PayPal Stock Eyes Best Day Since 2022 on Beat-and-Raise

PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) stock is up 8.8% at $64.13 at last glance, headed for its best day since November 2022, after the company's better-than-expected second-quarter results and positive 2024 forecast. The digital payment name announced adjusted earnings of $1.19 per share, beating analyst estimates of 96 cents. 

For the past couple months, familiar support at the $57 level provided a floor for pullbacks. Now trading at its highest levels since early June, today's pop has PYPL breaking above the 100-day and 320-day moving averages and moving into positive territory for 2024.

Options bulls are chiming in after the event, with 155,000 calls exchanged -- seven times the amount typically seen at this point -- in comparison to 55,000 puts. Expiring at the end of this week, the weekly 8/2 65-strike call is the most active contract, with new positions being bought to open there. 

Analysts, however, have yet to respond. Of the 40 analysts in coverage, 17 carry a "buy" or better rating and 23 a "hold," with no "sell" ratings in sight. The 12-month consensus price target of $75.67 is a roughly 19% premium to current levels.