PayPal gets into stores

Article Excerpt

PAYPAL HOLDINGS INC. $81 (Nasdaq symbol PYPL; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $97.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 7.0; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.paypal.com) processes online transactions, including purchases made through the auction websites of its former parent company eBay. The company is now buying iZettle AB. Based in Sweden, it makes equipment and software that lets merchants accept credit and debit card payments. It currently has 500,000 clients in Europe, Brazil and Mexico. In the past few years, iZettle has expanded into other services such as analyzing customer transactions and managing loyalty programs. PayPal will pay $2.2 billion for iZettle. It expects to complete the purchase in the third quarter of 2018. To put that price in context, the company’s revenue in the first quarter of 2018 rose 23.9%, to $3.69 billion from $2.98 billion a year earlier. Earnings before unusual items jumped 29.6%, to $692 million, or $0.57 a share, from $534 million, or $0.44. The new…