Digital payments platform PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) reported Q2 CY2026 results topping the market’s revenue expectations, with sales up 4.8% year on year to $8.68 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $1.38 per share was 8% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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PayPal (PYPL) Q2 CY2026 Highlights:
- Revenue: $8.68 billion vs analyst estimates of $8.47 billion (4.8% year-on-year growth, 2.5% beat)
- Pre-tax Profit: $1.31 billion (15.1% margin)
- Adjusted EPS: $1.38 vs analyst estimates of $1.28 (8% beat)
- Adjusted EPS guidance for the full year is $5.38 at the midpoint, beating analyst estimates by 1.3%
- Market Capitalization: $49.46 billion
Company Overview
Originally spun off from eBay in 2015 after being acquired by the auction giant in 2002, PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) operates a global digital payments platform that enables consumers and merchants to send, receive, and process payments online and in person.
Revenue Growth
A company’s long-term sales performance can indicate its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but many enduring ones grow for years. Regrettably, PayPal’s revenue grew at a mediocre 7.4% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This was below our standard for the financials sector and is a tough starting point for our analysis.
We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes, market returns, and industry trends. PayPal’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 4.9% over the last two years was below its five-year trend. We’re wary when companies in the sector see decelerations in revenue growth, as it could signal changing consumer tastes aided by low switching costs. 
Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers because they were impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.
This quarter, PayPal reported modest year-on-year revenue growth of 4.8% but beat Wall Street’s estimates by 2.5%.
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Key Takeaways from PayPal’s Q2 Results
We were impressed by how significantly PayPal blew past analysts’ EBITDA expectations this quarter. We were also glad its EPS outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, we think this was a decent quarter with some key metrics above expectations.
Is PayPal an attractive investment opportunity right now? When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
