PayPal, Visa downgraded at BNP Paribas on outlook for 2022 consumer spending
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PayPal Holdings (PYPL
-3.8%) and Visa (V
-2.7%) get downgraded to Neutral from Outperform by BNP Paribas Exane analyst Alexandre Faure as the bank's survey of 3K consumers signals a potentially anemic 2022 for consumer spending growth.

It's a mixed picture, though. "People went back to cash fast in the U.K., France and Germany in 2021, likely creating headwinds to parts of our coverage," Faure writes in a note to clients. But responses in the U.S. and Italy suggested room for more acceleration in digital payment adoption this year, he added.
E-commerce is expected to stay strong and travel should start to build.
For Visa (NYSE:V), Faure sees few positive catalysts this year. PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) also trades at premium to peers.
"Conversely, we think the de-rating of U.S. payment incumbents FIS (FIS
-1.0%) and Global Payment (GPN
-2.2%) has gone too far," the analyst says. Faure upgrades FIS (NYSE:FIS) to Outperform and keeps GPN at Outperform.
Other payment, online lending, and fintech stocks are also in the red today: Block (formerly Square) (SQ
-1.9%), LendingClub (LC
-3.8%), Rocket Companies (RKT
-1.7%), Upstart Holdings (UPST
-4.6%), Robinhood Markets (HOOD
-4.5%), Affirm Holdings (AFRM
-2.5%), Afterpay (OTCPK:AFTPY
-3.2%), Mastercard (MA
-1.7%), SoFi Technologies (SOFI
-3.7%).
Last week, Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM), Lightspeed (NYSE:LSPD), Block (NYSE:SQ) were among Truist's favorites to ride fintech revolution