Intuit Inc. INTU and PayPal PYPL both operate in the fintech space, delivering digital financial tools. INTU focuses on financial management, tax, and accounting software, while PYPL specializes in digital payments and commerce solutions.
Intuit leverages its broad ecosystem, including QuickBooks, TurboTax, Credit Karma and Mailchimp, to build a comprehensive platform for consumers and small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). Meanwhile, PayPal offers consumer-focused digital wallets, peer-to-peer transfers via Venmo, online checkout solutions and merchant services for e-commerce.
Let’s dive deep and closely compare the fundamentals of the two stocks to determine which stock is more attractive now.
The Case for Intuit
Intuit is a global fintech company that powers products such as TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, Mailchimp and Intuit Enterprise Suite. The company focuses on helping consumers manage taxes and personal finances while enabling businesses to run operations end-to-end. Intuit’s AI and human intelligence are driving growth and delivering customer benefits. In the quarter, the company reported revenue growth of 10.4% year over year. As a result, it has raised its full-year revenue-growth guidance to approximately 13% to 14%.
Intuit’s Global Business Solutions segment is a key driver of its business ecosystem. This segment's Online Ecosystem provides a seamless platform for accounting, payroll, payments and analytics. In the third quarter of fiscal 2026, Global Business Solutions revenues grew 15.3% to $3.29 billion, including Online Ecosystem revenues, which rose 18.7%. Total online payment volume, including Bill Pay, grew 30% in the quarter, reflecting a continued momentum in payments and adoption of our Bill Pay offering. Management expects the segment’s revenue to grow approximately 16% in fiscal 2026.
Intuit's consumer segment continues to power strong performance. Consumer revenues increased 7.5%, driven by Credit Karma revenue growth of 15% and TurboTax growth of 7%. Intuit continued to expand its assisted tax offerings through TurboTax Live, which is expected to account for approximately 53% of total TurboTax revenues in fiscal 2026. Management highlighted that TurboTax Live customers are projected to grow 38% this year, reflecting increasing consumer demand. For fiscal 2026, management expects Consumer Group revenue growth of 10%, including TurboTax at 7%, Credit Karma at 19% and ProTax at 4%.
Intuit maintains a disciplined capital distribution strategy, committed to boosting shareholder value via consistent dividend hikes and share repurchases. The company has increased its dividend five times over the past five years, with a 15.61% annualized growth rate. Supported by strong operating fundamentals, we expect dividends to remain sustainable in the future. It also repurchased $1.6 billion of stock in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 and received board approval for a new $8 billion repurchase authorization.
Intuit’s performance is partly tied to the health of small businesses, lending conditions and consumer tax filing trends. Weakness in these areas could lead to slower revenue growth, softer demand for payroll and payment solutions, and increased pressure on subscription renewals. The competitive landscape in tax preparation and enterprise accounting exerts pricing pressure. However, Intuit's AI-driven innovations, integrated ecosystem and market-leading brand loyalty position it to navigate these challenges effectively, sustaining its competitive edge and long-term growth trajectory.
The Case for PayPal
PayPal is a leading digital payments platform that enables consumers and merchants to send, receive and manage money securely across nearly 200 markets worldwide. The company offers a broad range of payment and commerce solutions through brands such as Venmo and Braintree (now PayPal Enterprise Payments). PayPal delivered decent first-quarter results, with revenues rising 7.2% year over year and Total Payment Volume (“TPV”) climbing 11%.
Venmo, a money movement platform, is especially popular among young, digitally native consumers. Venmo TPV continues to reach new highs in first-quarter 2026, accelerating sequentially to 14% year-over-year growth and marking the sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. In March 2026, Venmo expanded worldwide, letting users send and receive money with hundreds of millions of PayPal users across 90 markets. This marks Venmo's largest market expansion since the app’s launch.
PayPal is pushing AI-driven e-commerce forward with "agentic commerce," where intelligent agents help shoppers find, compare and buy products. By partnering with leading AI platforms such as Microsoft, which powers Copilot Checkout; Perplexity AI, which enables purchases inside Perplexity Pro; and OpenAI, which supports agentic shopping in ChatGPT, PayPal is building more scalable, secure and intelligent shopping experiences for both merchants and consumers.
PayPal is executing a major transformation plan aimed at saving more than $1.5 billion over the next two to three years. The company expects the first wave of savings to come from structural realignment, including removing duplication and layers from its organizational structure. A second wave is expected to result from broader AI deployment and automation initiatives. Management believes these savings will provide greater flexibility to reinvest in growth initiatives and strengthen the company’s long-term financial profile.
However, PayPal faces macroeconomic headwinds and operates in a highly competitive global payments industry. The nature of the business makes it vulnerable to foreign exchange fluctuations. The company reiterated 2026 guidance, with transaction margin dollar expected to decline slightly and non-GAAP EPS projected to range from a low single-digit decline to a slightly positive growth.
How Do Zacks Estimates Compare for INTU & PYPL?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Intuit’s fiscal 2026 sales and EPS indicates a year-over-year rise of 13.25% and 15.68%, respectively. EPS estimates have been trending upward over the past week.
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Meanwhile, the consensus estimate for PayPal’s 2026 sales and EPS implies a year-over-year increase of 3.29% and a decline of 0.19%, respectively. EPS estimates have been trending downward over the past month.
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Valuation: INTU vs. PYPL
From a valuation perspective, we note that Intuit shares are trading at a premium to PayPal.
In terms of forward 12-month Price/Sales (P/S), INTU stock is trading at 3.66X, above PYPL, which is currently trading at 1.13X. However, both INTU and PYPL stocks are currently trading below their one-year median of 8.36X and 1.65X, respectively.
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Price Performance: INTU vs. PYPL
Over the past months, shares of INTU and PYPL have both underperformed the S&P 500 composite.
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INTU vs. PYPL: Which Stock Is the Better Buy?
Even though both Intuit and PayPal shares underperformed the S&P 500, they are well-positioned to benefit from the booming fintech sector. Intuit’s broader ecosystem, strong financials and consistent earnings growth make it the stronger investment option for long-term investors.
Despite PayPal’s large scale, Venmo’s expansion and strategic partnerships, macroeconomic headwinds, intense competition and weaker 2026 guidance remain a concern.
Currently, INTU carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), while PYPL carry Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).