PayPal Pays Price For Prolonged CEO Hunt
Summary
- The price of PayPal’s CEO hunt just grew by some $9 billion.
- An e-commerce boom during the pandemic lifted PayPal’s stock price to a record high of about $308 in mid-2021.
- PayPal 2 reported 7% revenue growth in Q2 from a year earlier and an adjusted operating profit margin increase to 21.4% from 19.1%, but it fell short of the company’s projection in May of about 22%.
chameleonseye
By Breakingviews
The price of PayPal’s (PYPL) CEO hunt just grew by some $9 billion. Six months after boss Dan Schulman said he was retiring, the company unveiled disappointing second quarter results that sent the shares down by another 11% on Thursday, lopping the 10-figure sum off its market value. Vital strategic plans are in a costly holding pattern.
An e-commerce boom during the pandemic lifted PayPal’s stock price to a record high of about $308 in mid-2021. A five-plus year stretch of double-digit percentage revenue growth ended last year, when the rate slowed to a little more than 8%, and the shares have plummeted to $65 apiece, compared to a 6% fall in the Nasdaq Composite Index over the same two-year stretch. PayPal generated 7% sales growth in the second quarter from a year earlier and the expectation, based on analyst estimates gathered by Refinitiv, is that it won’t hit 10% in a year again until after 2025.
It’s not just the top line that’s weighing on the $73 billion company. PayPal fell short of the 22% operating margin forecast it told investors it would deliver in May, and it remains below its pre-pandemic 23% rate. Interim CFO Gabrielle Rabinovitch largely blamed small-business loan defaults. The portfolio represents less than 15% of overall net credit receivables, and the company is aiming to tighten underwriting standards to help remedy the matter.
Harder to fix is the competition from Apple Pay (AAPL) and others that is hindering growth in the higher-margin business of flashing PayPal’s brand at online shopping checkouts. Even if e-commerce rebounds, PayPal wouldn’t necessarily capture its typical share. Its Braintree mobile payments unit is expanding quickly, but also restraining profitability.
The CEO’s lame-duck status is probably impeding any big decisions. Although recruiting for the top job can take half a year, executive search firm Russell Reynolds says it can find someone in as quickly as 14 weeks. Schulman said on Tuesday the process is in its “very final stages.” At this point, every extra day seems to make the job even harder.
Context News
PayPal on Aug. 2 reported 7% revenue growth in the second quarter from a year earlier and an adjusted operating profit margin increase to 21.4% from 19.1%, but it fell short of the company’s projection in May of about 22%. The company’s shares were down 11% around midday New York time on Aug. 3. They are down by about a third over the past year.
Editor's Note: The summary bullets for this article were chosen by Seeking Alpha editors.
This article was written by
