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Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Senior who wrote (78538)	11/18/2025 9:38:04 PM
From: S. maltophilia	1 Recommendation Recommended By E_K_S Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 78765

Apparently a $200 transfer on WU costs $19.90. Great for WU, but folks to whom that's outrageous will seek out cheaper alternatives, of which I understand there are plenty. Then what happens to the dividend?

To: Paul Senior who wrote (78538)	11/19/2025 2:44:36 AM
From: petal	1 Recommendation Recommended By Lance Bredvold Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78765

When it comes to PayPal, I reluctantly use their service, because there really is no viable way of avoiding them in cases such as mine (which I briefly outline below). And it shows in their earnings too; their EPS are almost 5x higher than 10 years ago! So I reluctantly own the stock as well. Gosh, look how pretty that bar chart is... However, Mr. Market really hasn't like the stock since 2021. He sees something I don't see. I can't really see a quick PayPal disruption happening (unfortunately). E.g. Stripe is cheaper when it comes to currency conversion, it appears, but my employers (who both use only PayPal) don't care about that – it is I who bear that cost. And realistically, I won't switch to a third employer only because of the extra 1 or 2 % that PYPL applies. I guess I could try to get my employers to switch, but my chances of succeeding in that is very close to zero... Also, I have to admit that PayPal is easy, convenient and reliable/safe. Good brand name, very well known. When it comes to WU, it seems to be a different story – revenue has declined significantly last 10 years. Why, I don't really know. I don't know that company well, nor its business. I guess you don't have network effects there in the same way. And the user isn't locked in; he can just go to a different place – it isn't his employer who decides where he goes (unless maybe if they get WU specific checks?) PayPal's revenue growth has declined meaningfully as well, though – but at least they're still growing, as opposed to WU, who have been shrinking rather rapidly since 2018. It seems weird that PYPL should trade at 12 times earnings. I guess the growth people has left the party, since revenue growth has slowed to single digits for the last few years. Revenue growth is overrated, however. FCF, which is more important, hasn't grown as much as EPS. Maybe EPS is inflated? That would be a problem...