Citi places PayPal on ‘negative catalyst watch’

PayPal (NASDAQ:) was placed on a 30-day downside catalyst watch at Citi by analysts, in a short note on Wednesday.

The investment bank pointed to the company’s upcoming results as the potential catalyst, based on two factors.

The first factor is the fact that Citi continues to have a view that getting back to gross profit transaction dollar growth is a longer process than expected.

“Further, one of the potential fixes could be to exit less profitable contracts, resulting in weaker TPV growth and we model this as well,” said the bank. “It’s a necessary change but one that could be interpreted negatively by investors.”

The second factor is Citi feeling that the company’s new management might opt to not provide a full year outlook given the current level of uncertainty and how early they are in their tenures.

“This could be construed as a negative surprise,” wrote the analysts.