PayPal earnings disappoint investors, shares fell 7% in extended trading

PayPal's quarterly operating margin failed to appease investors yesterday, sending its share price down 7% in extended trading — though executives at the American payments behemoth shared optimistic year-end expectations.

"When we think about the back half, in Q3, we'll still see some pressure on transaction margin performance," acting CFO Gabrielle Rabinovitch told analysts, adding: "In Q4, we expect to see an improvement."

PayPal's adjusted operating margin for Q2 2023 came in at 21.4% — below its forecasted 22% — due to slowed growth in branded products in the face of increased competition from Apple and others.

PayPal CEO Dan Schulman — who's retirement was announced in February — also blamed inflation for slowing e-commerce growth but believes cooling inflation is "accelerating" it again.

The company anticipates beating analysts' estimates for Q3 revenue and profit per share.

PayPal Ventures led a $52 million raise for digital wallet provider Magic in May — the same month PayPal customers' crypto holdings hit $943 million.