Mastercard Vs PayPal: Barclays Sees Big Upside In Only One Payments Stock

Barclays analyst Nik Cremo initiated coverage of both Mastercard and PayPal stocks on Wednesday.

• Cremo initiated coverage of MA stock with an ‘Overweight’ rating and a $640 price target, implying more than 23% upside from its last close.
• Meanwhile, Cremo initiated coverage of PYPL stock with an ‘Underweight’ rating and a $42 price target, implying about a 5.7% downside from its last close. 
• Mastercard trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 25.7x, a significant premium to PayPal's 8.2x, according to Koyfin data.

As digital payments expand across online and mobile channels, Mastercard Inc. (MA) and PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL) are leveraging services such as tokenization, data analytics, and value-added solutions to capitalize on evolving transaction trends and competitive dynamics.

On Wednesday, Barclays analyst Nik Cremo initiated coverage of both stocks amid a broad sector reset and identified durable franchises positioned for long-term growth.

MA Vs PYPL: Which Is Barclays’ Pick?

Barclays’ Cremo picked MasterCard as the superior of the two fintech stocks, initiating coverage of the company with an ‘Overweight’ rating and a $640 price target. This implies an upside of more than 23% from its last close.

Meanwhile, Cremo initiated coverage of PayPal with an ‘Underweight’ rating and a $42 price target, implying about a 5.7% downside from its last close.

This seems to be the broader Wall Street consensus as well, with Koyfin data indicating that the 41 analysts covering MA stock have a 12-month average price target of $643.84, implying about 24% upside. Of these, 39 analysts have a ‘Buy’ or higher rating on the stock, while two have a ‘Hold’ rating.

Meanwhile, the 44 analysts covering PYPL stock have a 12-month average price target of $51.17, implying about 15% upside, though lower than MA's.

MA Vs PYPL Valuation

Mastercard trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 25.7x, a significant premium to PayPal's 8.2x, according to Koyfin data.

This reflects investors' confidence in Mastercard's more consistent earnings growth, stronger margins, and dominant position in the global payments ecosystem.

What Does Retail Think?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around MA stock was in the ‘neutral’ territory at the time of writing, while message volume increased by 500% in 24 hours, according to platform data.

Meanwhile, retail sentiment around PYPL stock was in ‘bearish’ territory at the time of writing, while message volume increased by just 4% over 24 hours.

MA stock has declined more than 7% so far in 2026, while PYPL stock has declined more sharply, by about 23%, over the same period.

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