PayPal Holdings (PYPL) (PYPL:CA) stock was downgraded at BofA Securities over a delay in reinvigorating growth at the payment company’s core branded checkout segment.
PYPL shares were trading -1.91% Thursday pre-market to $59.99.
“We had expected product innovation and the upgraded checkout experience to drive increased usage of the PayPal button at checkout. Instead, 4Q will see a step down in branded checkout growth and 2026 will be an investment year,” said BofA analysts.
“We still think PYPL’s 400M+ consumers and merchant accounts and the faster pace of innovation under new management are a positive but we think risk-reward is balanced until there is more visibility that the turnaround is taking hold,” said the research note.
The investment bank lowered its recommendation on the stock to Neutral from Buy, and reduced the price objective to $68.00 from $93.00.
BofA’s rating aligns with Seeking Alpha’s Quant rating of Hold. On the contrary, SA authors and the Wall Street analysts see the stock as Buy.