Look around you. Digital trends are shaping the economy. One powerful area of note has been the rise of fintech enterprises.
The mixing of financial services and technology has spawned many businesses that attract investors looking for exposure to fast growth. However, there's a clear leader in this subsector that has already proven its worth, and it trades for a bargain price.
Here's one incredibly cheap fintech stock to buy right now.
Positive trends
Investors should consider adding PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) to their portfolios. Shares of this electronic-payments leader currently trade 79% off their July 2021 peak price, as the market has become disappointed about slower growth.
But I believe those worries are a bit overblown. PayPal posted 8% year-over-year revenue growth in the second quarter (ended June 30), which is still very healthy. This was driven by total payment volume (TPV) that rose 11% to $417 billion and the number of transactions increasing 8%.
PayPal will continue to benefit from the prevalence of cashless transactions. This is a powerful tailwind that boosts convenience and security for consumers and merchants. There is still a long runway to steal share from cash and other paper-based methods of payment.
One way that PayPal will drive growth is by introducing new features, something that CEO Alex Chriss, who has been in the role for less than a year, is focused on. For example, earlier this year, the business introduced Fastlane one-click checkout and Smart Receipts, a tool that allows merchants to provide recommendations and offer rewards.
This appears to be helping engagement. In the last 12 months, the average user transacted almost 61 times using PayPal, up 11% from Q2 2023. This figure has steadily climbed higher over the past few years.
You wouldn't be able to tell by looking at the stock's terrible performance, but PayPal faces minimal financial risk. It's consistently profitable, something that can't be said about many fintech enterprises.
The balance sheet should help shareholders sleep well at night. Yes, PayPal has $12.2 billion of debt on the balance sheet. However, this is more than offset by $18.3 billion of cash, cash equivalents, and investments.
Maintaining perspective
Related to PayPal's slower growth, the market might also be concerned about the hyper-competitive nature of the payments industry. In recent years, it's hard to ignore the popularity of Apple Pay . The budding digital wallet is a top payment choice for iPhone users across the world, a very lucrative consumer group to target.
On the merchant side, PayPal's Braintree, which has been growing TPV at a fast clip, isn't immune from competition. It must contend with the likes of Adyen and Stripe, for example.
But to its credit, PayPal's massive, two-sided platform benefits from network effects . As of June 30, there were 429 million active accounts, consisting of both merchants and consumers, using the service. As the user base expands, it immediately becomes more valuable to all stakeholders.
This is an incredibly cheap stock. It trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 15.1. Investors will struggle to find growing companies that have competitive advantages and that are financially sound, such as this one, that sell for such a low valuation multiple.
I mentioned before that PayPal is extremely profitable. It rakes in copious amounts of free cash flow, an expected $6 billion in 2024. In a smart move, management is aggressively using these proceeds to buy back shares. That's a clear indication of their view that the stock is cheap right now.
Knowing more about PayPal should incline the average investor to want to own this business.
Before you buy stock in PayPal, consider this: