PayPal Stock (NASDAQ:PYPL) Dips as It Taps Into Student Athlete Market—’A Great Day’ or Just Another Corporate Play?

PayPal's latest move into student athlete partnerships sends its stock sliding—because nothing says 'innovation' like chasing amateur sports dollars.

Wall Street shrugs as fintech giant tries to score with NIL deals. Because when your core business stumbles, why not pivot to college kids?

The real play? Distracting investors from stagnant growth with feel-good headlines. Student athletes win, shareholders lose—the American way.

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A recent court settlement—House v. NCAA—allows schools to directly pay student athletes. The settlement calls for as much as $20.5 million to go to current athletes over the next year, and an additional $2.8 billion to go out to former college athletes as well. PayPal stepped in, offering a way to make those payments easier to actually get out the door, and thus set up a deal with both the Big Ten and the Big 12 conferences in aid of that. Big 12 commissioner BRETT Yormark declared this move part of “…a great day for student athletes….”

Not only will those athletes get paid through PayPal, but the athletes will also have the ability to pay the college through PayPal for things like tuition. PayPal will become a “preferred payment partner” at some schools, which should speed up the process a little bit over the former method of mailing a paper check.

Boosting Fintech Everywhere

Meanwhile, PayPal’s efforts to roll out new financial technology (fintech) operations in India are going well, as the operation it backs therein, Pine Labs Ltd., recently filed for an initial public offering. Pine Labs looks to raise up to 26 billion rupees, about $303 million U.S., through the sale of new shares. Reports also noted that a pre-IPO sale may also take place, looking to land about a fifth of its total.

This WOULD represent the largest IPO listing by an Indian firm since 2021, when One97 Communications Ltd launched a $2.5 billion fundraising round. With India accounting for nearly half—46% at last report—of the world’s total digital transactions, it is fertile ground for fintech. It also represents a clear reason for PayPal to take a hand in the market, as represented by Pine Labs.

Is PayPal a Buy, Hold or Sell?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on PYPL stock based on 13 Buys, 16 Holds and three Sell recommendations assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 25.18% rally in its share price over the past year, the average PYPL price target of $80.07 per share implies 10.47% upside potential.

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