Should You Forget PayPal (PYPL) and Buy American Express (AXP) Instead?
2026-03-07 14:10:12 ET
PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) , one of the world's largest digital payment companies, was once a promising growth stock. Yet over the past five years, its stock has declined nearly 80% as intense competition, the loss of eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) as a top customer, and a challenging macro environment throttled its growth in active accounts and revenues.
From 2021 to 2025, PayPal's year-end active accounts only grew from 426 million to 439 million. That was well below its original goal (which it later abandoned) of hitting 750 million active accounts by 2025. As its account growth stalls out, it's trying to drive more transactions through its branded checkout platform, Venmo peer-to-peer payments app, debit cards, and buy now, pay later (BNPL) services to offset that pressure.
Image source: PayPal.
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