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Shares of PayPal fell more than 10% on Thursday after uncertainty grew around the payments giant following a disappointing forecast. While the company outperformed on most metrics for its fourth quarter on Wednesday, PayPal guided for earnings that fell well short of expectations. A decline was also seen in the company’s user base. PayPal is best known for pioneering online checkout in the dot-com era. But it faces stiff competition from new entrants like Apple Pay and is struggling to dominate e-commerce as online shopping shifts to mobile phones. PYPL 1D Line PayPal’s all-day performance Alex Chris, who took over as chief executive last September, has admitted that PayPal was overworked, lost focus and doing too much during the pandemic . He called 2024 a transition year and told CNBC in a phone interview that the company remains “conservative” on guidance. Still, investors expect change will take some time, and they are keeping expectations low while they wait. According to FactSet, the average EPS estimate declined 5% after earnings, as less than half of the analysts covering the stock had a buy rating. Just a year ago, two-thirds of analysts were bullish on PayPal. Wells Fargo analyst Andrew said, “While we appreciate the energy brought by PYPL’s new management team, for those of us who have documented the past two years in depth, it is no surprise that “Turning around the Titanic of PYPL will be no small feat.” Bausch said in a note to clients. ‘Show me’ the stock PayPal’s CEO faced criticism for making excessive promises ahead of its January 25 product event. The company announced plans for a faster checkout experience using artificial intelligence, calling it the “next chapter” of PayPal. This was the first major announcement from Chris, who joined PayPal from Intuit. Moving forward, Chris told CNBC that PayPal plans to “shock the world.” Subsequent products were widely considered inferior. Gordon Haskett analyst Don Bilson told clients the CEO didn’t shock the world: “It’s like putting them to sleep.” “Their honeymoon period officially ended yesterday with an unexpected communications error,” Bilson said. “The mistake that happened in the stock on Thursday can be traced back to [to] In this company presentation, Chris gave investors a glimpse of the most ‘impactful innovations’ driven by the company. … PYPL’s presentation didn’t surprise anyone because it didn’t include any new product announcements or initiatives.” During PayPal’s earnings call on Wednesday, executives touted its cost-savings plan and the sharpening of PayPal’s checkout offering. highlighted ways to do that. As part of that, PayPal laid off 9% of its workforce in late January in an effort to “drive greater focus and efficiency.” Chris outlined a conservative outlook for guidance and Executives “want to see the numbers on the board” and “really execute before we include it in our forward guidance,” he told CNBC. On an hour-long call with analysts, he talked about earning trust from the investor community. “As a company, we will have a track record of meeting our commitments,” Chris said. Bank of America has described 2024 as a “transition year” into which PayPal will invest some of the recent cost savings. The firm’s analysts expect “change will take time.” He lowered his price target by $2 to $64 with a neutral rating. Citing the name, valuation and recent sentiment that “could offer some negative support.” Deutsche Bank asked PayPal to “show me the stock.” “The highlight of the call was PYPL’s approach to fixing the many issues facing the company and now we’re keeping an eye on the progress,” said Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Keane. “The good news is that the new CEO has “There’s a good handle on the issues, but the question is, can the issues be fixed or is the company structurally impaired?” — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.