New York, June 27, 2026, 11:03 EDT
- PayPal gained 4.5% Friday. Volume was more than double its 65-day average.
- The move followed a 9.7% jump in reported short interest during the first half of June.
- The stock rose roughly 4.6% for the week ended June 26, but is still trading well under its 52-week high from last year.
- Markets in the U.S. have a shorter week with the July 3 holiday cutting into trading.
PayPal’s final trade before the weekend was big.
PayPal Holdings, Inc. NASDAQ:PYPL jumped 4.51% to $44.29 on Friday. Volume hit 33.25 million shares, about 2.2x the 65-day average of 15.26 million. The S&P 500 slipped 0.05%. Financial-services names tracked by WSJ’s quote page dropped 0.90%.
PayPal positioning looks key here. Short interest hit 54.35 million shares as of June 15, up 9.7% from the previous total, making up 6.2% of the float. Friday, volume ran at about 61% of that short interest number. The volume doesn’t break out buyers. But the session saw enough shares trade to force action for anyone pressing bets in the low-$40s.
Most of PYPL’s gains for the week landed on Friday. The stock ended at $42.34 on June 22, dropped to $41.70 on June 23, bounced back to $42.48 on June 24, stayed near that level at $42.38 on June 25, then surged to $44.29 on June 26. That was a move of about 4.6% up from where it closed Monday.
PayPal’s stock hasn’t climbed far from its bottom. Shares remain about 44% under the 52-week high of $79.50 set July 28, 2025, and only a few bucks over the 52-week low at $38.46 from February. As of Friday’s close, investors were still treating PayPal as a turnaround bet, not a solid growth play.
That’s why investors are watching the volume spike. A one-day rally might not last. When that rally shows up right after short interest increased and after the stock hovered near $42 all week, it can push risk models to adjust in the short term.
PayPal’s numbers give bulls and bears fuel. First-quarter net revenue rose 7% to $8.35 billion and total payment volume gained 11% to $464.0 billion. GAAP operating margin slipped to 17.8% from 19.6%. GAAP EPS dropped 6%. For the second quarter, PayPal said non-GAAP EPS should fall by a high-single-digit rate, or about 9%, from last year.
PayPal Chief Executive Enrique Lores told investors in the May earnings release that PayPal had to “improve execution and accelerate PayPal’s growth.” Lores said the company was “executing with urgency.” SEC
PayPal is returning cash to shareholders. The company repurchased $1.5 billion in stock in the first quarter and $6.0 billion over the last 12 months. The board declared a $0.14 per-share quarterly dividend, payable June 25 to holders of record on June 4.
Short week coming up. U.S. markets on Nasdaq will close July 3 for the Independence Day holiday, leaving four full trading days.
PayPal is not set for its next dated event next week. According to the company’s investor site, PayPal will hold its Q2 2026 earnings call on July 28 at 8:00 a.m. EDT.
