the driverless hardware, invest in EV companies, like you noted. I mean, hundreds of millions of dollars invested in Lucid. Uber owns, I believe, an 11.5% stake. They plan to buy thousands of their electric vehicles. We saw these viral rumors of Lucid bankruptcy, and then Lucid's executives broke their silence and said, these rumors are completely false. I think it shows how fast Lucid is burning through cash that there was such a deep market panic. But you look at Uber; they have scattered hundreds of millions of dollars across different partners. Lucid, Neuro Cruz, the list goes on, but none of those bets are really scaling yet.

Meanwhile, Waymo is dominating the AV space. They've cleared over 500,000 commercial trips every single week at this point, probably more by now. That's a number that came out a number of months ago. Uber, I think, is still trying to catch up. I do think there's a very real concern here for Uber. I think we're seeing those cracks start to show. It doesn't mean they can't catch up, but I think that they're realizing that the strategies that worked a decade ago are not going to work in the current age, and I think that's what they're trying to figure out.

Lou Whiteman: I got bad news for Lucid holders because I know we're supposed to believe that, a lot like other electric vehicle companies, they are this close to an autonomous solution. As you say, Uber and Lucid are already partners are already working together. Right now today, Uber could use one third of the cash sitting in their bank to just buy Lucid. If Lucid had a valid or anywhere close to happening autonomous project, that is the easy button for Uber. Instead, they're off maybe buying other delivery companies. I think that says all we need to know. I don't want to hear a single bit of hype about Lucid's autonomy being anywhere close; if it was, they'd be a subsidiary of Uber.

Travis Hoium: It will be very interesting to watch this because the vehicles like Lucid are hitting the road. I'm in the Minneapolis area. This was often seen as one of the last places that was going to get autonomous vehicles. My wife, once or twice a week, says, Hey, I saw another Waymo downtown. I know that May Mobility is here testing in one of the suburbs that we live near. Slowly but surely, we're getting to the business model that the future is going to look like, but it seems like Uber is now on a little bit of a defensive position. As an investor, I want to be playing offense, not defense. That does make me a little bit nervous. Hopefully, we'll learn more about that in the future.

As always, people on the program may have interest in the stocks they talk about, and The Motley Fool may have one more recommendation, so don't buy yourselves based solely on what you hear. All personal finance content follows The Motley Fool's editorial standards, and it's not approved by advertisers. Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. See our full advertising disclosure. Please check out our shown. For Lou Whitman, Rachel Warren, and Kristi Waterworth, behind the glass. I'm Travis Hoium. Thanks for listening. We'll see you here tomorrow.

In its upcoming report, Paypal (PYPL - Free Report) is predicted by Wall Street analysts to post quarterly earnings of $1.28 per share, reflecting a decline of 8.6% compared to the same period last year. Revenues are forecasted to be $8.51 billion, representing a year-over-year increase of 2.7%.

Over the last 30 days, there has been a downward revision of 0.2% in the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter, leading to its current level. This signifies the covering analysts' collective reconsideration of their initial forecasts over the course of this timeframe.

Before a company reveals its earnings, it is vital to take into account any changes in earnings projections. These revisions play a pivotal role in predicting the possible reactions of investors toward the stock. Multiple empirical studies have consistently shown a strong association between trends in earnings estimates and the short-term price movements of a stock.

While it's common for investors to rely on consensus earnings and revenue estimates for assessing how the business may have performed during the quarter, exploring analysts' forecasts for key metrics can yield valuable insights.

That said, let's delve into the average estimates of some Paypal metrics that Wall Street analysts commonly model and monitor.

Based on the collective assessment of analysts, 'Net Revenues- Revenues from other value added services' should arrive at $857.75 million. The estimate indicates a year-over-year change of +1.3%.

According to the collective judgment of analysts, 'Net Revenues- Transaction revenues' should come in at $7.66 billion. The estimate points to a change of +3% from the year-ago quarter.

Analysts expect 'Total Payment Volume (TPV)' to come in at $474.52 billion. The estimate is in contrast to the year-ago figure of $443.55 billion.

The consensus among analysts is that 'Transaction margin' will reach 43.8%. The estimate is in contrast to the year-ago figure of 46.4%.

Analysts' assessment points toward 'Active accounts' reaching 440 . Compared to the present estimate, the company reported 438 in the same quarter last year.

View all Key Company Metrics for Paypal here>>>

Shares of Paypal have demonstrated returns of +30.7% over the past month compared to the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.4% change. With a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), PYPL is expected to mirror the overall market performance in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> .

PayPal Holdings, Inc. remains a Buy as its strategic positioning in stablecoins and AI-driven payments offsets current margin headwinds and lowball acquisition offers. PYPL's branded checkout faces structural pressure from frictionless card-linked wallets, driving up customer acquisition costs and compressing margins. With 440M active accounts and a dominant Venmo presence, PYPL's global scale and wallet infrastructure position it as a potential winner in the digital finance transformation.

PayPal Today

$55.85 -0.97 (-1.71%)

As of 07/21/2026 04:00 PM Eastern

52-Week Range$38.46▼

$79.50Dividend Yield1.00%

P/E Ratio10.48

Price Target$54.61

Since its founding in December 1998, PayPal NASDAQ: PYPL has grown alongside e-commerce into a financial services giant. Today, the company’s market cap exceeds $50 billion. But along the way, the stock has not been kind to investors.

Following its return to public trading in July 2015 after being spun off from eBay NASDAQ: EBAY, PayPal surged to its all-time high of $308.53 per share in July 2021. But it has been a difficult ride for shareholders, with PYPL down nearly 82% since then.

Get PayPal alerts:

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL) Price Chart for Wednesday, July, 22, 2026

But last week, long-term holders were treated to an unexpected catalyst: Stripe and private equity firm Advent International proposed a joint $53.4 billion acquisition of PayPal. Shares rose up as much as 19% in pre-market trading on July 15, finishing the day up nearly 16%.

In the days that followed, PayPal’s board declined the offer, stating that the bid was too low. Nonetheless, a deal could still materialize.

In the meantime, shares have continued to climb above their pre-bid level. Here’s what investors need to know about the digital payment platform’s future, and whether or not the stock’s recent turnaround can be sustained.

Details of the $53 Billion Bid PayPal Passed OnPayPal Today

$55.85 -0.97 (-1.71%)

As of 07/21/2026 04:00 PM Eastern

52-Week Range$38.46▼

$79.50Dividend Yield1.00%

P/E Ratio10.48

Price Target$54.61

Seeing a potentially mispriced company, the offer was priced at $60.50 per share—about 6.5% higher than the stock's July 20 closing price, and around 28% above its July 14 pre-announceemnt close.

Had the bid been accepted, at $53.4 billion, it would have been the largest fintech acquisition in history. Stripe and Advent reportedly planned to hold equal ownership stakes in PayPal rather than divide the company’s assets.

The move makes sense for privately-held Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform that provides global payment processing, subscription management, and fraud prevention services to businesses.

But that offer was not aimed at absorbing PayPal’s 439 million active consumer and merchant accounts around the world. According to Tech Times, the bid was aimed at securing PayPal’s “consumer-facing stablecoin distribution network and the peer-to-peer trust relationship those accounts represent.

PayPal’s Stablecoin Is the Ultimate PrizeLaunched on Aug. 7, 2023, PayPal’s native stablecoin—PayPal USD (PYUSD)—represents the next chapter in the company’s payment facilitation playbook.

Built on the Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) blockchains ,PYUSD is designed to remain worth $1 and is backed by cash and short-term U.S. government debt. Eligible PayPal users can currently earn a variable 4% annual reward by holding it in their accounts.

But more importantly, Visa NYSE: V added PYUSD to its stablecoin settlement platform, allowing participating issuers and acquirers to use the token for certain settlement transactions across Visa’s network. The integration could expand PYUSD’s role in cross-border and on-chain payments as Visa builds out its stablecoin infrastructure.

Visa Today

V

Visa

$355.94 -4.63 (-1.28%)

As of 07/21/2026 03:59 PM Eastern

This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.

52-Week Range$293.89▼

$365.14Dividend Yield0.75%

P/E Ratio31.00

Price Target$398.36

According to Visa’s 2025 annual report, the company reported 4.7 billion Visa-branded cards with total volume of $16.7 trillion last year.

Meanwhile, industry consultancy firm Grand View Research forecasts the global stablecoins segment of the decentralized finance market to grow to nearly $183 billion by 2033 from $3.3 billion in 2025—good for an almost comical compound annual growth rate of 69%.

As part of its expanded payment settlement rails, Visa’s decision to embrace the PYUSD stablecoin to allow partners to settle fiat currency-backed transactions directly on-chain is poised to be a massive windfall for PayPal.

At the same time, PayPal continues to expand PYUSD’s utility as a low-cost, near-instant payment and transfer mechanism within its digital wallet ecosystem on Venmo and PayPal.

Together with the $60.50 offering, this suggests that at current prices, shares of the San Jose, California-based firm could be dramatically undervalued.

Is PayPal Underpriced?PayPal Stock Forecast Today12-Month Stock Price Forecast:
$54.61
-2.22% Downside

Hold
Based on 46 Analyst Ratings

Current Price$55.85High Forecast$100.00Average Forecast$54.61Low Forecast$32.00PayPal Stock Forecast Details

For now, Wall Street has yet to price in the stablecoin story.

Based on the 46 analysts who cover the stock, PayPal carries a consensus Hold rating and an average 12-month price target implies nearly 2% downside from current prices.

While that may be discounting the underlying price drivers PayPal is set to enjoy, it also overlooks solid fundamentals and sound management.

In Q1, revenue growth stood at 7.21%—a dramatic year-over-year increase from 1.2% in Q1 2025.

Similarly, after four consecutive quarters of free cash flow (FCF) contraction, PayPal posted back-to-back quarters of FCF in Q4 2025 and Q1 at nearly 354% and 155%, respectively.

Earnings per share (EPS) offers another clue. Despite their struggles, PayPal has beat on earnings in nine of the last 11 quarters, including seven of the last eight. In Q1, the company reported EPS of $1.34, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27, and with a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 10.66, PayPal’s earnings are expected to grow 8.27% in the next year.

In the company's Q1 earnings call, PayPal’s new CEO Enrique Lores, who officially took on that role on March 1, reaffirmed the company’s focus on three lines of business: Checkout/PayPal, Consumer Financial Services/Venmo, and Payment Services/Crypto—the latter of which underscores the significance of PYUSD.

Management also expects at least $1.5 billion of gross run-rate savings over the next two to three years as broad AI and automation adoption drives down operating costs. Ultimately, these factors should continue to fuel a long-awaited rebound for the company, which next reports earnings on July 28.

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The market expects Paypal (PYPL - Free Report) to deliver a year-over-year decline in earnings on higher revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended June 2026. This widely-known consensus outlook is important in assessing the company's earnings picture, but a powerful factor that might influence its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates.

The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report, which is expected to be released on July 28. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

While management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call will mostly determine the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations, it's worth having a handicapping insight into the odds of a positive EPS surprise.

Zacks Consensus EstimateThis technology platform and digital payments company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.28 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -8.6%.

Revenues are expected to be $8.52 billion, up 2.8% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions TrendThe consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 0.22% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

Investors should keep in mind that an aggregate change may not always reflect the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts.

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Earnings WhisperEstimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. This insight is at the core of our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction).

The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.

Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.

A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.

Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for Paypal?For Paypal, the Most Accurate Estimate is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bearish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -0.02%.

On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #3.

So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Paypal will beat the consensus EPS estimate.

Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?While calculating estimates for a company's future earnings, analysts often consider to what extent it has been able to match past consensus estimates. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Paypal would post earnings of $1.27 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.34, delivering a surprise of +5.51%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates three times.

Bottom LineAn earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.

That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

Paypal doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 21st, 2026

Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. decreased its position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL – Free Report) by 69.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 159,183 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 356,800 shares during the period. Amova Asset Management Americas Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $7,198,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in PayPal by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,276,205,000 after acquiring an additional 5,534,462 shares in the last quarter. Rule One Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at $2,043,000. Step Capital Management Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter worth $6,130,000. Easterly Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in PayPal by 705.2% in the fourth quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 100,651 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,876,000 after purchasing an additional 88,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in PayPal by 76.0% during the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 54,458 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,430,000 after buying an additional 23,516 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at PayPal In related news, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.46, for a total transaction of $66,128.02. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,443.56. This trade represents a 45.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 10,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.96, for a total value of $536,170.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at $2,076,687.32. This represents a 20.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 20,612 shares of company stock worth $966,623 in the last ninety days. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

PayPal Trading Up 0.5% PayPal stock opened at $56.82 on Tuesday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.46 and a 52 week high of $79.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.12 billion, a PE ratio of 10.66, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.33. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.13.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.07. PayPal had a return on equity of 25.02% and a net margin of 15.00%.The company had revenue of $8.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.33 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. PayPal’s payout ratio is 10.51%.

PayPal News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

Positive Sentiment: Takeover chatter is the main catalyst, as reports say Stripe and Advent have put forward a multi-billion-dollar bid that could force a higher valuation for PayPal. Reuters: How PayPal went from Wall Street favorite to unwilling merger target Positive Sentiment: Several commentators argue the offer may set a floor for PayPal’s value, which can support the stock if investors expect a better deal or competing interest. The Motley Fool: PayPal: Is Being Bought Out What’s Best for the Company Right Now? Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades from Barclays and Clear Street add another supportive angle, suggesting some on Wall Street see improving upside despite the company’s challenges. American Banking News: PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Upgraded at Barclays Neutral Sentiment: PayPal remains a heavily watched stock, but the “trending” coverage itself does not change fundamentals and may just reflect investor speculation ahead of earnings. Yahoo Finance: PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL) Is a Trending Stock Neutral Sentiment: Near-term earnings expectations are mixed, with Wall Street expecting a single-digit EPS decline next quarter, which keeps attention on fundamentals rather than just takeover headlines. Barchart: What to Expect From PayPal’s Next Quarterly Earnings Report Negative Sentiment: Longer-term articles highlight that PayPal has fallen from favor, faces stronger competition from Apple Pay, and is now being viewed as a takeover target rather than a market leader. Reuters: How PayPal went from Wall Street favorite to unwilling merger target Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several equities analysts have weighed in on PYPL shares. Piper Sandler cut their target price on PayPal from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 29th. Citigroup upped their price target on PayPal from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Barclays upgraded PayPal from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on PayPal from $41.00 to $43.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.61.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on PYPL

PayPal Company Profile (Free Report)

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a global digital payments platform that enables consumers and merchants to send and receive payments online, on mobile devices and at the point of sale. The company provides a broad set of payment solutions, including a digital wallet, merchant payment processing, checkout services, invoicing and fraud-management tools. PayPal’s platform is designed to support e-commerce, in-person retail and person-to-person transfers, targeting both individual consumers and businesses of varying sizes.

Key products and services in PayPal’s portfolio include the PayPal wallet and checkout ecosystem, the Venmo peer-to-peer mobile app, Braintree’s developer-focused payment gateway, Xoom for international money transfers, and PayPal Credit and buy-now-pay-later options.

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Paypal (PYPL - Free Report) has been one of the most searched-for stocks on Zacks.com lately. So, you might want to look at some of the facts that could shape the stock's performance in the near term.

Shares of this technology platform and digital payments company have returned +33.1% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.6% change. The Zacks Financial Transaction Services industry, to which Paypal belongs, has gained 10.1% over this period. Now the key question is: Where could the stock be headed in the near term?

Although media reports or rumors about a significant change in a company's business prospects usually cause its stock to trend and lead to an immediate price change, there are always certain fundamental factors that ultimately drive the buy-and-hold decision.

Earnings Estimate RevisionsRather than focusing on anything else, we at Zacks prioritize evaluating the change in a company's earnings projection. This is because we believe the fair value for its stock is determined by the present value of its future stream of earnings.

We essentially look at how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to reflect the impact of the latest business trends. And if earnings estimates go up for a company, the fair value for its stock goes up. A higher fair value than the current market price drives investors' interest in buying the stock, leading to its price moving higher. This is why empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.

For the current quarter, Paypal is expected to post earnings of $1.28 per share, indicating a change of -8.6% from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed -0.2% over the last 30 days.

The consensus earnings estimate of $5.32 for the current fiscal year indicates a year-over-year change of +0.2%. This estimate has changed +0.3% over the last 30 days.

For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $5.76 indicates a change of +8.4% from what Paypal is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed -0.4%.

With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool -- the Zacks Rank -- is a more conclusive indicator of a stock's near-term price performance, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for Paypal.

The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:

12 Month EPS

Revenue Growth ForecastWhile earnings growth is arguably the most superior indicator of a company's financial health, nothing happens as such if a business isn't able to grow its revenues. After all, it's nearly impossible for a company to increase its earnings for an extended period without increasing its revenues. So, it's important to know a company's potential revenue growth.

For Paypal, the consensus sales estimate for the current quarter of $8.52 billion indicates a year-over-year change of +2.8%. For the current and next fiscal years, $34.31 billion and $35.75 billion estimates indicate +3.4% and +4.2% changes, respectively.

Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryPaypal reported revenues of $8.35 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +7.2%. EPS of $1.34 for the same period compares with $1.33 a year ago.

Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $8.11 billion, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +2.96%. The EPS surprise was +5.51%.

Over the last four quarters, Paypal surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times. The company topped consensus revenue estimates three times over this period.

ValuationWithout considering a stock's valuation, no investment decision can be efficient. In predicting a stock's future price performance, it's crucial to determine whether its current price correctly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects.

Comparing the current value of a company's valuation multiples, such as its price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), to its own historical values helps ascertain whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, whereas comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of how reasonable its stock price is.

As part of the Zacks Style Scores system, the Zacks Value Style Score (which evaluates both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics) organizes stocks into five groups ranging from A to F (A is better than B; B is better than C; and so on), making it helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.

Paypal is graded A on this front, indicating that it is trading at a discount to its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.

Bottom LineThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about Paypal. However, its Zacks Rank #3 does suggest that it may perform in line with the broader market in the near term.

On July 15, it was reported that privately held fintech company Stripe and private equity firm Advent International made a joint offer to acquire PayPal (PYPL 0.24%) for around $53 billion; the stock surged more than 17% on the news.

But would selling make sense for PayPal right now? From a company perspective, no. From a shareholder perspective, possibly -- just not right now.

PayPal is in the middle of a turnaround; in February it appointed a new CEO, Enrique Lores, who was serving in the same position at HP. Typically, if you switch up leadership and reorganize your company, it's because you think the move can turn things around, and you want to give it more than a few months to see how it plays out.

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Stripe and Advent's $53 billion is a lowball offer At $53 billion, their offer equates to $60.50 per share, 30% above PayPal's closing price on July 10. PayPal's stock has been struggling, yes, but it was just trading around that price in early December. That "premium" doesn't quite seem high enough, especially after PayPal's recent run-up; at market close on July 15, its share price was $55.52.

Share price aside, PayPal still generates respectable free cash flow (FCF). Last year, it had $6.4 billion in FCF, meaning the business would essentially pay off the acquisition cost in less than nine years, assuming it didn't grow. Between the cash flow and the $13.5 billion that PayPal had in cash, cash equivalents, and investments at the end of the first quarter, such a deal would be a steal for Stripe and Advent.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Should shareholders want PayPal sold? I think that if you're a PayPal investor who's grown impatient with the company's "turnaround" story, you'd be OK with it selling at the right price. Whether you're taking profits as a long-term investor or cutting losses short, it could just be a way to wash your hands of the company.

The good news is that the price for Stripe and Advent's offer is public, so if PayPal rejects it on price grounds rather than because it's not interested in selling at all, we could see higher buyout offers coming in. This initial proposal seems more like a "let's feel it out and see if they bite" type of offer.

On the other end, though, PayPal has been diligent about returning value to its shareholders through stock buybacks -- it returned $1.5 billion in the first quarter -- so investors have a greater incentive to be patient during PayPal's (ideal) transition period.

I don't think selling PayPal is in the best interests of either the company or its shareholders, but the latter might easily be convinced at the right price.

Aaron Webster, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Risk Officer at PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL 0.24%), disposed of 3,883 shares on July 15, 2026, according to a recent SEC Form 4 filing.

Transaction summaryMetricValueShares sold3,883Transaction value~$183,938Post-transaction shares (directly held)63,256Post-transaction value$3.5 millionTransaction value based on SEC Form 4 weighted average sale price ($47.37); post-transaction value based on July 15, 2026 market close ($55.52).

Key questionsWhat was the primary driver for this transaction?
The disposition of shares was a non-discretionary action taken to cover tax liabilities resulting from the vesting of equity awards, specifically, restricted stock units (RSUs). This automatic process is part of the executive's compensation agreement and does not reflect a discretionary change in investment stance regarding the company.How much equity does the insider retain following this disposal?
Aaron Webster retains a direct stake of 63,256 shares, representing 0.0072% of the company's outstanding equity. He also possesses 25,566 RSUs, indicating his total beneficial ownership provides continued alignment with shareholder interests.What is the context of the underlying equity awards?
The shares were part of a restricted stock unit grant that follows a three-year vesting schedule. Following the initial one-year cliff, the awards vest in quarterly installments, indicating that similar tax-related dispositions are likely to occur at regular intervals as further tranches vest.Company OverviewMetricValueShare Price (as of market close 2026-07-15)$55.52Market Capitalization$50.0 billionRevenue (TTM)$33.7 billionNet Income (TTM)$5.1 billionCompany SnapshotPayPal Holdings, Inc. operates a comprehensive digital payments platform offering services through multiple brands including PayPal, Venmo, Braintree, Xoom, Zettle, Hyperwallet, Honey, and Paidy, enabling consumers and merchants to conduct financial transactions across approximately 200 markets in roughly 100 currencies.The company generates revenue through transaction fees, merchant services, consumer financial products including PayPal Credit, and value-added services such as point-of-sale solutions and foreign exchange services across its diversified brand portfolio.PayPal serves a global customer base comprising individual consumers, small-to-medium enterprises, and large merchants seeking digital payment solutions, with particular strength in cross-border remittance services and consumer-to-consumer money transfer capabilities.PayPal Holdings operates as a leading global digital payments infrastructure provider with substantial scale, evidenced by its $33.7 billion TTM revenue base and $50 billion market capitalization. The company maintains a competitive advantage through its extensive multi-brand ecosystem, established merchant relationships, and technological platform that facilitates transactions across diverse geographies and currencies.

With 23,800 employees, PayPal continues to expand its service offerings while navigating the evolving digital payments landscape characterized by increased competition and regulatory scrutiny.

What this transaction means for investorsThe July 15 sale of PayPal stock by Aaron Webster is not a cause for investor concern. The transaction was made to fulfill tax withholding obligations as a result of the vesting of RSUs.

Webster’s disposition happened to coincide with news reports that PayPal received a buyout offer from competitor Stripe, which partnered with a private equity firm to acquire the company.  The proposal is for $60.50 per share.

PayPal stock fell on hard times, dropping to a 52-week low of $38.46 in February and struggled to recover since, that is, until Stripe’s offer. The digital payments veteran has not met Wall Street’s expectations in the midst of fierce competition, leading to share price declines. It posted first-quarter sales growth of 7% year over year to $8.4 billion.

However, a new CEO, Enrique Lores, took over in March to help boost PayPal’s performance. He quickly reorganized the company and made leadership changes. Now, Stripe’s proposal adds a new twist to PaPal’s turnaround story.

Robert Izquierdo has positions in PayPal. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends PayPal. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: short September 2026 $47.50 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Shares of popular digital payments platform, PayPal (PYPL +0.25%), soared 23% this week (as of noon ET on Friday) after payments peer Stripe and private equity firm Advent International offered to buy the company for $60.50 per share. After months of speculation that a union between the companies might be in the works, the market finally has a tangible offer price to digest.

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However, while shares have soared on the potential deal, it seems to be far from a "lock" to reach the finish line. Reuters reported that PayPal's board -- according to a person familiar with the matter -- believes the deal undervalues the company's long-term potential as it executes upon its turnaround strategy. The company's board is not alone in this thinking.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Famed investor Michael Burry, the focus of "The Big Short" for his bet against the housing market, believes the deal greatly undervalues PayPal. Using his intrinsic value methodology, Burry believes PayPal is worth closer to $110 or $115 -- roughly 80% higher than this week's $60.50 offer. With PayPal trading at just 10.5 times earnings -- even after this week's rise -- I would tend to agree and intend to hold my shares until we see what finally happens.

Ultimately, PayPal's growth story is in the rearview mirror, but the market's pricing on the stock already accounts for that, in my opinion. I believe this is especially true when you consider PayPal's businesses from a "sum-of-the-parts" perspective. PayPal's businesses include its namesake payment processing, its white-label Braintree operations, its growing suite of financial services, and its crown jewel, Venmo, a peer-to-peer payments app with nearly 100 million users. Whereas PayPal as a whole isn't a growth story anymore, Venmo has grown total payment volume by double-digits for six straight quarters and would undoubtedly be appealing to Stripe.

Time will tell whether higher offers come in for PayPal's shares, but I'm happy to keep holding in the meantime, as I view PYPL shares as undervalued enough to hold right now -- though a declined offer could weigh on shares.

Josh Kohn-Lindquist has positions in PayPal. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends PayPal. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: short September 2026 $47.50 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

17.7.2026 11:04, PYPL

Představenstvo společnosti PayPal údajně považuje společnou nabídku na převzetí od firmy Stripe a investiční skupiny Advent International v hodnotě 53 mld. USD za nedostatečnou. Předložený návrh oceňuje akcie PayPal na 60,50 USD za kus. Vedení PayPalu je však přesvědčeno, že tato částka podhodnocuje potenciál budoucího obratu společnosti a že samotná transakce čelí regulačním i finančním překážkám.

Společnost PayPal prozatím na nabídku oficiálně nereagovala a očekává se, že její představenstvo bude o tomto návrhu nadále jednat.

Akcie PayPal Akcie PayPal (PYPL) v předburzovní fázi obchodování klesají o 2,08 % na 55,55 USD.

Zdroj: Reuters

Michal Šnobl
Fio banka, a.s.
Prohlášení

Související odkazy Americké akcie otevírají na růstové vlně, výsledková sezóna pokračuje druhým dnem Stripe a Advent chtějí údajně koupit PayPal za více než 53 mld. USD (+pohledy analytiků) PayPal zveřejnil výsledky za 1Q: Nový CEO sází na AI, výhled ale sráží slabší Evropa a cestovní ruch PayPal údajně nejedná o svém prodeji se společností Stripe ani s nikým jiným Akvizici PayPalu údajně zvažuje společnost Stripe

In the latest trading session, Paypal (PYPL - Free Report) closed at $56.73, marking a +2.18% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.51% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.47%.

Coming into today, shares of the technology platform and digital payments company had gained 31.94% in the past month. In that same time, the Business Services sector gained 2.81%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.53%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Paypal in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on July 28, 2026. In that report, analysts expect Paypal to post earnings of $1.28 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 8.57%. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $8.52 billion, showing a 2.75% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.

For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $5.32 per share and a revenue of $34.31 billion, signifying shifts of +0.19% and +3.44%, respectively, from the last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Paypal should also be noted by investors. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.3% higher. Currently, Paypal is carrying a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Paypal's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 10.45. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 11.35, so one might conclude that Paypal is trading at a discount comparatively.

We can also see that PYPL currently has a PEG ratio of 1.39. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. As the market closed yesterday, the Financial Transaction Services industry was having an average PEG ratio of 0.87.

The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 82, this industry ranks in the top 34% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.

PayPal (PYPL +2.16%) investors finally got some good news on Wednesday, and it arrived in the form of a takeover offer. Privately held payments company Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have offered $60.50 per share in cash for PayPal, valuing the company at more than $53 billion, CNBC reported.

Shares of the payments specialist soared 17% on the news, closing at $55.52.

Famed investor Michael Burry, best known for his bet against the housing market chronicled in "The Big Short," didn't wait long to weigh in. In a post published Wednesday on his Substack, Cassandra Unchained, Burry, who counts PayPal among his portfolio holdings, wrote that the bid "is at 1.21x IV15 and simply too low."

Is he right? His math, and some of PayPal's own numbers, make a case worth taking seriously.

Image source: PayPal.

Burry's math Burry values companies using intrinsic value, or "IV," estimates. The labels refer to different sets of assumptions, with IV15 representing what a minority investor would pay for shares, by his description.

The problem with the offer, in his view, is that buying a whole company should cost meaningfully more than buying a minority stake.

"A control premium should take any buyout well above IV15, and 21% more is not nearly enough," he wrote.

His estimate of what PayPal is actually worth sits far above the bid.

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"True intrinsic value by my methodology is around IV8-IV10," Burry wrote. "IV10 is $75-$80. IV8 is $110-$115. A buyout should be in that range." Adding a control premium to the low end of that range, he figures a winning bid lands at roughly $100 per share.

And he isn't waiting around to find out at current prices.

"$60.50 is just too low. I am not selling, and I believe it is only an opening bid," he wrote.

Burry's valuation figures are one investor's estimates, of course, not appraisals. But you don't need his framework to see why $60.50 could undersell the company.

PayPal's own numbers help the case The premium is smaller than it looks. The offer came in 28% above Tuesday's closing price of $47.37. But that price followed a brutal stretch for the stock. Shares traded as high as $79.50 within the past year, which means the bid sits about 24% below the stock's own 52-week high.

The offer also looks inexpensive against PayPal's cash generation. The company produced $1.7 billion of adjusted free cash flow in the first quarter alone, up 25% year over year, and it has returned $6 billion to stockholders through share repurchases over the trailing 12 months. At the first quarter's pace of cash generation, a $53 billion price works out to less than eight times a year of adjusted free cash flow. The offer also values PayPal at about 11 times earnings.

To be fair, there's a reason the stock was at $47 in the first place. PayPal's growth has been sluggish. Revenue rose 7% year over year in the first quarter, but transaction margin dollars, a key profitability measure for the company, rose just 3%.

Active accounts came in at 439 million, up only 1% from a year earlier and down slightly from the prior quarter -- user growth has stalled. And management's full-year guidance calls for adjusted earnings per share ranging from a low-single-digit decline to slightly positive.

This is not a business commanding a growth premium. But it doesn't need to be for the bid to look light.

The negotiation itself could push the price higher, too. Stripe was reportedly interested in PayPal as early as February, and the current offer includes roughly $50 billion in committed bank financing. PayPal hasn't responded yet -- CNBC reported that the company's board will meet as soon as Monday, July 20, to discuss the offer. If the board rejects $60.50 as inadequate, the bidders can walk away or raise.

Notably, the market isn't fully convinced. At $55.52, shares trade about 8% below the offer price, suggesting investors see some chance the deal stalls or falls apart. If talks collapse, the stock could give back much of Wednesday's gain.

Ultimately, I think Burry's core point holds up. The offer prices PayPal's free cash flow cheaply, and it sits well below where the stock traded a year ago. Whether that produces a higher bid is out of shareholders' hands. But with the board's response possibly just days away, current shareholders arguably have little reason to rush to the exits at a price below the offer itself.

PayPal Today

$57.02 +1.50 (+2.70%)

As of 12:22 PM Eastern

This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.

52-Week Range$38.46▼

$79.50Dividend Yield0.98%

P/E Ratio10.70

Price Target$54.26

Private equity is moving to scoop up a beaten-down payments company before the market reprices it higher. Stripe and Advent International launched a joint $53 billion acquisition proposal for PayPal Holdings Inc. NASDAQ: PYPL.

The bid is structured as a 50/50 joint venture backed by $50 billion in committed bank financing, valuing PayPal at $60.50 per share.

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The market reacted instantly to the July 15 headline, sending shares up about 17% as PayPal's stock price closed in on $55.50. This aggressive price action moved past the previous 50-day range of $40.70 to $47.65.

While the deal's proposed 28% premium over the pre-announcement closing price might initially seem attractive, the underlying fundamentals tell a completely different story.

A Cheap Shot at Digital Checkout DominanceStripe understands the urgency of building a dominant consumer brand to complement its merchant-facing infrastructure. Attempting to acquire those assets at distressed multiples creates a high-probability arbitrage setup.

The spread between current trading levels and the $60.50 bid reflects both the belief that a deal is possible and the realization that the initial offer is fundamentally inadequate.

Free Cash Flow Disconnect: The Value TrapTo understand the friction surrounding the $60.50 offer, investors should examine PayPal's cash flow generation. The current bid implies that the enterprise value has decoupled from PayPal's fundamental cash-generating capacity.

PayPal generates a substantial $33.17 billion in annual revenue, delivering $5.23 billion in net income with a healthy 15% net margin. Operating with a strong return on equity of 25.02% and a low debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, the balance sheet remains exceptionally strong. More importantly, PayPal generates $7.54 per share in free cash flow.

At the proposed $60.50 takeover price, the Stripe consortium is attempting to buy PayPal at just under eight times free cash flow. The current trading price sits at a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 10.40. These are valuation multiples typically reserved for legacy regional banks facing systemic risks, and they completely discount the immense scale of a digital ecosystem with over 400 million active global users.

The Control Premium Defense Defeats the RaidInstitutional value investors immediately recognized the discrepancy between the offer price and the underlying asset value. Michael Burry of Scion Asset Management, who aggressively accumulated PayPal shares leading into the summer, publicly rejected the $60.50 buyout print.

Burry classified the offer as an opening bid and pegged PayPal's intrinsic value at $75 to $115 per share using a long-term discounted cash flow methodology known as the IV15 model. This public opposition is highly strategic. It establishes a firm institutional floor and sets the stage for a proxy battle.

When a buyer attempts to take a publicly traded company private, they must pay a control premium. Think of a control premium as the extra fee an acquirer pays to dictate the future operational direction of the business and extract all future cash flows for themselves.

A 28% premium might satisfy a passive shareholder seeking a quick exit, but acquiring full operational control of a global financial network should command a significantly higher premium. Burry's vocal pushback anchors institutional resistance, making it exceptionally difficult for Stripe and Advent International to secure the necessary shareholder votes at current prices.

Entrenched Management Prepares for BattleUnsolicited bids often force management teams to accelerate internal restructuring efforts. The PayPal board of directors has significant leverage in this standoff, primarily through the pending margin expansion.

Management recently outlined a turnaround effort targeting $1.5 billion in structural cost savings. Understanding the mechanics of margin expansion is critical here. When PayPal successfully cuts operational costs without sacrificing revenue, every dollar saved drops directly to the bottom line. This boosts earnings per share and compresses the price-to-earnings ratio even further.

The PayPal board will likely use this cost-saving initiative as its primary defense. By projecting higher future earnings, PayPal management can confidently classify the $60.50 bid as highly opportunistic. They can argue that the Stripe and Advent consortium is attempting to scoop up PayPal right before the retail market fully prices in the benefits of the turnaround strategy. Accepting a sub-$70 print right now would likely invite backlash from deep-value funds holding PayPal.

Monopolistic Friction Slows the Pirate ShipConsolidating two of the largest players in the digital transaction space comes with significant macroeconomic and regulatory friction. A combined entity integrating Stripe's vast merchant gateway with PayPal's 400-million-strong consumer wallet would trigger immediate antitrust scrutiny.

The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice will heavily scrutinize the monopolistic implications of this merger, specifically focusing on online checkout dominance and emerging stablecoin infrastructures. This regulatory gauntlet adds considerable complexity to the timeline, which explains why PayPal is currently trading at a discount to the offer price.

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL) Price Chart for Thursday, July, 16, 2026

Retail sentiment tracking platforms indicate a sharp shift toward bullish positioning. The options market reflects this pivot, showing heavy accumulation of out-of-the-money call options. Gamma exposure occurs when market makers must buy underlying shares to hedge the call options they sell to retail traders.

This forced buying creates a feedback loop, and this positioning increases the likelihood that gamma exposure will accelerate a short squeeze. Given that PayPal previously carried a bearish short interest designation, arbitrageurs covering short positions while long-only funds step in to block the bid could easily push the price past $60.50.

Strategic Positioning: The Checkout Bidding WarThe $60.50 valuation floor operates as an opening salvo in a developing bidding war for PayPal, rather than a finalized ceiling. The intersection of deep fundamental value, institutional proxy resistance, and retail options positioning creates a highly asymmetrical environment.

Investors might consider adding PayPal to a watchlist as earnings momentum builds and the company's board officially responds to the Stripe consortium. Watching closely for volatility spikes linked to regulatory updates or revised acquisition offers can provide an excellent window into the payments sector's true intrinsic value.

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Today's Change

(

17.26

%) $

8.18

Current Price

$

55.55

PayPal Holdings (PYPL +17.26%), a global digital payments and wallet platform, closed at $55.52, up 17.20%. Reports of a $60.50 takeover offer from Stripe and Advent International drove the move, and investors are watching whether the bid advances. Trading volume reached 89.3M shares, coming in about 446% above its three-month average of 16.4M shares. PayPal Holdings IPO'd in 2015 and has grown 51% since going public.

How the markets moved todayS&P 500 (^GSPC +0.38%) closed at 7,571, up 0.36%, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC +0.62%) ended at 26,269, up 0.62%. In digital payments and transaction processing, Visa (V 0.07%) closed at $355.14, down 0.25%, as PayPal outpaced sector rivals on takeover speculation.

What this means for investorsAfter months of M&A speculation, PayPal finally received a tangible buyout offer from payments peer Stripe and private equity firm Advent International. Despite today’s bump, PayPal is still 82% below its 2021 high, so it is not a slam dunk that shareholders will automatically accept the deal. Prediction market Polymarket currently has odds of 60% that Stripe will acquire all or part of PayPal.

As a longstanding PayPal shareholder, a potential deal is bittersweet, but it was quite clear that the company’s high-growth days were in the rearview mirror. Personally, I am not in a rush to sell my shares as PayPal remains a cash-generating machine trading at what I think is a deeply discounted valuation. However, if the deal falls through, PYPL stock could fall in tandem, so I certainly understand why some investors would cash in.

Josh Kohn-Lindquist has positions in PayPal and Visa. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends PayPal and Visa. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: short September 2026 $47.50 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

CNBC's MacKenzie Sigalos discusses a recent report regarding PayPal.

Key Takeaways Stripe and Advent offered $60.50 per share, valuing PayPal at over $53 billion, per Reuters. PYPL shares jumped after the news, boosting the outlook for PYPL-heavy ETFs. PYPU, FINX and IPAY could benefit if PayPal's takeover momentum continues. Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have jointly offered to acquire PayPal Holdings (PYPL - Free Report) in a deal valued at more than $53 billion, according to Reuters, as quoted on Yahoo Finance. The proposal marks one of the biggest potential transactions in the digital payments industry in recent years.

$60.50-Per-Share OfferThe consortium has offered $60.50 per PayPal share, representing a roughly 28% premium to the stock's closing price on Tuesday. PayPal shares surged about 13.17% after hours on July 14, 2026.

The bid, submitted earlier this month, is backed by about $50 billion in committed bank financing, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Talks Began Earlier This YearThe proposal follows an initial approach made in early April. Sources said Stripe and Advent have yet to receive a response from PayPal but are hoping to advance discussions in the coming weeks.

If completed, the two firms would jointly own PayPal, each holding an equal stake. The proposal does not involve breaking up the company.

Why PayPal Is Drawing InterestOnce a pioneer in digital payments, PayPal has struggled in recent years amid intensifying competition from alternative payment platforms, including Apple Pay and Google Pay.

The company has also faced slowing growth since the pandemic-era e-commerce boom faded, leading to a significant decline in its market valuation.

Despite these challenges, PayPal remains one of the world's largest digital payments platforms, making it an attractive acquisition target for strategic and financial buyers.

PayPal Continues to Improve OperationsDespite competitive pressures, PayPal has shown signs of operational improvement.

In the first quarter, revenue rose 7% year over year to $8.35 billion, exceeding analysts' expectations. On a constant-currency basis, total payment volume increased 8% to approximately $464 billion.

Management has also outlined plans to use artificial intelligence to streamline operations, reduce organizational complexity, and generate roughly $1.5 billion in savings over the next two to three years, with those savings expected to be reinvested in future growth initiatives.

For the second quarter, PayPal expects low-single-digit currency-neutral revenue growth, a low-single-digit decline in transaction margin dollars (TM$) and a high-single-digit fall in non-GAAP EPS. The comparison is difficult because last year's second quarter benefited from a partner renewal, stronger credit performance, lower operating expenses and a favorable tax rate.

PYPL stock currently has a great value score of “A”, but downbeat growth score of “D” and a momentum score of “F.”

ETFs to Gain As the acquisition news lifted PayPal shares, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with significant exposure to the stock could also benefit. These include Direxion Daily PYPL Bull 2X ETF (PYPU - Free Report) , Global X FinTech ETF (FINX - Free Report) and Amplify Digital Payments ETF (IPAY - Free Report) .

PayPal Holdings PYPL shares are trading cheaply, as suggested by the Value Score of A. In terms of forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E), PayPal is currently trading at 8.53X, lower than the Zacks Financial Transaction Services industry average of 17.02X.

U.S. stocks were higher, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 100 points on Wednesday.

The proposal for $60.50 per share, backed by close to $50 billion in committed financing from banks, was submitted earlier this month, Reuters reported. That implies a 28% premium to PayPal’s closing share price on Tuesday,

PayPal shares jumped 13.5% to $53.74 on Wednesday.

Here are some other big stocks recording gains in today’s session.

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PayPal's stock is surging in the wake of a report the payments platform could be bought out.

In Brief

Posted:

8:30 AM PDT · July 15, 2026

Image Credits:Photo by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek / Getty Images (Image has been modified) Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have reportedly submitted a joint bid to acquire PayPal in a deal valued at approximately $53.4 billion. 

Reuters reports that the offer was submitted earlier this month and is backed by roughly $50 billion in committed bank financing. Under the proposal, Stripe and Advent would jointly own PayPal, with each holding an equal stake. 

This isn’t the first time Stripe has been linked with a potential acquisition of the payments giant. Earlier reports in February suggested the company had been exploring a possible takeover and was engaged in preliminary discussions, although no formal proposal emerged at the time.

If completed, the acquisition would unite two of the biggest names in digital payments. PayPal serves around 440 million active accounts and handles roughly $1.8 trillion in payment volume during 2025. Meanwhile, businesses use Stripe to process $1.9 trillion in payments over the same period. Plus, Stripe’s valuation climbed to $159 billion earlier this year. 

PayPal has yet to respond publicly to the offer. 

The potential deal comes at a pivotal time for PayPal. CEO Enrique Lores took over in March following a company profit warning. Since then, there have been plans to cut at least $1.5 billion in costs over the next two to three years as PayPal looks to return to stronger growth. Reports have also suggested the company intends to reduce its workforce by around 20%.

PayPal, Stripe and Advent International did not immediately respond to our requests for comment.

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The YieldMax PYPL Option Income Strategy ETF (NYSEARCA:PYPY) is up over 14% intraday after reports that Stripe and Advent International made a joint takeover bid for PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL | PYPL Price Prediction). PYPY is a synthetic covered-call income fund built around PayPal shares, so the ETF will move directionally with the stock.

What Drove the Move PayPal is trading near $55 after opening sharply higher, a single-session gain of about 16% on volume already north of 50 million shares. The catalyst is a Reuters-sourced report, picked up across major outlets Wednesday morning, that Stripe and Advent International submitted a joint offer valuing PayPal at more than $53 billion, or $60.50 per share. That price represents a 28% premium to PayPal’s recent close, backed by $50 billion in committed financing, with the bidders reportedly seeking an agreement by the end of the month. PayPal, Stripe, and Advent have not publicly commented on what is described as confidential discussions.

That bid is being taken seriously because PayPal has been a struggling large-cap payments name: shares are down roughly 18% year to date and about 35% over the past year heading into Wednesday, and the company was recently moved to the Russell Midcap Index. That underperformance, combined with a $1.5 billion cost-reduction plan under new CEO Enrique Lores and an active buyback program, has framed PayPal as an undervalued asset with a strategic buyer’s option embedded in the stock.

Why PYPY Did Not Fully Match PayPal’s Pop PYPY holds a synthetic long position on PayPal and simultaneously sells short-dated call options against it. The premiums collected fund the ETF’s distributions. The tradeoff is that when PayPal makes a big one-day move above the strike price of those written calls, the fund’s upside is capped: it keeps the option premium, but it does not fully participate in the rally past the strike. That is why PYPL is up around 16% while PYPY is up closer to 14% in the same session.

As of April 30, 2026, the fund reported just under $30 million in net assets, with roughly 96% parked in Treasury bills serving as collateral behind the options and swap positions used to generate the PayPal exposure. That collateralized, derivatives-based build is standard for YieldMax’s covered-call ETFs.

Context on the Size of the Move Wednesday’s pop is by far the biggest one-day move for PYPY in recent memory and reframes what had been a downtrending chart. Before today, PYPY was up only about 3% over the past week and roughly 8% over the past month, and still down about 18% year to date and roughly 36% over the past year. That trailing performance is the practical illustration of the point income-ETF holders should understand: these funds are designed to convert price volatility into cash distributions, and the NAV tends to erode over time as the underlying stock drifts, distributions are paid out, and the call overlay clips rallies. A single event-driven jump does not undo that structural drag, even though holders of PYPY are probably still pretty happy today.

What to Watch Next For a PYPY holder, the key variables from here are whether PayPal’s board engages, whether a competing bidder emerges, and where the stock settles relative to the $60.50 offer. If PayPal trades toward the bid, further upside in PYPL is likely to be increasingly capped by the call overlay, and PYPY’s participation in additional gains will narrow. If the reports of a bid do not translate into a definitive agreement, PayPal shares could give back a portion of Wednesday’s move, and PYPY would follow the underlying lower. Analyst positioning going into the news was cautious: 31 hold ratings, 8 buy ratings, and 4 sell ratings, with an average analyst target price of $51.38, both of which sit below Wednesday’s traded price and well below the $60.50 bid.

Bottom line for the ETF audience: PYPY is doing exactly what a single-stock covered-call fund is built to do, capturing much of the underlying rally while giving some of it back to the call buyers on the other side of its options. For readers weighing the tradeoffs between income and price participation in these YieldMax-style products, our research team’s write-up on the mechanics of high-yield income funds (see Dividend Traps) is worth a read before the next distribution date. Treat PYPY as a tactical income tool tied to PayPal’s fate, not a substitute for owning PayPal outright.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

15.7.2026 16:03, PNR, PGR, PYPL, ELV, BLK

Index Dow Jones +0,37 % na 52704,91 b. S&P 500 +0,41 % na 7574,82 b. Nasdaq Composite +0,61 % na 26265,92 b.

Nejsledovanější americké indexy v úvodu středečního obchodování posilují. Výsledková sezóna pokračuje a po reportu se daří akciím správce aktiv BlackRock (+7,2 %). Naopak po výsledcích ztrácejí akcie zdravotnické společnosti Elevance Health (-8,6 %). Bez výrazných pohybů se obchodují akcie farmaceutické společnosti Johnson & Johnson (-0,1 %), investiční banky Morgan Stanley (+0,6 %) či výrobce litografických zařízení ASML (+0,2 %). Podrobnosti výsledkových reportů naleznete v jednotlivých zprávách.

V popředí růstu jsou akcie PayPal (+16 %), a to poté, co agentura Reuters informovala, že Stripe a Advent International chtějí údajně koupit tohoto zprostředkovatele plateb za více než 53 mld. USD (60,5 USD na akcii).

Nejvíce ztrácejí akcie společnosti Pentair (-12 %), která se zaměřuje na úpravu vody. Firma totiž snížila svůj celoroční výhled. Analytici poukázali na slabé výsledky divize bazénů jako na hlavní brzdu růstu a dodali, že není jasné, jak a kdy se toto podnikání v bezprostřední budoucnosti zotaví. Pentair v celém roce nově očekává očištěný zisk na akcii v rozmezí 4,60 až 4,80 USD, dříve společnost projektovala 5,30 až 5,40 USD. Trh odhadoval 5,33 USD.

Americká pojišťovna Progressive (-7,8 %), která se specializuje na pojištění vozidel, oslabuje po zveřejnění výsledků hospodaření za 2Q. Čisté předepsané pojistné vzrostlo meziročně o 5 % na 21,08 mld. USD, což je mírně pod odhady 21,29 mld. USD. Zisk na akcii dosáhl 5,67 USD.

Index S&P 500 +0,41 % na 7574,82 b. Nejsilnější sektory S&P Změna Nejslabší sektory S&P Změna Zbytná spotřeba +1,2 % Energie -0,5 % Komunikační služby +1,1 % Průmysl 0 % Reality +0,7 % Zdravotní péče +0 % Nejsilnější akcie S&P Změna Nejslabší akcie S&P Změna PayPal Holdings (PYPL) +16 % Pentair (PNR) -12 % Blackrock (BLK) +7,2 % Elevance Health (ELV) -8,6 % Ares Management Corp (ARES) +6,0 % Progressive Corp (PGR) -7,8 % Cintas Corp (CTAS) +5,8 % Corning (GLW) -6,0 % Vistra Corp (VST) +5,1 % Sandisk Corp (SNDK) -5,8 % Zdroj: Bloomberg

Michal Bárta
Fio banka, a.s.
Prohlášení

PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) stock is soaring in premarket trading on July 15 after reports revealed that payments company Stripe and private equity giant Advent International have submitted a joint proposal to acquire the fintech firm in a deal valued at more than $53 billion.

According to reports, the non-binding offer values PayPal at $60.50 per share, representing a premium of about 28% compared to the stock’s previous closing price of $47.38. 

PayPal one-week stock price target Following the news, PayPal shares jumped to around $57.01 in premarket trading, gaining more than 20% before the opening bell.

The proposed transaction would see Stripe and Advent International take equal ownership stakes in PayPal if a deal is completed. 

The bid was reportedly submitted earlier this month and is backed by approximately $50 billion in committed financing from banking partners.

Unlike some private equity acquisitions, the proposal does not involve breaking up PayPal’s operations. Instead, the buyers aim to combine PayPal’s global payments network with Stripe’s technology capabilities and Advent’s operational expertise.

The acquisition interest comes at a time when consolidation across the fintech industry continues to accelerate as companies seek greater scale and competitive advantages.

The PayPal buyout news offers shareholders a potential exit at a significant premium after years of underperformance.

Before Wednesday’s rally, PayPal stock had fallen more than 18% year-to-date and remained well below its 2021 record high above $300 per share. 

PayPal’s weakening fundamentals  The company has faced increasing competition in digital payments while struggling to restore the growth rates achieved during the pandemic.

Despite those challenges, PayPal remains one of the largest digital payments platforms globally, serving more than 400 million active accounts and generating roughly $6 billion in annual free cash flow.

The acquisition proposal suggests that strategic and financial buyers still see substantial value in PayPal’s established infrastructure, customer base, and payment ecosystem.

The company has recently focused on improving profitability and streamlining operations under its current leadership. Efforts have included cost reductions, enhancements to the Venmo platform, and continued expansion of its PYUSD stablecoin initiative.

PayPal’s latest quarterly results showed 7% revenue growth and double-digit growth in total payment volume. 

However, management maintained a cautious outlook for the remainder of the year, reflecting ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty and competitive pressures.

The proposal remains non-binding and would still require negotiations, regulatory approvals, and financing commitments.

Investors are now awaiting official responses from PayPal, Stripe, and Advent, while PayPal’s July 28 earnings report could provide additional insight into the company’s outlook.

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The deal would value the fintech company at around $53 billion.