PayPal Stock’s 7-Day Losing Streak To End? Retail Sees Rally Ahead While Wall Street Worries About Big Tech Rivals

PYPL shares tick up ahead of earnings, but Wall Street is split on whether agentic commerce can offset checkout-share losses.

• Last year, PayPal lost more than 31% of its value, mainly driven by a slowdown in payment activity in the United States and Europe.
• PayPal in January agreed to buy Cymbio, a platform that helps brands sell across agentic surfaces, including Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity, and other e-commerce channels
• Morgan Stanley believes PayPal's partnerships and integrations with AI players are unlikely to soften the pace of persistent consumer checkout share loss.

PayPal’s stock rose nearly 1% in after-hours trading on Monday, positioning it to snap a seven-day losing streak ahead of the company’s quarterly earnings report. Investors are closely watching how intensifying competition in the fintech space and PayPal’s artificial intelligence–driven growth initiatives are shaping results, especially at a time when consumer spending has come under pressure.

The stock had a rough 2025, losing more than 31% of its value, mainly due to a slowdown in payment activity across the United States and Europe as retail consumers grew more cautious with their spending. That weakness has carried into the new year, with PayPal shares down about 10% so far in 2026, putting them on track for a second consecutive annual decline as Wall Street’s optimism heading into earnings has continued to fade.

Cymbio Acquisition

Last week, PayPal agreed to acquire Cymbio, a platform that helps brands sell across agent-based surfaces, including Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity, as well as other e-commerce channels. PayPal had previously partnered with Cymbio as part of its agentic commerce services, which allows merchants to attract customers and drive sales through AI.

The company said that Cymbio's team will enable Store Sync, one of PayPal's agentic commerce services, which would make merchants' product data discoverable across AI channels and allow them to seamlessly drop orders into their existing fulfillment and management systems.

Abercrombie & Fitch, Fabletics, Ashley Furniture, Newegg, and Adorama are currently live with Store Sync on Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity, PayPal said.

Morgan Stanley said this is a step in the right direction in an increasingly agentic world, but expects only a small immediate contribution. But Morgan Stanley believes PayPal's partnerships and integrations with AI players are unlikely to soften the pace of persistent consumer checkout share loss.

Wall Street View

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Ramsey El-Assal initiated coverage of PayPal with a Neutral rating and $60 price target, according to TheFly. The firm said last week that the recent strategic initiatives have created a more balanced, profitable growth engine across Branded, PSP, and Venmo.

The firm added that momentum across these vectors should drive further volume and revenue acceleration in fiscal year 2026, though competitive pressures remain "intense."

Rothschild & Co Redburn downgraded PayPal to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ and cut price target to $50, down from $70, according to TheFly. The current price target implies a 4% downside to the company’s closing price of $52.33 as of Monday’s close.

The firm said PayPal should be well-positioned for agentic commerce given its scale, but that advantage will erode as consumer behavior shifts. Rothschild & Co Redburn said that the "marginal consumer" is increasingly choosing alternative payment methods.

It sees Shop Pay, Stripe Link, Apple Pay and Google Pay as "winning the incremental user,” Rothschild & Co Redburn said.

Earnings Snapshot

PayPal is expected to post its fourth-quarter results on Tuesday before markets open. Wall Street expects the company to post a 6.2% rise in revenue to $8.79 billion and earnings per share is estimated to be $1.29, compared to $1.12 a year earlier, according to data from Stocktwits.

What Is Retail Thinking?

Retail sentiment on PayPal improved to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘bullish’ a week ago, with message volumes at ‘extremely high’ levels, according to data from Stocktwits.

A bearish user on Stocktwits said the stock might never trade above $50 following Tuesday's earnings.

Another user, who is bullish on PayPal, noted that the stock has been dropping steadily into earnings, reflecting low expectations, but is a “perfect setup for a rally.”

Shares of PayPal have declined 33% in the last 12 months.

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