Our take on Elliott’s latest moves

Article Excerpt

Activist investor Elliott Management is one the world’s largest hedge funds, with $55.7 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2022. Here’s our take on three of Elliott’s recent investments. PAYPAL HOLDINGS INC. $99 is a buy for aggressive investors. The company (Nasdaq symbol PYPL; Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $118.8 billion; No dividends paid; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.paypal.com) processes online transactions on millions of websites, including purchases made on eBay, its former parent company. The company recently announced a new agreement with activist investment firm Elliott Investment Management, which owns $2 billion of the company’s stock. The activist will support PayPal’s current restructuring plan, which involves focusing on building transaction volumes to generate higher profits, rather than focusing on adding new users. The company is also cutting costs and improving efficiency. It expects these moves will trim $900 million from its annual expenses in 2022, the savings then rising to $1.3 billion in 2023. The company also announced a new plan…