As of the last close on December 5, 2025, PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) traded at $62.28 per share, leaving the digital payments giant roughly 25–30% lower for 2025 despite solid earnings, a new dividend, and high-profile AI partnerships. [1]
At the same time, Wall Street has turned notably more cautious: a wave of analyst downgrades followed fresh warnings from PayPal’s CFO about slowing growth in its core branded checkout business. [2]
Yet a growing chorus of strategists and research shops argue that PayPal stock now looks “dirt cheap”, with strong cash flow, a new shareholder payout, and long-term growth drivers in AI-enabled commerce and “buy now, pay later” (BNPL). [3]
This article rounds up the latest PYPL news, analyst calls, and forecasts as of December 6, 2025, and explores what they may mean for investors watching PayPal stock into 2026 and beyond.
1. PayPal Stock Snapshot – December 6, 2025
- Last close: $62.28 (December 5, 2025) [4]
- Market cap: ≈ $64 billion
- Trailing EPS: ~$4.97; trailing P/E ~13x, well below many large-cap fintech peers.
- 2025 performance: Shares are down roughly 26–30% year-to-date, depending on the measure, versus a double‑digit gain for the S&P 500. [5]
- 52‑week context: The stock is trading far below its 2021 all‑time high above $300, and materially under its 50‑ and 200‑day moving averages, underscoring a prolonged downtrend. [6]
That combination—depressed valuation plus intact profitability—is at the heart of today’s bull‑versus‑bear debate on PYPL.
2. The Latest Headlines Moving PYPL
2.1 CFO Flags Slower Branded Checkout Growth
The latest leg down in PayPal’s story started not with a miss, but with guidance on mix and momentum.
At a recent UBS conference, CFO Jamie Miller warned that growth in PayPal’s critical “Branded Checkout” business—essentially the classic PayPal button at online merchants—is expected to slow in the fourth quarter of 2025. She suggested growth could cool to roughly 3%, down from mid‑single‑digit expansion in Q3. [7]
Because branded checkout is a high‑margin, core profit engine, even a modest deceleration has outsized impact on sentiment. The Barron’s coverage of Miller’s comments noted that shares fell nearly 3% on the day and that PayPal is now down about 29% for the year, reflecting extended periods of muted revenue and earnings growth. [8]
2.2 A Wave of Analyst Downgrades
Miller’s remarks triggered a 48‑hour barrage of rating cuts:
- JPMorgan:
- Rating: cut from Overweight to Neutral
- Price target: trimmed from $85 to $70
- Rationale: 2026 will be a “‘show‑me’ year,” with analysts wanting proof that PayPal’s new strategy is gaining traction before re‑rating the stock. [9]
- Deutsche Bank:
- Price target: reduced from $75 to $65, rating kept at Hold
- Characterised near‑term catalysts as limited and the competitive backdrop as challenging. [10]
- Wall Street Zen (via MarketBeat):
- Rating: downgraded PYPL from Buy to Hold on December 6, citing the deteriorating technical picture and mixed growth signals. [11]
Earlier in the year, Goldman Sachs had already moved PayPal to Sell, pointing to transaction-margin pressure expected in 2026. [12]
German outlet boerse-global.de summed up the mood: PayPal shares are “under pressure” as downgrades pile up, with the stock now trading well below its 50‑day ($66.60) and 200‑day ($69.51) moving averages and having lost over one‑third of its value in 2025. [13]
2.3 Insider Selling Adds to Jitters
Investors have also noticed a string of insider sales following the Q3 earnings report:
- The chief accounting officer sold all his direct holdings after Q3.
- Senior executives including the president of global markets and the chief risk officer sold additional shares in early November.
- A CoinCentral analysis estimates these transactions totalled over $1.5 million, with PayPal shares down about 26% for the year and roughly 14% since the October 28 earnings release. [14]
Insider selling does not automatically signal trouble, but in combination with weak technicals and downgrades, it has reinforced the bear case for some investors.
3. Q3 2025: Strong Results, Muted Reaction
Ironically, all of this caution comes on the heels of a clearly better‑than‑expected quarter.
On October 28, 2025, PayPal reported Q3 2025 results that beat expectations on both the top and bottom line:
- Non‑GAAP EPS: about $1.34, vs forecasts around $1.19–1.21
- Revenue: roughly $8.42 billion, versus consensus near $8.21–8.25 billion
- Revenue growth: ~7% year over year
- Non‑GAAP EPS growth: low‑to‑mid double digits year over year [15]
Additional details from company and third‑party analyses:
- Transaction revenues—still the core of PayPal’s business—accounted for about 89–90% of net revenue in the quarter. [16]
- Several sources highlight transaction margin dollars growing around 7% year over year, suggesting underlying monetisation is improving even as growth moderates. [17]
- PayPal raised full‑year 2025 non‑GAAP EPS guidance to roughly $5.35–$5.39, implying mid‑teens percentage growth. [18]
- Q4 2025 guidance calls for EPS of about $1.27–$1.31, signalling steady but not explosive growth into year‑end. [19]
Crucially for income investors, PayPal also initiated its first‑ever dividend in 2025, signalling management’s confidence in the durability of its cash generation. [20]
Despite this, the market reaction has been underwhelming. Investors initially sent the stock sharply higher on the earnings and OpenAI partnership news, but the rally faded, and PYPL has since slid back into the low‑$60s. [21]
4. Strategic Shifts: AI, OpenAI, and BNPL
4.1 OpenAI Partnership and “Agentic Commerce”
One of PayPal’s highest‑profile moves this year is its October 2025 partnership with OpenAI:
- PayPal will adopt the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) to support instant checkout inside ChatGPT, allowing millions of ChatGPT users to pay seamlessly with PayPal.
- PayPal will process payments for merchants that deploy OpenAI’s “Instant Checkout” and other agent‑driven shopping experiences. [22]
External analysis frames this as part of a bigger push into AI‑driven commerce, where autonomous agents comparison‑shop, fill carts, and complete purchases on the user’s behalf. Commentators argue this could deepen PayPal’s role in the next wave of e‑commerce—if it executes well.
PayPal’s management has been consistent in emphasizing AI as a core pillar, highlighting:
- AI‑enhanced checkout flows to reduce friction and improve conversion
- Biometric authentication to simplify log‑ins and payments
- Better fraud detection and risk scoring using machine learning [23]
4.2 BNPL and the Blue Owl Capital Deal
PayPal is also leaning hard into Buy Now, Pay Later:
- Holiday BNPL usage continues to grow; Washington Post reporting shows BNPL spending (including PayPal’s Pay Later) surpassed $10 billion from early November through Cyber Monday, up about 9% year over year. [24]
- In September, PayPal announced a $7 billion BNPL receivables deal with Blue Owl Capital, shifting BNPL loans off its balance sheet to improve capital efficiency and reduce risk. [25]
In Q3, Venmo revenue grew about 20%, and management has repeatedly cited BNPL and debit card offerings as offsets to slower branded checkout. [26]
Taken together, BNPL and AI‑powered checkout are key pieces of PayPal’s attempt to reignite growth while protecting margins.
5. Analyst Ratings and 12‑Month Price Targets
Despite high‑profile downgrades, consensus still sees upside from current levels.
5.1 Street Consensus: “Hold” With 25–35% Upside
Across several aggregators:
- Consensus rating: broadly “Hold”
- Average 12‑month price target:
MarketBeat data shows a distribution skewed toward Hold, with roughly 15 Buy, 19 Hold, and 4 Sell ratings, reinforcing the idea that Wall Street is cautiously neutral rather than outright bearish. [29]
On the earnings side, Yahoo Finance’s analyst page suggests:
- 2025 EPS consensus: ≈ $5.35
- 2026 EPS consensus: ≈ $5.83
That implies modest earnings growth ahead, albeit not enough (in many analysts’ view) to justify a premium multiple until PayPal proves it can re‑accelerate branded checkout growth. [30]
5.2 Notable Recent Calls
Recent moves highlight the split in sentiment:
- JPMorgan: Neutral, $70 target (about 12–15% upside). [31]
- Deutsche Bank: Hold, $65 target (low‑single‑digit upside). [32]
- Wall Street Zen: downgraded to Hold on December 6. [33]
At the same time, longer-horizon forecast pieces are more optimistic:
- 24/7 Wall St. calculates a median one‑year target of $83.10 and assigns its own 2025 year‑end price forecast of $81.15, based on EPS estimates and a projected P/E of 16x. [34]
6. Long‑Term PayPal Stock Forecasts (2025–2030)
Beyond the next year, several research and media outlets have published multi‑year scenarios:
6.1 24/7 Wall St. Forecast: Potential Double by 2030
24/7 Wall St. models PayPal’s revenue and EPS through 2030, projecting:
- Revenue rising from about $33.7 billion in 2025 to over $52 billion by 2030
- EPS climbing from $4.93 (2025) to $9.59 (2030)
- A 2030 price target of $141, implying roughly 130% upside from the current price range. [35]
Their base case assumes:
- The global fintech market grows at a mid‑teens CAGR
- Digital payments volume continues to expand strongly
- PayPal maintains a solid share while adding incremental growth from BNPL and credit products
While these numbers are forecasts (not guarantees), they illustrate how a modest re‑rating plus continued mid‑single‑digit to low‑teens growth could potentially transform today’s depressed valuation over a five‑year horizon.
6.2 AInvest: A Contrarian Value Play for 2026
AInvest’s AI‑assisted analysis on December 6 frames PayPal as a contrarian value opportunity:
- Notes a 27.5% share price drop in 2025 to around $61–62.
- Highlights Q3 revenue of $8.42B, non‑GAAP EPS of $1.34, and transaction revenue growth of about 6.4%, alongside raised full‑year guidance. [36]
- Cites a forward P/E around 11–12x, cash of roughly $14.4B versus debt of ~ $11.4B, and continued buybacks plus a new dividend with a modest payout ratio. [37]
- Projects revenue moving from roughly $33.3B in 2025 to $35.3B in 2026, backed by AI‑enabled “agentic commerce,” BNPL, and international expansion. [38]
This camp argues that the market has over‑reacted to growth concerns, leaving investors with a rare combination of low valuation, strong balance sheet, and structural tailwinds—albeit with real competitive and regulatory risks.
7. The Bull vs. Bear Case on PayPal Stock
7.1 The Bull Case: “Dirt‑Cheap” Fintech With AI and BNPL Tailwinds
Pro‑PayPal commentators and analysts point to several positives:
- Attractive Valuation
- Many pieces describe PayPal as “dirt cheap,” noting a low‑teens trailing P/E and an even lower forward multiple despite consistent profitability and strong free cash flow. [39]
- Robust Cash Generation and Capital Returns
- Analyses highlight more than $6 billion in operating cash flow, ongoing buybacks, and the first dividend as signs that PayPal has shifted into a more margin‑driven, shareholder‑friendly phase. [40]
- AI‑Driven Growth Optionality
- The OpenAI partnership and broader AI initiatives could increase PayPal’s relevance in emerging agent‑based shopping experiences, with PayPal embedded inside automated checkout flows. [41]
- BNPL and Credit Expansion
- BNPL usage is surging during the holiday season, with PayPal Pay Later among the leading options.
- The Blue Owl receivables deal improves capital efficiency, potentially allowing PayPal to scale BNPL without over‑burdening its balance sheet. [42]
- Industry Tailwinds
- Global fintech and digital payments volumes are forecast to grow at mid‑teens CAGRs through the decade, providing a rising tide for incumbents like PayPal. [43]
From this perspective, current pricing reflects pessimism that may prove excessive if management can stabilise branded checkout and leverage AI and BNPL to reinvigorate growth.
7.2 The Bear Case: Slowing Core Growth and Competitive Pressure
Sceptics, including several of the recently cautious analysts, focus on:
- Core Branded Checkout Slowdown
- CFO guidance that Q4 2025 branded checkout growth may slip to roughly 3% represents a meaningful deceleration. Since this is a cornerstone of PayPal’s profit engine, even small percentage changes can have an outsized impact on earnings power. [44]
- Intense Competition
- PayPal is battling Apple Pay, Stripe, Block (Square), Klarna, Affirm, and a host of regional wallets. Many investors worry that PayPal’s once‑dominant online checkout position is gradually being eroded. [45]
- Mixed Engagement Trends
- Recent commentary from outlets like The Motley Fool and Yahoo Finance notes that some user engagement metrics are moving the wrong way, undercutting the long‑term growth story even as revenue grows modestly. [46]
- Negative Technicals and Sentiment
- Persistent underperformance versus indices, heavy institutional selling, and a slump below key moving averages reinforce the view that big money is rotating out of PayPal into other fintech plays. [47]
- Execution Risk on AI and BNPL
- While AI and BNPL are promising, they are also crowded, regulated, and credit‑sensitive spaces. Bears argue that PayPal must execute near‑flawlessly just to keep pace, let alone regain its old growth profile. [48]
In short, the bear thesis is that PayPal may be cheap for a reason if competitive forces and structural changes in e‑commerce keep chipping away at its high‑margin franchise.
8. Key Things for PayPal Investors to Watch Next
Regardless of which side of the debate you’re on, several catalysts will likely drive PYPL stock into 2026:
- Q4 2025 Earnings (Early 2026)
- Does branded checkout really slow to ~3%, or can management surprise to the upside?
- Are BNPL and Venmo growth strong enough to offset any softness? [49]
- Progress on AI and OpenAI Integration
- Evidence that agent‑driven checkout experiences in ChatGPT and other channels are gaining adoption could bolster the bull case for PayPal as an AI‑enabled commerce platform, not just a legacy wallet. [50]
- Margin and Cash‑Flow Trends
- Investors will keep a close eye on transaction margin dollars, free cash flow, and dividend/buyback policies to see if PayPal can grow net income even on slower revenue growth. [51]
- Further Analyst Revisions
- More downgrades—or, conversely, upgrades if fundamentals stabilise—could continue to swing sentiment sharply in either direction. [52]
- Macro and Consumer Credit Conditions
- As a BNPL and payments provider, PayPal is exposed to consumer credit quality and discretionary spending trends, which will be shaped by interest rates, employment, and broader economic conditions.
9. Bottom Line: A Divided but Focused Market
As of December 6, 2025, PayPal stock sits at the intersection of:
- Bearish near‑term sentiment, driven by slowing branded checkout growth and a cluster of analyst downgrades; and
- Constructive long‑term narratives, grounded in strong cash generation, a lower‑than‑market valuation, a new dividend, and high‑potential AI and BNPL initiatives.
Most Wall Street firms now rate PYPL a Hold, with average 12‑month targets roughly 25–35% above today’s price, while some independent and AI‑driven research platforms see even greater upside through 2030 if PayPal can execute on its strategy. [53]
For readers and investors tracking PayPal, the key question over the next year is simple:
Can PayPal prove that its AI‑driven, margin‑focused transformation is more powerful than the headwinds hitting its core checkout business?
How convincingly the company answers that question—starting with its next earnings report—will likely decide whether 2025’s sell‑off goes down as a value opportunity or a warning sign in hindsight.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation to buy or sell any security, or a substitute for personalized financial guidance. Always do your own research or consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.
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