Invest better with The Motley Fool. Get stock recommendations, portfolio guidance, and more from The Motley Fool's premium services.
You can buy shares of PayPal through any brokerage account. If you still need to open one, these are some of the best-rated brokers and trading platforms. Here's a step-by-step guide to buying PayPal stock:
Instead of actively buying shares of PayPal directly, you can also passively invest in the financial technology company through a fund holding its shares. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are an easy way to gain exposure to PayPal stock.
According to ETF.com, 344 ETFs held 163.7 million shares of PayPal as of mid-2025. The biggest holder was the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (NYSEMKT:VTI) at 31.8 million shares.
Several ETFs had larger portfolio weightings of PayPal stock. The Amplify Digital Payments ETF (NYSEMKT:IPAY) had the largest allocation, with a 5.9% portfolio weighting.
Investors should consider the pros and cons of a company before investing in its stock. Here are some of the benefits of investing in PayPal:
On the other hand, there are some of the drawbacks of investing in PayPal:
Before buying shares of PayPal, you need to determine whether it's the right stock for you. Here are some factors to consider before buying shares of PayPal.
Profit growth is a big factor in powering stock price appreciation over the longer term. It's an ideal area for beginning investors to focus on before buying shares of any company.
PayPal produced $1.3 billion of net income in the first quarter of 2025. That was up more than 45% from the previous period. PayPal's earnings have generally risen over the years:
PayPal does not pay a dividend. However, it does return cash to investors by repurchasing shares. The company repurchased $6 billion in shares in 2024 and plans to buy back a similar level in 2025. During the 12 months through mid-2025, it had reduced its shares outstanding by 6%.
As of mid-2025, PayPal had never completed a stock split. The payments giant seemed unlikely to split its stock anytime soon. Although shares had surged more than 600% at one point after its separation from eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), the stock had returned most of that gain by mid-2025 (doubling to about $75 per share). The stock would need to surge again before PayPal would likely consider a split.
PayPal is a publicly traded company. It trades on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PYPL. PayPal has a unique history as a public company.
PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) is a leader in digital payments, which is why many investors seek to invest in PayPal stock. The company's technology enables people to make digital payments to other PayPal users and merchants that accept PayPal.
The financial technology (fintech) company operates its namesake payments platform and several branded and non-branded platforms. Notable brands include its peer-to-peer payments app Venmo and shopping experience platform Honey. PayPal also offers a buy now, pay later solution to finance transactions.
PayPal is one of the world's largest and most ubiquitous digital payment platforms. The company processed a staggering $1.7 trillion in total payment volume in 2024. It has more than 434 million users.
Here's a step-by-step guide on buying PayPal shares and some factors to consider before investing in the fintech stock.
PayPal also produces lots of cash. It generated $6.8 billion of free cash flow in 2024 and expects to produce $6 billion to $7 billion in 2025. The company returns most of its free cash flow to shareholders by repurchasing shares.
Revenue growth also helps drive stock price appreciation, especially for companies earlier in their growth cycle. PayPal generated $7.8 billion of net revenue in the first quarter of 2025, a 1% increase from the first quarter of 2024. Rising active accounts and total payment volumes are helping drive revenue growth. The company expects to continue growing revenue at a solid rate. PayPal sees its revenue rising 4% to 5% in 2025.
PayPal's stock price has fallen sharply in recent years. As a result, its valuation has become more attractive. With a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of less than 15 times in mid-2025, PayPal traded at a relatively low valuation. In mid-2025, the S&P 500 traded at about 23 times its forward P/E, and the Nasdaq Composite index was even higher at over 29 times its forward P/E. PayPal's lower forward P/E multiple means it's cheaper than the broad market indexes.
PayPal completed its initial public offering (IPO) in 2002. However, eBay acquired the company a few months later for $1.5 billion in stock. PayPal investors received 0.39 shares of eBay for each PayPal share they held.
In 2015, eBay and PayPal separated. Existing eBay investors received one share of PayPal stock for each share of eBay they held. Since the split from the online auction site, PayPal has traded as an independent public company.
PayPal is a leading digital payment platform that's highly profitable. Although PayPal's profits dipped in recent years, the company resumed its upward trajectory.
The speed bump caused shares to plunge from their peak, which has the stock trading at a very reasonable valuation. PayPal's improving profitability, value-enhancing share repurchases, and attractive valuation mean it could be an incredibly enriching stock to buy for the long term.
*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.
