PAYPAL HOLDINGS INC. $38 (Nasdaq symbol PYPL; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $45.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: n.a.; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.paypal.com) processes online transactions, including purchases made through eBay’s auction websites. In the past few years, it has expanded into stores and mobile payments. eBay investors received one PayPal share for each eBay share they held. They only become liable for capital gains taxes when they sell their new shares. Operating as a separate firm will let PayPal pursue alliances with more retailers, cutting its reliance on eBay. At the same time, it continues to invest in its mobile operations, which will help it profit as more people buy goods and pay bills through smartphones.
For example, PayPal recently agreed to pay $890 million for Xoom Corp. (Nasdaq symbol XOOM).
This firm’s technology lets users send money, pay bills and reload mobile phones in the U.S. and 37 other countries. Even so, PayPal faces strong competition in this field from major banks and Apple Pay.
The company expects to earn $1.23 to $1.27 a share in 2015, and the stock trades at a high 30.4 times the midpoint of that range.
PayPal is a hold.