Inside Stocks
Universe/Services-Business Services, NEC/PYPL

PayPal Holdings, Inc.

PYPL · US · USD
Watchlist and comparison: planned
Market value54.26 bn USD
Industry per SECServices-Business Services, NEC
Price as of12 Oct 2026
Last financial year2025
Latest filing10-Q, 28 Jul 2026
Method version2.7.0
Years in the base11
Company quality, four grades from 0 to 5
Balance sheet4
Profitability4
Cash flow4
Growth3
Total points15 of 20
Share valuation, scored separately

No reliable range can be derived for this company. The reason is given below.

The key figures

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All values from audited annual reports filed with the US regulator SEC. No value is estimated, none smoothed.

GradePointsBasis
Balance sheet4/5Net cash 435.00 m $, no net debt · Current ratio 1.3
How this grade is built
Net debt to operating incomeNet cash 435.00 m $, no net debt5/51: ≤ 5.0×2: ≤ 4.0×3: ≤ 3.0×4: ≤ 2.0×5: ≤ 1.0×
Current ratio1.32/51: ≥ 0.82: ≥ 1.03: ≥ 1.34: ≥ 1.85: ≥ 2.5Next step: at least 1.3 for grade 3
Mean 5 + 2 / 2 = 3.50, rounded 4
Profitability4/5Operating margin 18.3% · Return on equity 25.8%
How this grade is built
Operating margin18.3%3/51: ≥ 0.0%2: ≥ 5.0%3: ≥ 12.0%4: ≥ 20.0%5: ≥ 30.0%Next step: at least 20.0% for grade 4
Return on equity25.8%5/51: ≥ 0.0%2: ≥ 5.0%3: ≥ 10.0%4: ≥ 18.0%5: ≥ 25.0%
Mean 3 + 5 / 2 = 4.00, rounded 4
Cash flow4/5Free cash flow to revenue 16.8% · Profit covered by cash flow 1.1× · Free cash flow positive 5 of 5 years
How this grade is built
Free cash flow to revenue16.8%3/51: ≥ 0.0%2: ≥ 5.0%3: ≥ 10.0%4: ≥ 18.0%5: ≥ 25.0%Next step: at least 18.0% for grade 4
Profit covered by cash flow1.1×4/51: ≥ 0.4×2: ≥ 0.6×3: ≥ 0.8×4: ≥ 1.0×5: ≥ 1.2×Next step: at least 1.2× for grade 5
Free cash flow positive5 of 5 years5/51: 1 of 52: 2 of 53: 3 of 54: 4 of 55: 5 of 5
Mean 3 + 4 + 5 / 3 = 4.00, rounded 4
Growth3/5Revenue growth per year 9.1% · Operating income per year 13.0%
How this grade is built
Revenue growth per year9.1%3/51: ≥ 0.0%2: ≥ 3.0%3: ≥ 8.0%4: ≥ 15.0%5: ≥ 25.0%Next step: at least 15.0% for grade 4
Operating income per year13.0%3/51: ≥ 0.0%2: ≥ 3.0%3: ≥ 8.0%4: ≥ 15.0%5: ≥ 25.0%Next step: at least 15.0% for grade 4
Mean 3 + 3 / 2 = 3.00, rounded 3

Each grade is the rounded mean of two or three key figures, each placed on a five-step scale. Open the derivation under a grade to see, for every figure, the measured value, the step it reached and what the next step would have required.

The valuation range

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No range is reported for this company. Not enough history.

Within the sector

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Rank 24 of 65 in the industry. Median of total points in this industry: 12.0 of 20, across 65 graded companies. The grades are absolute and are not normalised to the sector: in a weak industry a weak grade stays weak.

one place above
OptimizeRx Corp
OPRX
15/20
one place below
RB Global Inc.
RBA
15/20

The neighbours follow from the ranking alone, not from a judgement. More total points does not mean a company is the better investment, only that more quality rules are met. It says nothing about the price.

The series of figures

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Every figure comes from the annual report of that year and has not been revised afterwards. Amounts in USD.

Swipe sideways for all columns.

YearRevenueOperating profitFree cash flowEarnings per shareSharesNet debt
20159.25 bn1.46 bn1.82 bn1.001.23 bn-3.41 bn
201610.84 bn1.59 bn2.49 bn1.151.22 bn-4.97 bn
201713.09 bn2.13 bn1.86 bn1.471.22 bn-5.70 bn
201815.45 bn2.19 bn4.66 bn1.711.20 bn-7.11 bn
201917.77 bn2.72 bn3.37 bn2.071.19 bn-5.80 bn
202021.45 bn3.29 bn5.35 bn3.541.19 bn-4.14 bn
202125.37 bn4.26 bn4.89 bn3.521.19 bn-1.45 bn
202227.52 bn3.84 bn5.11 bn2.091.16 bn-451.00 m
202329.77 bn5.03 bn4.22 bn3.841.11 bn-4.38 bn
202431.80 bn5.33 bn6.77 bn3.991.04 bn-1.04 bn
202533.17 bn6.07 bn5.56 bn5.41968.00 m-435.00 m

How durable the advantage is

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2 of 8 points, measured over 10 years (2016 to 2025). Classification: weak.

FeaturePointsBasis
Return on capital, level0/3The company earns on average 5.3% of its assets per year as operating profit, measured over 10 years. Comparable companies are around 10%.
Return on capital, consistency0/30 of 10 years above 10%. Consistency is the real evidence, because anyone has one good year.
Pricing power—/2Gross profit is not reported separately in the filing.
Stability in a downturn2/2Operating margin averaging 16%. Tested in 2020 and 2022: 2020 15%, 2022 14%. Holding counts from two thirds of the company's own average.

What is measured is the trace of a moat: a durably high return on capital and margins that survive a downturn. The causes (switching costs, network effects, brand, licences, economies of scale) appear in no filing and are not claimed here.

Next figures

Expected on 27 Oct 2026 (estimated from the rhythm of earlier filings, ± 7 days). Grades can change after a report; the page is then rebuilt.

Required disclosures for this analysis

Produced byFlorian Maier
Completed on14.10.2026 03:58
Price as of12 Oct 2026
Latest filing10-Q, 28 Jul 2026
Method version2.7.0
Time horizonThe grades describe a state that can change with every annual report, so roughly quarterly. The historical analysis is computed over 36 months.
Own positionNot disclosed individually, see the risk notice.
Earlier analysesThe list of all analyses of this company from the past twelve months will appear once twelve months of analyses exist. This run is the start of the series.

This is not investment advice. Limits of the method, assumptions and conflicts of interest: risk notice.