Feb. 18 at 4:44 PM
$PYPL $STUDY $QQQ Why PayPal Holdings, Inc. at ~6× Forward PE Is One of the Best Long-Term Trades
Core Thesis
At roughly 6× forward earnings, PayPal represents a rare disconnect between fundamental platform strength and market valuation. With a massive global ecosystem, Venmo still early in monetization, and multiple platforms that have not yet scaled internationally, PayPal offers asymmetric upside for long-term investors willing to look past short-term sentiment.
This is not a broken business—it’s a mispriced ecosystem.
1) PayPal Is an Ecosystem, Not a Single Product
PayPal is deeply embedded across global commerce:
online checkout
peer-to-peer payments
merchant acquiring
subscriptions
invoicing
cross-border transactions
This creates switching costs that are often underestimated. Once merchants and consumers are inside the PayPal ecosystem, friction keeps them there. Markets tend to underprice ecosystems when growth temporarily slows—even though the infrastructure remains intact.
