PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) Bernstein 41st Annual Strategic Decisions Conference May 28, 2025 9:00 AM ET Company Participants Alex Chriss - President and CEO Conference Call Participants Harshita Rawat - Bernstein Harshita Rawat I am Harshita Rawat, Bernstein’s senior analyst covering payments, processors, and IT services. And I'm delighted to be joined today by Alex Chriss, PayPal's, President and CEO at Bernstein's 41st Annual Strategic Decisions Conference. Alex, thanks for joining us today. Alex ...

Core Viewpoint - Block's stock has seen recent appreciation due to positive developments, but year-to-date performance remains negative amid competitive pressures and consumer spending softness [1][2]. Group 1: Stock Performance - Block shares have appreciated approximately 5% in the past month and 12.7% in the past week [1]. - Year-to-date, Block shares are down 26.5% due to increasing competitive pressure and softness in consumer spending, particularly in discretionary areas [2]. - Block shares have underperformed compared to competitors like PayPal and Affirm, which have seen declines of 16.3% and 15.8% respectively [3]. Group 2: Business Developments - Cash App Afterpay has expanded its merchant base, adding brands across various categories, which may enhance its market presence [7]. - Block's Cash App Afterpay combines services to allow eligible customers access to Buy Now Pay Later products when shopping online [8]. - Block is focusing on improving engagement with Cash App Card customers and has received FDIC approval to offer consumer loans nationwide through Cash App Borrow [9][10]. Group 3: Financial Outlook - Block expects gross profit of $9.96 billion for 2025, indicating a growth of 12%, with expectations of accelerating growth in the latter half of the year [11]. - The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 earnings is $2.72 per share, down 30.4% over the past 30 days, indicating a 19.29% decline from 2024 [15]. - The consensus estimate for first-quarter 2025 earnings is 61 cents per share, down 36.5% over the past 30 days, reflecting a 34.41% year-over-year decline [16]. Group 4: Valuation and Market Position - Block shares are considered overvalued with a forward 12-month Price/Earnings (P/E) ratio of 19.92X compared to PayPal's 13.45X [17]. - Block shares are trading below the 200-day moving average, indicating a bearish trend [20].

Financial Data and Key Metrics Changes - The overall spending environment shows resilience in consumer sentiment, with stable employment numbers and wage growth, while inflation has moderated [5][6] - Payments volume in the US has remained stable, tracking better than Q2, reflecting consumer resilience [7][10] - Cross-border payments have shown variability, with an expected normalization for the rest of the year based on March and April averages [9][10] Business Line Data and Key Metrics Changes - The cross-border business is diversified, with no single corridor exceeding 25% of volumes, and e-commerce now constitutes about 40% of the business [12][14] - Flexible credentials have seen significant adoption, with holders spending 40% more than non-holders, indicating strong market interest [46][49] Market Data and Key Metrics Changes - Visa's consumer payments volume was approximately $11.5 trillion last year, with a significant addressable market of $23 trillion still available [70][71] - In high digital penetration markets like Norway and New Zealand, Visa is growing significantly above underlying PCE, indicating strong market performance [73][74] Company Strategy and Development Direction - Visa is focusing on enhancing its value-added services, which are projected to grow at 20%, contributing significantly to overall revenue [87][88] - The company is leveraging partnerships in the crypto space, particularly with stablecoins, to enhance its payment infrastructure and expand use cases [32][33] Management's Comments on Operating Environment and Future Outlook - Management acknowledges the macro sensitivity of the cross-border business but emphasizes the strength of Visa's diversification strategy [12][18] - The company remains optimistic about growth prospects in consumer payments, driven by technological advancements and market share gains against domestic schemes [81][82] Other Important Information - Visa's value-added services are expected to tap into a $520 billion addressable market, with various portfolios showing strong growth potential [87][90] - The company has made significant investments in Europe, opening new offices and increasing merchant locations, which has led to share gains against domestic competitors [85][86] Q&A Session Summary Question: How should we think about recession sensitivity in cross-border payments? - Visa's diversification across spend categories and geographical exposure mitigates recession sensitivity, with e-commerce being more resilient than travel [12][14] Question: What is the future of commerce with AI and Visa's role? - Visa is focusing on intelligent commerce, leveraging AI to enhance consumer experiences and reduce friction in transactions [23][31] Question: How does Visa view the adoption of stablecoins? - Visa sees stablecoins as a significant opportunity for revolutionizing money movement and is actively working on various use cases [32][33] Question: What is the growth outlook for Visa's value-added services? - The value-added services segment is expected to grow significantly, with a diverse portfolio and strong market momentum [87][90] Question: How is Visa addressing the commercial card market? - Visa holds a 40% market share in commercial cards and is focused on innovation to capture a larger portion of the $200 trillion addressable market [100]

PayPal (PYPL) FY 2025 Conference May 28, 2025 09:00 AM ET Speaker0 Hi. I'm Harshita Rabat, Bernstein senior analyst covering payments processors and IT services, and I'm delighted to be joined today by Alex Chris, PayPal's president and CEO at Bernstein's forty first annual strategic decisions conference. Alex, thanks for joining us today. Speaker1 Oh, it's great to be here. Thank you. Speaker0 So, Alex, PayPal processed $1,700,000,000,000 in volumes last year. And at this scale, PayPal has very unique insi ...

Core Viewpoint - Western Union is leveraging rising transaction volumes and resilience in its Branded Digital business to position itself for future growth, particularly in the Consumer Money Transfer segment, driven by strong performance in various regions [1]. Company Overview - Western Union, headquartered in Denver, CO, has a market capitalization of $3.1 billion. Year-to-date, its shares have decreased by 11.3%, underperforming the broader industry which gained 3.5%. The stock is currently trading at a forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio of 5.18X, significantly below the industry average of 22.77X [2]. Earnings Estimates - The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Western Union's current-year earnings is $1.77 per share, reflecting a 1.7% increase over the prior year. The company has exceeded earnings estimates in two of the last four quarters, matched once, and missed once, with an average earnings surprise of 0.6% [3]. Revenue Projections - The consensus estimate for Western Union's 2025 revenue is approximately $4.12 billion, with the Consumer Services segment expected to contribute significantly. Revenue from this unit is projected to grow nearly 18% year over year [4]. Growth Drivers - Western Union is enhancing its service offerings through strategic collaborations with fintech firms and financial institutions. Innovations such as the "Send Now, Pay Later" product aim to increase market penetration, supported by the company's extensive global network [5]. Dividend Profile - The company offers a strong dividend yield of 10%, much higher than the industry average of 0.6%. In Q1 2025, Western Union returned $159 million to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks, with $925 million remaining authorized for repurchase as of March 31, 2025. In 2024, the total return to shareholders was $496 million [6]. Competitive Landscape - Despite its strengths, Western Union faces challenges such as a highly leveraged balance sheet with a total debt-to-capital ratio of 74.8%, significantly above the industry average of 42.7%. Additionally, rising competition from low-cost digital payment platforms poses a threat to its long-term market share [7].

Core Insights - ila Bank has partnered with Mastercard to enhance its consumer product offerings, focusing on affluent and travel products along with loyalty programs [1][2] - The collaboration aims to provide added value to cardholders through various lifestyle benefits, including dining, luxury shopping, and travel experiences, while ensuring transaction security [2][3] - The strategic agreement reinforces ila Bank's commitment to customer-centric solutions in a cashless economy, positioning it as a leader in the digital payments landscape [3][4] Company Overview - Established in 2019, ila Bank is a digital, mobile-only bank that offers a range of card products, including debit, credit, and prepaid cards, with personalized loyalty rewards [4] - The bank has received positive reception both domestically and regionally, focusing on bespoke banking solutions tailored to customer needs [4] - Innovative products available through the ila app include smart digital saving tools and a prize account that awards cash prizes to customers [5] Partnership Details - The partnership with Mastercard is aimed at driving innovation in the digital ecosystem, focusing on secure and rewarding banking experiences [3] - Mastercard has supported ila Bank since its inception, contributing to the introduction of various innovative products, including a multi-currency debit program and a loyalty program [3]

reinvesting the dividend -- doing so will yield even stronger performances. Many investors are worried about the recent market volatility caused by Trump's trade policies. However, presidents come and go, and so do economic policies. Throughout it all, broader equities always deliver competitive returns over the long run. Dividend stocks in particular have produced much better performances than their non-dividend-paying peers. Purchasing shares of just any random dividend company won't do, but the following ...

Core Viewpoint - Financial institutions are increasingly focusing on the consumer sector through diversified methods such as consumer credit, payment settlement, scenario finance, and digital services, providing crucial support for consumer upgrades, relief for small and micro enterprises, and rural revitalization [1][2]. Group 1: Collection Scope and Categories - The collection targets include banks, insurance institutions, consumer finance companies, and payment institutions [1]. - Categories for case collection include: 1. **Consumer Scenario Innovation**: Focus on online-offline integrated scenarios, credit card installment scenarios, and cultural tourism consumption ecosystems [1]. 2. **Payment Facilitation**: Emphasizes app payment optimization, cross-border payment services, and digital RMB applications [2]. 3. **Consumer Credit Innovation**: Involves personal consumer loan products, insurance-financial integration products, and credit card benefits activities [1][2]. 4. **Government-Bank-Enterprise Collaboration**: Joint efforts in issuing consumption vouchers and promotional activities [2]. 5. **Green Consumption Promotion**: Support for low-carbon consumption and circular economy projects through green finance [2]. 6. **Others**: Other typical cases that do not fall into the above categories [2]. Group 2: Evaluation Criteria - The evaluation criteria include: - **Innovation**: Assessment of whether the model breaks traditional boundaries and introduces new technologies or scenarios [2]. - **Comprehensive Effectiveness**: Evaluation of tangible consumer promotion effects, such as increased consumer satisfaction and industry reputation [2]. - **Sustainability**: Consideration of the replicability of the model and its long-term social benefits [2]. - **Risk Control**: Compliance of financial services and the completeness of risk control mechanisms [3]. Group 3: Activity Process - The case collection period is from now until May 30, 2025 [3]. - Submission requirements include a detailed case background, innovation points, implementation results, and social impact analysis, with a word count between 1,000 and 3,000 [3]. - Expert evaluation will weigh innovation (30%), comprehensive effectiveness (30%), replicability (20%), and social impact (20%) [3]. - Award-winning cases will be publicized across various media platforms, with early registrants receiving priority for showcase opportunities [3].

I wrote about PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL ) for the first time on 21 March in an article entitled PayPal: Come For the Value, Stay for the Growth . My thesis was that PayPal was attractively priced, and the decline inI am a UK-based long-only investor with a strategy which revolves around finding companies which can be multi-baggers over a 5-10 year time horizon, though, as a great man once said, my favourite holding period is forever. I am looking for companies that have a high probability of subst ...

Dublin, May 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Competitor Profile: Amazon Pay 2025" has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Amazon Pay, originally launched in 2007 as Pay with Amazon, was rebranded in 2017 to its current incarnation. This innovative solution empowers users to make payments on third-party partner merchant websites and apps, utilizing payment methods stored in their Amazon profile. In the United States, Amazon Pay facilitates transactions with major credit and debit cards such as ...