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Visa vs. PayPal: Which Fintech Stock Has More Upside Today?
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Key Takeaways
V is driving growth from global payment volumes, cross-border strength and investments in AI and stablecoins.
PayPal is boosting engagement via agentic commerce, Venmo monetization and expanding merchant services.
PYPL trades at a lower valuation with faster projected EPS growth, pointing to stronger near-term upside.
The global payments landscape continues to evolve as digital payments become more mainstream, regulatory scrutiny intensifies and platforms compete for dominance in terms of scale, security and relevance in the ecosystem. Visa Inc. (V - Free Report) and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL - Free Report) are at the forefront of the global shift toward digital payments, supported by expanding e-commerce, increasing cross-border transactions, investments in newer rails like crypto, contactless and embedded finance, and broader acceptance of online financial services.
Even though V and PYPL have similar goals, they are taking distinct paths to achieve their growth. Visa primarily acts as a transaction network that supports banks, fintechs and merchants, while PayPal provides a platform that directly connects with consumers and businesses.
Let’s dive deep and closely compare the fundamentals to determine which stock offers greater upside right now.
The Case for Visa
Visa, with a market cap of $640.8 billion, operates a global payment network that handles transactions without taking credit risk. Its revenue model is largely tied to payment volumes, cross-border transactions and value-added services. One of Visa's key strengths is its vast international presence, with acceptance in over 200 countries and territories. This enables the company to benefit from cross-border travel, the recovery of tourism and the growing digital adoption in emerging markets.
On a constant-dollar basis, Visa’s payments volume climbed 9% year over year in the fiscal fourth quarter, supported by strength across the United States, Europe, CEMEA and LAC markets. Processed transactions reached 67.7 billion, up 10% from a year ago. Cross-border volume remained a standout highlight, growing 12% year over year. It beat earnings in each of the past four quarters with an average surprise of 2.7%.
Visa is strategically expanding its infrastructure by focusing on real-time payments, tokenization, AI-enabled commerce and fraud prevention, which solidifies its position as a key player in digital commerce. It leverages strategic acquisitions and partnerships to strengthen its market leadership. Recently, it teamed up with Akamai to enhance the security of transactions driven by AI-powered shopping agents.
Visa is making meaningful strides in blockchain and stablecoin settlement. It is deepening its stablecoin push by partnering with fintechs like Bridge, Baanx and Rain to enable stablecoin-linked card issuance, disbursements and commerce. Visa can now settle across four stablecoins and four blockchains, thanks to a partnership with Paxos, which gives it a head start against banks constrained by legacy compliance systems.
However, escalating operating expenses, higher rebates and client incentives will likely impact its growth potential. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, operating expenses rose 40% year over year.
Nevertheless, V’s strong cash position enables substantial share buybacks and dividend payouts and supports inorganic growth and financial stability. With $17.2 billion in cash, the company maintains a solid capital position. Its long-term debt-to-capital of 34.1% is lower than the industry’s average of 37.8% and PYPL’s 35.8%. Visa returned $6.1 billion to its shareholders through share repurchases in the fiscal fourth quarter.
The Case for PayPal
PayPal, with a market cap of $56 billion, positioned itself as a consumer and merchant-facing payments platform. It provides a range of services like digital wallets, checkout solutions and peer-to-peer transfers. Its strategy focuses on creating engagement within its ecosystem, which includes features like branded checkout, Venmo monetization and value-added services for merchants. Its active accounts rose 1% year over year to 438 million in the third quarter of 2025.
PayPal delivered a solid third quarter, with revenues rising 7% year over year to $8.4 billion, along with an 8% increase in total payment volume. Transaction margin dollars, excluding interest on customer balances, rose 7%, underscoring the health of its core payments engine. Importantly, PayPal raised its full-year EPS and transaction margin dollar guidance, signaling confidence in sustained momentum. For 2025, it now anticipates adjusted EPS between $5.35 and $5.39, up from the prior guided range of $5.15-$5.30. However, its operating expenses rose 6.8% year over year in the third quarter due to higher transaction expenses and transaction and credit losses.
It beat earnings estimates in each of the past four quarters with an average surprise of 10.3%.
PayPal Holdings, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
PayPal is investing in AI-driven e-commerce through “agentic commerce,” where AI agents assist consumers in discovering, comparing and purchasing products. Through partnerships with AI and e-commerce platforms such as Perplexity, OpenAI, Google Cloud and others, the company aims to enable more scalable, secure and intelligent shopping experiences for both merchants and consumers. PayPal operates its own stablecoin, PYUSD, a dollar-backed digital currency built to enable faster, blockchain-based payments and transfers. Additionally, U.S. PayPal customers can use the “Pay with Crypto” option, which allows them to select “Checkout with Crypto” at online checkout.
PayPal continues to forge strategic partnerships to expand its offerings and global presence. The company exited the third quarter of 2025 with cash and cash equivalents of $9 billion. It returned $1.5 billion to its shareholders by repurchasing approximately 21 million shares of common stock in the third quarter of 2025.
How Does the Zacks Consensus Estimate Compare for V & PYPL?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PYPL’s bottom line is comparably favorable at this stage. The consensus estimate for V’s fiscal 2026 earnings indicates an 11.7% increase from a year ago, while the same for revenues suggests 11% growth. It has witnessed four positive earnings estimate revisions over the past 60 days against eight downward revisions.
On the other hand, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for PYPL’s 2025 EPS indicates 14.8% year-over-year growth, and the same for revenues signals a 4.7% rise. It has witnessed 12 upward earnings estimate revisions over the past 60 days and no downward movement.
Price Performance Comparison
Over the past three months, shares of Visa have outperformed PayPal, the industry and the S&P 500 Index.
3-Month Price Performance – V, PYPL, Industry & S&P 500
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Valuation: V vs. PYPL
Valuation also favors PYPL. While V trades at a forward P/E of 26.67X, PYPL trades at a more modest 10.24X. V currently carries a Value Score of D, while PYPL carries a Value Score of A.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Visa currently trades below its average analyst price target of $403.88, implying a 15.6% potential upside from current levels. PayPal also trades below its average analyst price target of $76.71, implying an attractive 28.3% potential upside from current levels.
Conclusion
Both Visa and PayPal are well-known names in the digital payments world. PYPL’s platform-driven approach, growing AI-powered commerce initiative and a renewed emphasis on boosting transaction margins position it well to reaccelerate earnings at a time when valuation remains compressed. While V brings scale and reliability to the table, much of that strength is already reflected in its higher valuation.
For investors seeking current upside potential and a better value play, PayPal shines with its anticipated faster EPS growth, improving operational efficiency and various growth opportunities in digital wallets, agentic commerce and alternative payment methods. As such, PYPL appears to have a better hand at the moment, even though both companies currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Image: Bigstock
Visa vs. PayPal: Which Fintech Stock Has More Upside Today?
Key Takeaways
The global payments landscape continues to evolve as digital payments become more mainstream, regulatory scrutiny intensifies and platforms compete for dominance in terms of scale, security and relevance in the ecosystem. Visa Inc. (V - Free Report) and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL - Free Report) are at the forefront of the global shift toward digital payments, supported by expanding e-commerce, increasing cross-border transactions, investments in newer rails like crypto, contactless and embedded finance, and broader acceptance of online financial services.
Even though V and PYPL have similar goals, they are taking distinct paths to achieve their growth. Visa primarily acts as a transaction network that supports banks, fintechs and merchants, while PayPal provides a platform that directly connects with consumers and businesses.
Let’s dive deep and closely compare the fundamentals to determine which stock offers greater upside right now.
The Case for Visa
Visa, with a market cap of $640.8 billion, operates a global payment network that handles transactions without taking credit risk. Its revenue model is largely tied to payment volumes, cross-border transactions and value-added services. One of Visa's key strengths is its vast international presence, with acceptance in over 200 countries and territories. This enables the company to benefit from cross-border travel, the recovery of tourism and the growing digital adoption in emerging markets.
On a constant-dollar basis, Visa’s payments volume climbed 9% year over year in the fiscal fourth quarter, supported by strength across the United States, Europe, CEMEA and LAC markets. Processed transactions reached 67.7 billion, up 10% from a year ago. Cross-border volume remained a standout highlight, growing 12% year over year. It beat earnings in each of the past four quarters with an average surprise of 2.7%.
Visa Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Visa Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Visa Inc. Quote
Visa is strategically expanding its infrastructure by focusing on real-time payments, tokenization, AI-enabled commerce and fraud prevention, which solidifies its position as a key player in digital commerce. It leverages strategic acquisitions and partnerships to strengthen its market leadership. Recently, it teamed up with Akamai to enhance the security of transactions driven by AI-powered shopping agents.
Visa is making meaningful strides in blockchain and stablecoin settlement. It is deepening its stablecoin push by partnering with fintechs like Bridge, Baanx and Rain to enable stablecoin-linked card issuance, disbursements and commerce. Visa can now settle across four stablecoins and four blockchains, thanks to a partnership with Paxos, which gives it a head start against banks constrained by legacy compliance systems.
However, escalating operating expenses, higher rebates and client incentives will likely impact its growth potential. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, operating expenses rose 40% year over year.
Nevertheless, V’s strong cash position enables substantial share buybacks and dividend payouts and supports inorganic growth and financial stability. With $17.2 billion in cash, the company maintains a solid capital position. Its long-term debt-to-capital of 34.1% is lower than the industry’s average of 37.8% and PYPL’s 35.8%. Visa returned $6.1 billion to its shareholders through share repurchases in the fiscal fourth quarter.
The Case for PayPal
PayPal, with a market cap of $56 billion, positioned itself as a consumer and merchant-facing payments platform. It provides a range of services like digital wallets, checkout solutions and peer-to-peer transfers. Its strategy focuses on creating engagement within its ecosystem, which includes features like branded checkout, Venmo monetization and value-added services for merchants. Its active accounts rose 1% year over year to 438 million in the third quarter of 2025.
PayPal delivered a solid third quarter, with revenues rising 7% year over year to $8.4 billion, along with an 8% increase in total payment volume. Transaction margin dollars, excluding interest on customer balances, rose 7%, underscoring the health of its core payments engine. Importantly, PayPal raised its full-year EPS and transaction margin dollar guidance, signaling confidence in sustained momentum. For 2025, it now anticipates adjusted EPS between $5.35 and $5.39, up from the prior guided range of $5.15-$5.30. However, its operating expenses rose 6.8% year over year in the third quarter due to higher transaction expenses and transaction and credit losses.
It beat earnings estimates in each of the past four quarters with an average surprise of 10.3%.
PayPal Holdings, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
PayPal Holdings, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | PayPal Holdings, Inc. Quote
PayPal is investing in AI-driven e-commerce through “agentic commerce,” where AI agents assist consumers in discovering, comparing and purchasing products. Through partnerships with AI and e-commerce platforms such as Perplexity, OpenAI, Google Cloud and others, the company aims to enable more scalable, secure and intelligent shopping experiences for both merchants and consumers. PayPal operates its own stablecoin, PYUSD, a dollar-backed digital currency built to enable faster, blockchain-based payments and transfers. Additionally, U.S. PayPal customers can use the “Pay with Crypto” option, which allows them to select “Checkout with Crypto” at online checkout.
PayPal continues to forge strategic partnerships to expand its offerings and global presence. The company exited the third quarter of 2025 with cash and cash equivalents of $9 billion. It returned $1.5 billion to its shareholders by repurchasing approximately 21 million shares of common stock in the third quarter of 2025.
How Does the Zacks Consensus Estimate Compare for V & PYPL?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PYPL’s bottom line is comparably favorable at this stage. The consensus estimate for V’s fiscal 2026 earnings indicates an 11.7% increase from a year ago, while the same for revenues suggests 11% growth. It has witnessed four positive earnings estimate revisions over the past 60 days against eight downward revisions.
On the other hand, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for PYPL’s 2025 EPS indicates 14.8% year-over-year growth, and the same for revenues signals a 4.7% rise. It has witnessed 12 upward earnings estimate revisions over the past 60 days and no downward movement.
Price Performance Comparison
Over the past three months, shares of Visa have outperformed PayPal, the industry and the S&P 500 Index.
3-Month Price Performance – V, PYPL, Industry & S&P 500
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Valuation: V vs. PYPL
Valuation also favors PYPL. While V trades at a forward P/E of 26.67X, PYPL trades at a more modest 10.24X. V currently carries a Value Score of D, while PYPL carries a Value Score of A.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Visa currently trades below its average analyst price target of $403.88, implying a 15.6% potential upside from current levels. PayPal also trades below its average analyst price target of $76.71, implying an attractive 28.3% potential upside from current levels.
Conclusion
Both Visa and PayPal are well-known names in the digital payments world. PYPL’s platform-driven approach, growing AI-powered commerce initiative and a renewed emphasis on boosting transaction margins position it well to reaccelerate earnings at a time when valuation remains compressed. While V brings scale and reliability to the table, much of that strength is already reflected in its higher valuation.
For investors seeking current upside potential and a better value play, PayPal shines with its anticipated faster EPS growth, improving operational efficiency and various growth opportunities in digital wallets, agentic commerce and alternative payment methods. As such, PYPL appears to have a better hand at the moment, even though both companies currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.