ADYEY vs PYPL: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of October 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: PYPL is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. ADYEY and PYPL share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined ADYEY and PYPL exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Adyen N.V. is a Dutch financial technology company, founded in 2006 and listed on Euronext Amsterdam since 2018 (ticker ADYEN), that processes card and alternative payments for merchants on a single, internally built platform. Instead of stitching together acquired systems the way many legacy processors did, Adyen acts as gateway, risk engine, acquirer and, in many markets, issuer and banking provider on one codebase, which lets a global merchant accept payments online, in an app and at a physical terminal with one contract and one view of the customer. It reports in three segments: Digital (e-commerce and app payments, its largest business at ~€720 million of H1 2026 net revenue), Unified Commerce (online plus point of sale for retailers, ~€418 million, up ~25%) and Platforms (embedded payments and financial products for software platforms and marketplaces, ~€166 million, up ~37%). In H1 2026 Adyen processed ~€804 billion of volume, up ~24% year over year, and earned ~€1.30 billion of net revenue (revenue after interchange and scheme fees), up ~19% reported and ~21% in constant currency.

Full ADYEY guide

PayPal (PYPL) is a global digital-payments company that lets consumers and merchants send, receive, and accept money online and in person. Its core PayPal-branded checkout button is a familiar option at online stores worldwide, and the company also owns Venmo, the popular US peer-to-peer payments app, the Braintree payment-processing platform used by many large merchants, and Xoom for international money transfers. PayPal makes money primarily on transaction fees tied to total payment volume, plus value-added services like working-capital products and, increasingly, advertising and checkout optimization. Spun out of eBay and now an independent company, PayPal operates one of the largest two-sided payment networks by active accounts. Its challenge in recent years has been defending branded-checkout share and improving margins amid intense competition from Apple Pay, Stripe, and others, while management focuses on profitable growth, cost discipline, and monetizing Venmo. PayPal trades on Nasdaq.

Full PYPL guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• ADYEY drivers: Platforms and embedded finance; Unified commerce with large retailers.
• PYPL drivers: Scale and two-sided network; Venmo and Braintree monetization.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Valuation is the most immediate risk: at roughly 25 to 27 times trailing earnings, Adyen trades at a large premium to processors such as Fiserv, Global Payments and PayPal, and the shares have repeatedly fallen 15% to 40% in a day when growth or margin guidance disappointed (August 2023 and February 2026 are the examples). For PYPL, payPal faces intense competition in checkout and payments from Apple Pay, Google Pay, Stripe, Adyen, Shopify Payments, and buy-now-pay-later providers, which pressures both share and pricing.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick ADYEY if you believe its drivers more; PYPL if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the ADYEY and PYPL guides.

ADYEY. Trailing figures combine reported H2 2025 (derived from FY2025 net revenue of ~€2.36 billion, EBITDA of ~€1.25 billion and net income of ~€1.06 billion) with H1 2026 (net revenue ~€1.30 billion, EBITDA ~€642 million, net income ~€544 million); USD values are approximate at recent exchange rates. Adyen guides on constant-currency net revenue growth of 21% to 23% for 2026 and an EBITDA margin about 1 point below 2025 including acquisitions, with a target above 55% by 2028. The Q3 2026 business update, which covers volume and net revenue but not full profit figures, is scheduled for late October 2026.

PYPL. After de-rating sharply from pandemic-era highs, PayPal trades at about 10 times forward earnings and about 1.45 times sales, a multiple that embeds skepticism about reacceleration rather than a business in decline. The bull case rests on stable-to-improving margins, Venmo monetization, agentic checkout, and buybacks plus the new dividend compounding per-share value; the October 27, 2026 report, where consensus expects EPS of about $1.31, is the next read on whether growth can lift above mid-single digits.

Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): ADYEY shows net revenue (ttm) ~€2.57B (~$3.0B), net revenue growth (h1 2026) ~19% reported, ~21% constant currency, ebitda (ttm) ~€1.34B (~52% margin), net income (ttm) ~€1.13B (~$1.3B); PYPL shows revenue (ttm) ~$34.1 billion; latest quarter growth ~4.8% year over year, margins (ttm) Gross ~40%, operating ~17%, net ~14%, net income / eps (ttm) ~$4.9 billion; EPS ~$5.29; Q2 2026 EPS $1.38 vs $1.28 consensus, p/e ~10.8x trailing, ~9.9x forward.

ADYEY and PYPL are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined ADYEY and PYPL exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.