One prognosticator following PayPal Holdings (PYPL +0.86%) feels the company is deserving of far more investor love. In a research note circulated on Friday, Dan Dolev of Mizuho Securities raised his price target on the stock to a "street high" of $350 per share, quite a hike from the previous $290. His recommendation, not surprisingly, is a buy. The new level is 46% higher than the shares' most recent closing price.
One big factor is at play with Dolev's increase -- bitcoin specifically, and cryptocurrencies generally.
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"Both our survey and management commentary unveil a dramatic increase in engagement due to crypto," he wrote in his note. He pointed out that PayPal said 50% of its users active in cryptocurrency were interacting with the company's app on a daily basis.
Dolev believes that this activity will add roughly 10% to PayPal's adjusted net revenue in 2023, or around $2 billion.
PayPal and cryptocurrency are recent partners. Following a pilot program, in November the company opened cryptocurrency services to all customers throughout the various PayPal services. At the time, it said it would roll this out to its popular peer-to-peer service Venmo too.
In doing so, PayPal was and is heeding high demand for such functionality. In a recent company earnings call, CEO Daniel Schulman said that "our base is very eager for us to offer these capabilities."
Cryptocurrencies have been on a serious tear lately. This rally has been led, as ever, by pace-setter bitcoin. In just the last month, even after several pull-backs, one bitcoin has zoomed in value to over $36,843 from a shade over $19,194.
