PayPal: 3 Key Takeaways for Long-Term Investors
Key Points
PayPal raised full-year transaction margin dollar guidance to $15.7 billion.
Non-GAAP earnings per share grew 8% year-over-year in the third quarter.
Venmo debit card active accounts grew 55% year-over-year to 6.7 million.
- Motley Fool Issues Rare "Total Conviction" Buy Alert ›
On its third-quarter 2026 earnings call, held on Oct. 27, 2026, PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) raised its full-year transaction margin dollar guidance to $15.7 billion as cost discipline takes hold. The company is leaning into higher-margin financial services to diversify beyond payment processing. That strategy creates clear long-term leverage if execution holds up. Three things management said stand out.
1. Financial Services Expand the Total Addressable Market
Expanding into credit, debit, buy now, pay later (BNPL), and installment loan options lets the company capture more revenue per user while broadening its client offerings beyond checkout.
Financial services expand our total addressable market, deepen customer relationships, increase lifetime value, and allow us to become a more relevant financial partner in consumers' everyday lives.
-- Enrique Lores, CEO
2. Cost Reductions Create Capacity to Self-Fund Growth
Management lowered operating expenses by paring corporate roles and simplifying internal management layers. Those savings fund product investments without blowing out budgets.
Importantly, the savings are creating capacity to self-fund more of our growth investments, such as improving the consumer experience, strengthening merchant presentment, and building and scaling our financial services products.
-- Jamie Miller, Chief Financial and Operating Officer
3. Venmo Monetization Opens Substantial Account Revenue Expansion
Venmo continues to post double-digit growth in total payment volume (TPV, the aggregate dollar amount of transactions). Management sees significant opportunity to boost average revenue per account (ARPA, revenue per active user) through debit cards and payment integrations.
We have a 4x to 5x opportunity to increase ARPA, which gives us both the conviction about the opportunity and shows us where we need to invest and where we need to grow.
-- Enrique Lores, CEO
Looking Ahead
An expanding product lineup and global scale position the business to widen its operating margins over time. Leadership is watching transaction margin dollar growth and merchant adoption of branded checkout playbooks across international markets.
Over time, we believe the changes I have described can drive sustainable total company transaction margin dollar growth in the mid-single-digit range.
-- Enrique Lores, CEO
Disciplined balance sheet management and consistent cash flow allow the company to fund growth initiatives while maintaining share buybacks.
More broadly, our strong liquidity and cash generation give us the flexibility to invest in the business without sacrificing our ability to return significant capital to shareholders.
-- Jamie Miller, Chief Financial and Operating Officer
Should you buy stock in PayPal right now?
Before you buy stock in PayPal, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and PayPal wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $344,608!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,327,222!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 904% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 211% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of October 28, 2026.
The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends PayPal. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: short December 2026 $62.50 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Recommended Articles
