KEY POINTS
- PayPal stock slid to near a 52-week low following a leadership change and weak fiscal guidance
- Fourth quarter results missed estimates as competitive pressure intensified across digital payments
- Management acknowledged execution challenges affecting merchants and hundreds of millions of users
PayPal Holdings Inc. shares plunged about 18% in US trading after the payments company announced Chief Executive Alex Chriss would step down after roughly two and a half years, named HP Inc.
CEO Enrique Lores as his successor effective March 1 and issued guidance that fell well short of Wall Street expectations.
The sharp sell off underscores investor anxiety about PayPal’s ability to stabilize growth amid intensifying competition from rivals such as Apple Pay, Stripe and Block while navigating a sensitive leadership transition.
Once a dominant force in online payments, PayPal has struggled to regain momentum since the pandemic driven e-commerce surge faded.
The PayPal stock price has fallen more than 41% over the past year and now trades around levels last seen in 2017.
The company reported fourth quarter earnings per share of $1.23 on revenue of $8.68 billion, both below consensus forecasts, and projected fiscal 2026 results that disappointed analysts.
“Markets are reacting less to the CEO change itself and more to the signal that core growth engines are still under pressure,” said Gil Luria, managing director of equity research at D.A Davidson.
He said branded checkout growth slowing to about 1% suggests PayPal is losing share at a time when merchants have abundant alternatives.
BTIG analyst Mark Palmer, in a research note, said the PayPal stock valuation appears inexpensive on cash flow metrics but warned that confidence will remain fragile until execution improves. Truist Securities maintained a Sell rating, citing limited near term catalysts.
| Metric | Latest | Prior Year |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $8.68B | $8.03B |
| EPS | $1.23 | $1.30 |
| Active accounts | 439M | 428M |
| One-day share move | -18% | N/A |
Jamie Miller, PayPal’s chief financial officer and interim CEO, said the company underestimated the operational complexity of rolling out new merchant experiences.
“Changing long standing consumer spending habits takes more time and precision than we anticipated,” she said on an earnings call.
Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities, said PayPal still has a globally recognized brand but faces a “prove it period” as competition accelerates.
PayPal said Lores will focus on operational discipline and product simplification. Analysts expect management to prioritize cost controls, partnerships and incremental innovation rather than transformative deals.
The latest setback leaves PayPal stock searching for stability as leadership changes, execution challenges and fierce competition reshape the digital payments landscape.
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