The company reported a first-quarter earnings beat
The shares of PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) are up 10.2% at $141.38, earlier touching a fresh record high of $143.85, after the company posted a first-quarter earnings beat. The payments name also shared optimism for its second-quarter forecast, saying sales will increase as people start to return to work. In response, no fewer than 12 analysts have raised their price targets -- with both Wedbush and Cannacord Genuity hiking to $160. Looking ahead, PayPal expects a strong second quarter as online shopping surges.
PYPL is up 26.2% in the last month, giving it an 18.6% surplus year-to-date. Continuing its upward trend, today's pop puts the virtual payment outlet on pace toward its best daily percentage gain since March.
Coming into today, 23 out of 26 analysts sport a "strong buy" rating, one considering a "buy," and the remaining two at a tepid "hold." Meanwhile, the equity's consensus 12-month price target of $140.79, comes in slightly below current levels.
Short interest has fallen off, down 26.4% in the last two reporting periods. The 11.87 million shares sold short make up just 1.1% of the stock's total available float, and would only take a little over one day to recover at PYPL's average pace of trading.