Virus Brings Both Credits and Debits to PayPal and Square -- Heard on the Street
May 07 2020 - 6:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Telis Demos
Locked-down consumers are figuring out how to buy things online
that they used to get in stores. The question for the
digital-payments industry is how permanent that shift will be.
PayPal Holdings, the online payments giant, wasn't immune from
the slowdown seen across the consumer economy in March. Total
payment volume for the quarter grew 19% overall from a year earlier
in constant currency, slowing from a 26% pace through February to
7% in March, the company reported on Wednesday.
However, volumes are quickly rebounding: In April payment volume
was up 22%, and PayPal is seeing a record surge in net new active
user growth. Drivers of that rebound ranged from a jump in online
shopping to celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres making gifts to fans
through PayPal's Venmo platform.
PayPal is for now expecting the volume growth trend to slow in
May and June. For one thing, travel and events -- two categories of
spending that are unlikely to rebound anytime soon -- make up a
high-single-digit proportion of PayPal's transaction portfolio.
But there are some indications the shift to behaviors like
online grocery buying won't fully reverse. In Germany, where there
is some reopening, PayPal said it hasn't seen a meaningful change
in online behavior, with relevant activity still running at two to
three times the pre-virus level. PayPal also said it would
accelerate efforts to make itself an in-store player, as well as a
broader financial tool for direct deposit and things like paying
bills.
For example, Chief Executive Dan Schulman noted to analysts that
PayPal is speaking to the largest supermarket in France about doing
more contactless payments, and finding ways to mix the digital and
physical channels. Even if they are going to stores, consumers
"don't want to touch cash, they don't want to touch screens," Mr.
Schulman said. "There's going to be a new normal that emerges from
that."
In a poor economy, such efforts will be key to achieving the
level of growth assumed by PayPal's stock, which at over 36 times
forward earnings is near its highs as a public company, according
to FactSet.
Square, meanwhile, is suffering from having a base of in-store
terminals. Gross payment volume for its sellers was down 39% in the
last two weeks of the first quarter, a pace that continued through
April.
The company says it is beginning to find some offsets. Weekly
payment volume via Square's online store tool was up fivefold in
late April after launching new features like curbside pickup. It is
also seeing a jump in use of its consumer Cash App, a Venmo
competitor. Notably, as government stimulus payments went out,
April direct-deposit volumes into the Cash App were up threefold
from March. Direct deposit-eligible customers grew from 3 million
in February to 14 million by mid-April.
That's excellent for Square's long-term vision for digital
banking, a key support for its big multiple. After plunging in
March, the stock is now back to a sky-high 97 times forward
earnings, despite what is happening in stores.
This is potentially an epic moment for the emergence of digital
payments, but it's too soon for either of the biggest players to
declare victory.
Write to Telis Demos at telis.demos@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 07, 2020 06:14 ET (10:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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