PayPal: Who could be the possible suitors?

Investing.com -- PayPal’s sharp share-price decline has sparked early takeover interest. According to a Bloomberg report, the company has “fielded meetings with banks amid unsolicited interest from suitors.”

Bernstein analyst Harshita Rawat stated in a note, citing the report, that “at least one rival is looking at the whole company, while other suitors have expressed interest in only certain PayPal assets.”

She argued the valuation makes a break-up scenario feasible, noting that at current levels “a SOTP-based valuation cannot be ruled out.”

The firm values Braintree at $10 billion to $15 billion, Venmo at roughly $5 billion, and core PayPal at $20 billion to $25 billion.

Given PayPal’s “waterfront properties,” including Braintree, Venmo, 231 million monthly active users and reach across about 90% of online merchants, Bernstein said it is “not a surprise that buyers… are circling post recent sell-off.”

Potential buyers for the entire company, Bernstein wrote, include private equity, while large banks, big tech and Amex are “less likely but possible.”

Walmart was flagged as a “wildcard.” For Braintree specifically, J.P. Morgan and Stripe were highlighted as the most plausible suitors; for Venmo, possible bidders include Revolut, banks such as JPM, and Amex.

Meanwhile, Wolfe Research analyst Darrin Peller wrote in a note that PayPal’s assets remain strategically attractive, with branded checkout still accounting for “over half of PYPL’s GP.”

The firm noted that a takeout multiple “could be at a few turns higher” than current levels.

Truist’s Matthew Coad, however, questioned whether a full-company buyer exists, arguing that “the sale of certain assets is more likely than the sale of the entire business.”

“We struggle to see a strategic buyer for the entire company, in-part because PayPal is quite large at a $41bn EV,” he wrote.

Gordon Haskett's Don Bilson stated in a note that "at $44, the company has a fully diluted market cap of $42bn and even though that is down $30bn from where PYPL was last summer, it still limits the size of the buyout universe to cruiserweights, heavyweights, super-heavyweights and Elon Musk."

Bilson added that it is "too late for someone to go hostile as the nomination window closed on January 21.”

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