Online payments giant PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) has enjoyed a strong run this year with shares up 70% to give the California-based a market value in excess of US$80bn.
To put that in perspective, that’s on a par with American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), so PayPal is far from the little upstart any more.
That compares pretty favourably with the US$47bn valuation placed around its neck when it spun off from eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) back in the summer of 2015.
Given the recent surge in the stock to near all-time highs, PayPal will need to impress with its third quarter results later on this evening.
In fairness, the company does have history of surprising to the upside with its quarterly figures.
Morgan Stanley recently upgraded the stock to ‘overweight’, claiming that PayPal is “among the few large companies that can deliver high-teens revenue growth with significant upside opportunities”.
As for things to look out for in the earnings call (aside from the numbers), its popular subsidiary Venmo will be among the top of the list.
PayPal is rolling out the mobile payment service which allows users to send money to one another by using an app or logging online.
Any updates on contract renegotiations with eBay will also be of interest.
Shares in PayPal gained 0.9% in early deals on Wednesday morning.