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PayPal: A Hypergrowth Stock With 120% Upside Potential

AInvestSunday, Nov 3, 2024 6:52 am ET
2min read
PayPal Holdings (PYPL) has been an intriguing investment opportunity for many analysts, with one Wall Street analyst predicting a 120% upside for shareholders. This article explores the factors contributing to PayPal's growth potential and its attractive valuation, making a strong case for investors to consider this hypergrowth stock.

PayPal's two-sided network and data advantage are critical to its competitive edge in online payment processing. Its unique ability to offer financial products to both merchants and consumers provides a deeper understanding of consumer preferences and purchase habits. By leveraging AI on petabytes of payments data, PayPal enhances approval rates and prevents fraud for merchants, making it the most accepted digital wallet in North America and Europe with over 40% market share. This data-driven approach ensures PayPal remains a critical part of global e-commerce infrastructure, with high-single-digit sales growth projected through 2030.


PayPal's strategic investments in digital wallets, checkout solutions, and AI play a crucial role in its growth potential. By focusing on digital wallets for consumers, branded checkout solutions for small businesses, and unbranded solutions for large enterprises, PayPal is well-positioned to capture market share across various segments. Its AI-driven machine learning capabilities, which analyze consumer behaviors and spending habits, provide a unique advantage in fraud prevention and approval rates, further enhancing its market dominance. These strategic investments enable PayPal to maintain its leading position in online payment processing and drive high-single-digit sales growth, even as the company continues to innovate and expand its offerings.


PayPal's partnership with Apple Pay and its expansion into physical retail can significantly contribute to its market share growth. By allowing U.S. consumers to add PayPal and Venmo cards to their Apple Wallets, PayPal gains access to the most popular in-store mobile payment option among U.S. consumers. This partnership can help PayPal gain share at physical points of sale, complementing its dominant online payment processing position. With over 40% market share in online payments and a strong presence in e-commerce infrastructure, PayPal's growth potential is substantial, especially as online retail sales are projected to increase 8% annually through 2030.

PayPal's current valuation of 2.4 times sales is significantly lower than its three-year average of 6.9 times sales, indicating a potential undervaluation. Compared to industry peers like Square (2.8x) and Stripe (3.5x), PayPal's valuation is also relatively low. This discrepancy could present an attractive buying opportunity for long-term investors, as the company's strong market position and growth prospects may not be fully reflected in its current price.

In conclusion, PayPal's 120% upside potential, as per Morningstar analyst Brett Horn, is driven by its dominant market position in online payment processing, strong data advantage, and strategic investments in digital wallets, small business solutions, and enterprise checkout solutions. The company's unique two-sided network and AI capabilities enable it to surface shopper insights, boost approval rates, and prevent fraud, solidifying its market leadership. With high-single-digit sales growth projected and an attractive valuation of 2.4 times sales, PayPal is poised for significant long-term growth. Investors should consider adding PayPal to their portfolios, given its strong fundamentals and growth prospects.
Disclaimer: the above is a summary showing certain market information. AInvest is not responsible for any data errors, omissions or other information that may be displayed incorrectly as the data is derived from a third party source. Communications displaying market prices, data and other information available in this post are meant for informational purposes only and are not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. Please do your own research when investing. All investments involve risk and the past performance of a security, or financial product does not guarantee future results or returns. Keep in mind that while diversification may help spread risk, it does not assure a profit, or protect against loss in a down market.