(PYPL) stock has fallen 1.8% over the past week and dropped 4.4% over the past month, extending a steep 36.8% slide over the last year. Wall Street’s analysts are neutral, with a Hold consensus and a 12‑month price target of $49.05, implying modest upside from the last closing price of $45.44.
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Analyst James Faucette of Morgan Stanley reiterated a Sell rating on PayPal Holdings on May 12, 2026, setting a $34 price target that signals downside risk from current levels. His view underscores that despite the consensus Hold, some influential voices see more pressure ahead for the digital payments giant.
Faucette argues that PayPal is facing what he calls an “unclimbable wall of worry” as competition intensifies and the company’s traditional edge in online checkout comes under threat. He notes that investor hopes for bigger cost savings, asset sales, and buybacks have not been met, while recent guidance for the second quarter and the second half of the year remains cautious.
A key concern in his report is the rise of agentic commerce, which he expects could represent 10% of total e‑commerce by 2030 and may undercut PayPal’s core value of reduced checkout friction. He believes standardized command line interfaces could deliver payment credentials more efficiently than PayPal’s button‑based checkout, gradually eroding its convenience advantage.
Faucette also highlights the growing strength of rivals like Apple Pay and Shop Pay, supported by heavy investment from Apple and Shopify, along with PayPal’s unfavorable end‑market exposure and demographic headwinds. This N‑star analyst ranks 2915 out of 12188 on TipRanks, with a 58.15% success rate and an average 2.7% return per rating. Never miss a stock rating. Find all the latest ratings on TipRanks’ Top Wall Street Analysts page.