These PayPal Analysts Downgrade Ratings, Price Target On Q3 Earnings Miss, CEO Change Due To 'Execution Challenges'

Shares of PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) continued to decline in early trading on Wednesday, after the company reported an earnings miss for the fourth quarter.

Here are the key analyst insights:

• Canaccord Genuity analyst Joseph Vafi downgraded the rating from Buy to Hold. He slashed the price target from $100 to $42.
• JPMorgan analyst Tien-tsin Huang maintained a Neutral rating, but cut the price target from $70 to $46.
• Citizens JMP Securities analyst Andrew Boone downgraded the rating from Market Outperform to Market Perform.

Check out other analyst stock ratings.

Canaccord Genuity: The commerce sector is "consolidating around larger vendors that don’t offer PayPal in the first place," Vafi said. Browser extensions and convenient payment methods like Apple Pay and Google Pay bypass PayPal, he added. As a result, consumer behavior is changing.

While PayPal's BNPL (buy now pay later) value proposition is "one of the bright spots," progress in consumer banking depends on owning the direct deposit relationship, the analyst stated. Although Venmo is recording double-digit growth, it currently comprises only about 5%-6% of PayPal's revenue, which "only moves the needle so much," he further wrote.

JPMorgan: PayPal reported its Q4 results below expectations. Huang says this is largely due to soft growth in Branded volumes — "a material P&L driver.” The company's earnings came in at $1.23 per share. That’s below Street expectations of $1.29 per share and represents only 3% growth versus guidance of 7%-10% growth.

PayPal announced a disappointing outlook for fiscal 2026 and an unexpected CEO change, citing "execution challenges," the analyst stated. Alex Chriss will depart as CEO after more than two years in the role.

HP Inc's (NYSE:HPQ) Enrique Lores replaces him with CFO/COO Jamie Miller serving as Interim CEO until then.

Citizens JMP Securities: PayPal's branded checkout growth slowed to 1% year-on-year, representing a four-point deceleration, Boone said in his downgrade note. The fourth-quarter results indicate that the company is losing market share and may need to increase its investments in consumer loyalty programs and merchant incentives to reaccelerate growth, he added.

Transaction margin dollars are expected to decline in 2026, the analyst stated. PayPal is also changing CEOs.

The incoming CEO, Lores, is “known for breaking up companies and instituting cost cuts," he further wrote.

PYPL Price Action: Shares of PayPal Holdings had declined by 0.52% to $41.48 at the time of publication on Wednesday.

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