Former PayPal President Critiques Company Culture
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: 4d ago
0mins
Should l Buy PYPL?
Source: Benzinga
- Critique of Financial Optimization: Former PayPal President David Marcus publicly criticized the company's shift from product-led to financially-led leadership, claiming this change has hollowed out the company's innovative spirit and weakened its market competitiveness.
- BNPL Feature Failure: Marcus highlighted PayPal's failure to transform its Buy Now, Pay Later service into a core consumer relationship, allowing competitors to capture market share, which directly contributed to a mere 1% growth in branded checkout performance.
- Leadership Challenges: Despite the board's call for greater discipline and faster execution, Marcus expressed skepticism about the new leadership's ability to navigate the fintech landscape, noting that their background may not align with the needs of a payments company.
- Significant Stock Decline: In 2026, PayPal's stock has dropped by 28.57%, with a 37.86% decline over the past six months and a staggering 53.41% drop over the year, indicating ongoing weakness in the market and declining investor confidence.
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Analyst Views on PYPL
Wall Street analysts forecast PYPL stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for PYPL is 72.86 USD with a low forecast of 51.00 USD and a high forecast of 100.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
29 Analyst Rating
6 Buy
19 Hold
4 Sell
Hold
Current: 39.900
Low
51.00
Averages
72.86
High
100.00
Current: 39.900
Low
51.00
Averages
72.86
High
100.00
About PYPL
PayPal Holdings, Inc. offers a technology platform. The Company’s products are designed to enable digital payments and simplify commerce experiences for consumers and merchants to make selling, shopping, and sending and receiving money simple, personalized, and secure, online or offline, including mobile. It provides consumers with a digital wallet that enables them to send payments to merchants securely using a variety of funding sources, which include a bank account, a PayPal or Venmo account balance, its consumer credit products, a credit card, a debit card, certain cryptocurrencies, or other stored value products. It operates a global, two-sided network at scale that connects consumers and merchants with 434 million active accounts across approximately 200 markets. Its brands include PayPal, Braintree, Venmo, Xoom, Hyperwallet, PayPal Zettle, PayPal Honey, and Paidy. It offers financing products through the PayPal Working Capital (PPWC) and PayPal Business Loan (PPBL).
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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- Gartner Earnings Miss: Gartner (NYSE:IT) fell 25.41% this week following the release of its fourth-quarter financial results and a downward revision of its FY26 guidance, with analysts' pessimistic outlook likely to exert further pressure on the stock.
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- Analyst Downgrades: Several analysts adjusted their price targets downward for these companies, indicating a widespread bearish sentiment regarding their future performance, which may lead investors to reassess their portfolios.
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PayPal Shares Plunge 20% After Weaker-Than-Expected Q4 Earnings Report
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- Executive Transition Impact: CEO Alex Chriss announced his resignation effective March, with former HP CEO Enrique Flores set to take over, a change that may influence the company's strategic direction and execution capabilities, adding to market uncertainty.
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- Market Sentiment Volatility: Following significant market swings, many stocks have RSIs below 20, indicating widespread overselling, as investors may be looking for buying opportunities at lower prices, reflecting expectations for a future rebound.
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- Disappointing Financials: For Q4 2025, PayPal's online branded checkout saw only a 1% year-over-year increase in transaction volume, indicating weak consumer spending during the holiday season, while transactions per active account fell by 5%, highlighting significant challenges in retail.
- Intensifying Competition: PayPal faces fierce competition from tech giants like Apple Pay and Google Pay, which dominate distribution through smartphone integration, exacerbating the pressure on PayPal's market position.
- Investor Confidence Shaken: Although PayPal paid its first-ever quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share totaling $130 million in Q4 2024, management's low guidance for adjusted earnings per share in 2026 failed to boost shareholder confidence, raising questions about capital allocation decisions.
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- PayPal's Poor Performance: PayPal shares tumbled more than 20% on Tuesday and are down over 23% for the week after its fourth-quarter earnings and revenue missed analyst expectations, raising concerns about its execution and market share.
- Novo Nordisk Faces Challenges: Novo Nordisk's stock sank over 14% on Tuesday and is down over 21% for the week due to a sales warning indicating pricing pressures in the U.S. market, impacting the performance of its Wegovy product.
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