PayPal Bets on In-App Checkout as Wall Street Urges Patience

PayPal has gone live with an exclusive native checkout inside Glance, an agentic shopping platform, giving US consumers a way to browse products, manage carts and complete purchases without ever leaving the app. The payments provider is the sole native checkout option on the platform, a tie-up Glance announced on Thursday and PayPal launched on Friday.

The distribution footprint behind the deal is substantial. According to the company, Glance is embedded across 60 million smartphones and connected TVs. The platform had already struck a partnership with Samsung in June covering US smart TV models from 2020 onward.

For PayPal, the arrangement opens a direct lane into agentic commerce — a model in which digital assistants shepherd shoppers through the buying process on their own. Cutting out redirects and extra steps is a well-worn way to reduce checkout abandonment in digital retail, and embedding itself in new platforms helps the company defend its position as established payment infrastructure against a rising field of rivals.

A Fresh Test in the Q3 Report

How quickly that reach converts into measurable revenue is now the question facing investors. The next checkpoint is the third-quarter 2026 earnings report, where early figures on Glance transaction volume and agentic commerce are likely to draw scrutiny.

Alongside the new digital touchpoints, PayPal is expanding its lending business for merchants. As of June 30, receivables from merchant loans, advances, interest and fees — net of sold participations — stood at $1.9 billion, a 14 percent increase year over year. That build-out strengthens revenue streams beyond traditional transaction fees, deepening ties with small and mid-sized businesses and steadying the earnings base in a fiercely competitive sector.

Bank of America Turns Cautious

Not everyone is cheering. On Thursday, Bank of America cut PayPal to "Underperform" from "Neutral," according to media reports, with analyst Matthew O'Neill setting a $53 price target. His case rests largely on a weak starting position heading into the third quarter, and he stressed that the company's main transformation levers are longer-term in nature.

The downgrade underscores lingering restraint toward the payments provider. While plenty of market participants are betting on swift earnings improvement, Bank of America is counseling patience on the strategic overhaul. Fundamental operational changes take time to show up in the financial statements, and market watchers are now eyeing the coming results with corresponding caution.

Stock Shrugs Off the Skepticism

Equity markets took the bearish note in stride. The shares closed Thursday at EUR 50.97, a gain of 1.3 percent on the day, and have climbed 11 percent over the past 30 days. In Friday's session the stock gave back 0.8 percent to EUR 50.59, leaving it 18 percent above its 200-day moving average.

O'Neill's price target nonetheless makes clear that skepticism has hardly evaporated. Until the long-range initiatives produce hard results, near-term challenges in the operating business are likely to stay front and center for investors.