PayPal is a ‘safe-haven stock’ like Visa and Mastercard, says Instinet
Instinet analyst Bill Carcache on Monday called PayPal Holdings Inc. shares “an oasis in a challenging market” and said that PayPal is a “safe-haven stock (in the same family as Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. .” He believes that the company will be able to “accelerate” Venmo’s monetization efforts and card-volume growth. In a recent conversation with the company’s chief financial officer, Carcache learned that demand for physical Venmo debit cards has outstripped supply. “Issuance delays represent a short-term obstacle and suggest that Venmo card monetization efforts will continue to ramp gradually over time as customers receive and activate their cards,” he wrote. “Notably, Venmo debit card volumes are largely funded via ACH [Automated Clearing House, or bank-account funding], debit cards, and stored balances and are expected to exert downward pressure on the transaction expense rate.” Pricing opportunities for the core PayPal platform and the ability to pay with rewards are other growth opportunities highlighted by PayPal’s CFO at the recent meeting with Carcache. He rates PayPal’s stock a buy with a $120 price target. Also on Monday, PayPal announced the global rollout of its new marketing and checkout tools. The shares are down 1.6% in Monday’s session, though they’re up 43% over the past 12 months. The S&P 500 has gained 16% in that time.