Why everyone has PYPL wrong and the hidden untapped value in PayPal

u/Pristine_Arm8260 · Reddit — r/stocks · February 04, 2026 at 19:16 · 💬 50 comments  | View on Reddit ↗
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Original Reddit post

Bullish case for PayPal (PYPL) as a mispriced value play whose untapped ad platform, led by Mark Grether and launching in early 2026, could add high-margin revenue and lift earnings enough to drive the stock above $100.

PYPL — LONG The author argues PayPal is misunderstood: at its 2021 peak it traded near 80x earnings with only $4B net income, but the real untapped value is the ads platform led by Mark Grether (who scaled Uber's ad business from $0 to $1B and previously sold a company to Amazon) launching PayPal Ads Manager in early 2026. Scaling the ad unit to $2B revenue at 50% margins would lift net income from $5-6B toward $6-7B and higher over time, which the author says is the setup needed for the stock to go above $100. The existing 20-year PayPal integration base and chargeback protection are cited as a durable moat ensuring natural growth over the next 5-10 years, while the main risk acknowledged is that PayPal has failed to make ads its main focus and still needs users to actively want the product.

if PayPal can scale their AD unit to $2B revenue at 50% margins, they would go from $5-6B net income, to $6-7B net income, and slowly go higher overtime. This is the setup the stock needs to go $100+

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u/Pristine_Arm8260 Reddit r/stocks
Long PYPL on early-2026 ad platform launch
The author argues PayPal is misunderstood: at its 2021 peak it traded near 80x earnings with only $4B net income, but the real untapped value is the ads platform led by Mark Grether (who scaled Uber's ad business from $0 to $1B and previously sold a company to Amazon) launching PayPal Ads Manager in early 2026. Scaling the ad unit to $2B revenue at 50% margins would lift net income from $5-6B toward $6-7B and higher over time, which the author says is the setup needed for the stock to go above $100. The existing 20-year PayPal integration base and chargeback protection are cited as a durable moat ensuring natural growth over the next 5-10 years, while the main risk acknowledged is that PayPal has failed to make ads its main focus and still needs users to actively want the product.
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This Reddit post, published February 04, 2026, features u/Pristine_Arm8260 discussing PYPL. 1 trade idea extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: u/Pristine_Arm8260  · Tickers: PYPL