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Defined as new technology that seeks to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services, the financial technology (fintech) market is forecasted to be valued at around $700 billion by 2030 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 20%.
Currently valued at upwards of $200 billion, it would be no surprise if the fintech market becomes a trillion-dollar industry in the distant future as innovation continues among financial services. This makes many fin tech stocks intriguing investments, especially for longer-term investors.
PayPal’s Revolution
As a brief synopsis, fintech companies strive to simplify and digitalize banking services, payment processing, peer-to-peer lending and payments, financial software, and other financial services.
PayPal (PYPL - Free Report) ) is a prime example of such digitalization and how fintech companies make financial services much more convenient for consumers. Landing a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) there may still be better buying opportunities ahead but last year's selloff in PayPal stock has made the financial payment innovator more attractive from a valuation standpoint.
Previously owned by eBay (EBAY - Free Report) ) before its spinoff in 2015, the growth of online e-commerce payments is someone attributed to PayPal. As the internal catalyst to eBay’s online payment growth, Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) ) and others followed suit.
Despite giving back some of the gains since its 2015 IPO, PayPal stock is still up +94%. This has trailed the Nasdaq but is near the S&P 500’s performance and outperformed its former parent company eBay.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
PayPal has become one of the largest online payment solution providers and is responsible for making the process much easier for consumers during its early eBay days and the rise of the internet. Prior to this, the frequent use of mailed in checks to pay for purchased items on the internet became time insensitive, outdated, and incompatible with online purchases.
Although there is increasing competition, PayPal’s growth story is far from over. Based on Zacks estimates PayPal’s earnings are forecasted to jump 18% in FY23 and climb another 16% in FY24 at $5.69 per share.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
More impressive, fiscal 2024 would represent a very stellar 132% growth in EPS since the pandemic with 2019 earnings at $2.45 per share. PayPal’s top-line expansion also supports its earnings potential with sales forecasted to rise 6% this year and jump another 9% in FY24 to $31.85 billion.
Trading at $72 per share and 14.5X forward earnings, Wall Street's concerns of a high premium being paid for PayPal stock have faded. Better still, PayPal now offers a 45% discount to its industry average of 41.1X forward earnings and trades nicely beneath the S&P 500’s 18.8X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Quieting the premium fears in recent years, PayPal now trades 83% below its decade-long high of 87.8X and at a 67% discount to the median of 43.7X.
PayPal’s ability to reconfirm its anticipated annual growth in its upcoming first quarter report on May 8 will be key for more upside in PYPL stock. With that being said, holding on to shares at current levels appears to be a keen way to get in on fintech expansion.
Visa & Mastercard’s Transformation
Worthy of consideration for exposure to the growth of fintech is Visa (V - Free Report) ) & Mastercard (MA - Free Report) which both sport a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and their top and bottom lines are naturally light years ahead of newer and smaller fintech competitors.
Newer start-up companies are often thought of in regards to fintech more so than these payment card giants but their impact on financial technology services shouldn’t be overlooked. This is especially true when considering Visa & Mastercard’s reliability to consumers and their very strong stock performances over the last decade.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Furthermore, innovation and expansion in the fintech space is a way for Visa and Mastercard to continue their growth as larger mature companies.
Specifically, Visa and Mastercard have to be recognized as their solutions in the digital wallet are as widely accepted for online shopping as their debit and credit cards are globally. Through Visa Checkout and MasterCard’s MasterPass, both companies have transformed themselves outside of plastic and evolved with the trend and digital age of consumer shopping.
This should help preserve and expand their top and bottom line figures for years to come. Trading at $354 a share, Mastercard sales are forecasted to rise 13% this year to $25.16 billion with earnings expected to climb 15% at $12.26 per share. Fiscal 2024 sales and earnings are anticipated to jump another 12% and 17% respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Pivoting to Visa which trades at $225 a share, earnings are expected to be up 14% in FY23 at $8.57 per share with sales rising 11% this year to $32.47 billion. Fiscal 2024 sales and earnings are projected to rise another 11% and 13% respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Block & Bitcoin
Along with PayPal, one of the more popular names in the fintech space is Block (SQ - Free Report) ), formerly Square. Founded in 2009 and publicly traded since 2015 Block’s notoriety came with the Square Reader, the company’s first product which simplifies point-of-sale transactions by connecting to a mobile device’s auto jack.
Block's Square Reader has been influential for smoother person-to-person transactions and has assisted small business owners in simplifying the payment process along with its larger Square Register.
Outside of hardware products, Block's cash app has been innovative regarding money transfers with the company also implementing banking, lending, and bitcoin trading to its online platform.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Trading at $60 a share and still up +370% since going public, Block’s performance has easily topped the broader indexes during this period. Block has intentionally stuck with solely providing Bitcoin services on its platform while other fintech companies such as PayPal include trading for a variety of cryptocurrencies.
Block’s sole emphasis on Bitcoin is that it's still the most-traded cryptocurrency and the company’s concentration may provide larger returns rather than diversifying at the moment. To that point, along with providing bitcoin trading Block has entered the crypto mining space as a manufacturer of bitcoin chips.
Image Source: Refinitiv
Notably, bitcoin prices have stabilized in recent months and Block may be a less expensive way to get concentrated exposure while also offering the diversification of its other financial services.
Bitcoin derives about 50% of Block’s revenue with SQ stock landing a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) at the moment. As Block continues its course of increased profitability more upside could be ahead with earnings projected to soar 63% in FY23 at $1.63 per share compared to EPS of $1.00 in 2022. Plus, fiscal 2024 EPS is forecasted to climb another 41%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Takeaway
These companies are great illustrations of how the growth in financial technology services should intrigue investors. Considering the CAGR of the fintech market is +20%, there should be plenty of upside and growth for PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, and Block stock.
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Time to Invest in the Growth of FinTech?
Defined as new technology that seeks to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services, the financial technology (fintech) market is forecasted to be valued at around $700 billion by 2030 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 20%.
Currently valued at upwards of $200 billion, it would be no surprise if the fintech market becomes a trillion-dollar industry in the distant future as innovation continues among financial services. This makes many fin tech stocks intriguing investments, especially for longer-term investors.
PayPal’s Revolution
As a brief synopsis, fintech companies strive to simplify and digitalize banking services, payment processing, peer-to-peer lending and payments, financial software, and other financial services.
PayPal (PYPL - Free Report) ) is a prime example of such digitalization and how fintech companies make financial services much more convenient for consumers. Landing a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) there may still be better buying opportunities ahead but last year's selloff in PayPal stock has made the financial payment innovator more attractive from a valuation standpoint.
Previously owned by eBay (EBAY - Free Report) ) before its spinoff in 2015, the growth of online e-commerce payments is someone attributed to PayPal. As the internal catalyst to eBay’s online payment growth, Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) ) and others followed suit.
Despite giving back some of the gains since its 2015 IPO, PayPal stock is still up +94%. This has trailed the Nasdaq but is near the S&P 500’s performance and outperformed its former parent company eBay.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
PayPal has become one of the largest online payment solution providers and is responsible for making the process much easier for consumers during its early eBay days and the rise of the internet. Prior to this, the frequent use of mailed in checks to pay for purchased items on the internet became time insensitive, outdated, and incompatible with online purchases.
Although there is increasing competition, PayPal’s growth story is far from over. Based on Zacks estimates PayPal’s earnings are forecasted to jump 18% in FY23 and climb another 16% in FY24 at $5.69 per share.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
More impressive, fiscal 2024 would represent a very stellar 132% growth in EPS since the pandemic with 2019 earnings at $2.45 per share. PayPal’s top-line expansion also supports its earnings potential with sales forecasted to rise 6% this year and jump another 9% in FY24 to $31.85 billion.
Trading at $72 per share and 14.5X forward earnings, Wall Street's concerns of a high premium being paid for PayPal stock have faded. Better still, PayPal now offers a 45% discount to its industry average of 41.1X forward earnings and trades nicely beneath the S&P 500’s 18.8X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Quieting the premium fears in recent years, PayPal now trades 83% below its decade-long high of 87.8X and at a 67% discount to the median of 43.7X.
PayPal’s ability to reconfirm its anticipated annual growth in its upcoming first quarter report on May 8 will be key for more upside in PYPL stock. With that being said, holding on to shares at current levels appears to be a keen way to get in on fintech expansion.
Visa & Mastercard’s Transformation
Worthy of consideration for exposure to the growth of fintech is Visa (V - Free Report) ) & Mastercard (MA - Free Report) which both sport a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and their top and bottom lines are naturally light years ahead of newer and smaller fintech competitors.
Newer start-up companies are often thought of in regards to fintech more so than these payment card giants but their impact on financial technology services shouldn’t be overlooked. This is especially true when considering Visa & Mastercard’s reliability to consumers and their very strong stock performances over the last decade.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Furthermore, innovation and expansion in the fintech space is a way for Visa and Mastercard to continue their growth as larger mature companies.
Specifically, Visa and Mastercard have to be recognized as their solutions in the digital wallet are as widely accepted for online shopping as their debit and credit cards are globally. Through Visa Checkout and MasterCard’s MasterPass, both companies have transformed themselves outside of plastic and evolved with the trend and digital age of consumer shopping.
This should help preserve and expand their top and bottom line figures for years to come. Trading at $354 a share, Mastercard sales are forecasted to rise 13% this year to $25.16 billion with earnings expected to climb 15% at $12.26 per share. Fiscal 2024 sales and earnings are anticipated to jump another 12% and 17% respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Pivoting to Visa which trades at $225 a share, earnings are expected to be up 14% in FY23 at $8.57 per share with sales rising 11% this year to $32.47 billion. Fiscal 2024 sales and earnings are projected to rise another 11% and 13% respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Block & Bitcoin
Along with PayPal, one of the more popular names in the fintech space is Block (SQ - Free Report) ), formerly Square. Founded in 2009 and publicly traded since 2015 Block’s notoriety came with the Square Reader, the company’s first product which simplifies point-of-sale transactions by connecting to a mobile device’s auto jack.
Block's Square Reader has been influential for smoother person-to-person transactions and has assisted small business owners in simplifying the payment process along with its larger Square Register.
Outside of hardware products, Block's cash app has been innovative regarding money transfers with the company also implementing banking, lending, and bitcoin trading to its online platform.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Trading at $60 a share and still up +370% since going public, Block’s performance has easily topped the broader indexes during this period. Block has intentionally stuck with solely providing Bitcoin services on its platform while other fintech companies such as PayPal include trading for a variety of cryptocurrencies.
Block’s sole emphasis on Bitcoin is that it's still the most-traded cryptocurrency and the company’s concentration may provide larger returns rather than diversifying at the moment. To that point, along with providing bitcoin trading Block has entered the crypto mining space as a manufacturer of bitcoin chips.
Image Source: Refinitiv
Notably, bitcoin prices have stabilized in recent months and Block may be a less expensive way to get concentrated exposure while also offering the diversification of its other financial services.
Bitcoin derives about 50% of Block’s revenue with SQ stock landing a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) at the moment. As Block continues its course of increased profitability more upside could be ahead with earnings projected to soar 63% in FY23 at $1.63 per share compared to EPS of $1.00 in 2022. Plus, fiscal 2024 EPS is forecasted to climb another 41%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Takeaway
These companies are great illustrations of how the growth in financial technology services should intrigue investors. Considering the CAGR of the fintech market is +20%, there should be plenty of upside and growth for PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, and Block stock.