Here’s What Makes PayPal (PYPL) a Smart Investment Choice

RiverPark Funds, an investment management company, released its “RiverPark Large Growth Fund” third quarter 2022 investor letter — a copy of which can be downloaded here. For the quarter, the RiverPark Large Growth Fund (the “Fund”) lost 3.3% – a bit better than the S&P 500 (-4.9% for the quarter) and about in line with the Russell 1000 Growth index (-3.6% for the quarter). Try to spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings for you to have an idea about their best stock picks this 2022.

In its Q3 2022 investor letter, RiverPark Large Growth Fund mentioned PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 1998, PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) is a San Jose, California-based multinational financial technology company with a $103.2 billion market capitalization. PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) delivered a -52.68% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -63.28%. The stock closed at $89.24 per share on October 25, 2022.

Here is what RiverPark Large Growth Fund has to say about PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) in its Q3 2022 investor letter:

PayPal, announced better-than-expected 2Q results, positive guidance (including more than $1.3 billion of 2023 cost savings leading to operating margin expansion), a $15 billion stock repurchase program, and the appointment of Blake Jorgensen as CFO, who was previously the well-regarded CFO at Electronic Arts. The company reported 9% revenue growth, in-line with guidance, and $0.93 EPS, exceeding guidance due to robust operating leverage. Management narrowed its 2022 revenue guidance from 11%-13% growth to about 11% growth due to the macro environment but raised its EPS guidance due to greater operating margin leverage and share buybacks. The stock also reacted to the news that activist investor Elliott Management had taken a stake in the company. PYPL operates at significantly lower margins than its payment competitors Visa and Mastercard, and sources suggest that Elliott intends, among other things, to push for the company to improve its margins and drive higher cash flow growth in the near term.

PayPal provides direct exposure to the secular growth in ecommerce-driven digital payments as it is the most accepted digital wallet on-line. More than 3/4 of the 1,500 largest online retailers across North America and Europe accept PayPal, which is almost triple the acceptance of Apple Pay, the number two digital wallet. PayPal is also a key beneficiary of the current dramatic shift in consumer buying habits brought on by the pandemic, as well as the relatively newer consumer-to-consumer payment trends through its Venmo peer-to-peer (P2P) payment service. With a 2Q non-GAAP operating margin of 19%, PYPL also has significant margin expansion potential given that competitors Adyen, Visa and Mastercard have 50%-65% operating margins. We believe the combination of the secular growth of eCommerce and P2P payments, along with expanding operating leverage and the strategic use of the company’s significant and growing cash balance should fuel a mid-20% earnings growth rate over the next five years. This, to us, presents an excellent risk/reward profile given that PYPL trades at a modest premium to the market multiple and a 6% 2023 FCF yield.”

Paypal PYPL Mastercard MA Visa

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Our calculations show that PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) ranks 17th on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) was in 97 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the second quarter of 2022, compared to 100 funds in the previous quarter. PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) delivered a 15.84% return in the past 3 months.

In October 2022, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) in another article. You can find other investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2022 Q3 page.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.