PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) shares fell Monday after Raymond James downgraded the stock to market perform from outperform. The Wall Street firm said the downgrade followed the strong start to the year that saw the stock rise more than 20%. Meanwhile, Raymond James said it holds a cautious stance on its fourth-quarter earnings set for later this week.
After the stock started the year off strong, Davis said he's taking a cautious stance on Q4 results as 2023 revenue guidance is likely to imply flat to negative growth for its branded checkout, "which will likely result in the share loss narrative growing even louder."
While confident in management's ability to cut costs more than prior EPS guidance of 15%+ in 2023, "the margin trajectory in 2024 and beyond is less clear as cost cuts will be in the rearview mirror and Braintree/unbranded will likely drive the majority of growth," Davis wrote in a note to clients.
PayPal will report its Q4 results this Thursday after the closing bell.
Davis's Market Perform rating aligns with the SA Quant rating of Hold and contrasts with the average SA Authors' rating and average Wall Street Analysts' rating , both at Buy.
SA contributor Michael Wiggins De Oliveira says PayPal's Q4 earnings report will be focused on one thing, promoting its cost-cutting narrative .
PYPL shares stumbled $2.67, or 3.1%, Monday to $82.85.
