PayPal (PYPL) is scheduled to report results of its first fiscal quarter after market close on April 27, with a conference call scheduled for 5:00 pm EDT. What to watch for:

NOISY QUARTER: On Tuesday, DA Davidson analyst Christopher Brendler lowered the firm's price target on PayPal to $144 from $166, but kept a Buy rating on the shares. The analyst stated that while he has been overly optimistic on the sustainability of the COVID-related boost, the company's core trends are better than the stock is indicating. The news of a CFO transition will likely see another guidance reset this quarter, but Brendler continues to see PayPal headwinds as more "temporary" rather than reflecting "material underlying weakness."

Last week, RBC Capital analyst Daniel Perlin also cut his price target on PayPal to $118 from $180 but kept an Outperform rating on the shares ahead of its first quarter results. The company's quarter is likely to be "noisy" and come in light of consensus $6.4B on revenue, while its guidance for full year 2022 should tilt to the low-end of the 15%-17% range, the analyst told investors in a research note. Perlin also added that PayPal valuation looks "cheap" about 16-times his expected full year 2023 earnings per share, but only if PayPal can regain its growth footing in the second half of this year and into 2023.

LOWER GROWTH TARGET: In a research note back on April 18, Deutsche Bank analyst Bryan Keane said it sees "relatively limited upside again this quarter" for PayPal due to softening e-commerce volumes in March, continued global supply chain issues and inflation impacting consumer discretionary spend, and potential Ukraine/Russia headwinds. Given market conditions and PayPal's recent execution issues, the analyst believes it would be prudent for the company to lower the bar on its future revenue growth rate in second half of 2022 and 2023 through 2025 of 20% constant currency to 15% with slight margin expansion. This would be a much easier hurdle to achieve, Keane said. He thinks this could be the final cut to guidance near-term and would "release the pressure on the stock." The analyst maintained a Buy rating on PayPal shares.

CFO DEPARTURE: Earlier this month, PayPal announced the departure of John Rainey, the company's CFO and executive vice president, Global Customer Operations. After almost seven years at PayPal, Rainey is leaving the company to join Walmart (WMT) as its CFO. PayPal's Board of Directors has approved the appointment of Gabrielle Rabinovitch, senior vice president, Corporate Finance and Investor Relations, as interim CFO effective upon Rainey's departure.

Commenting on the news, Morgan Stanley analyst James Faucette said the departure "may be perceived as negative signaling" and may refresh fears around the company's ability to sustain above market growth and reach its financial targets. However, Faucette also thinks there may be some relief among investors as there had been speculation around a change in senior leadership and Rainey's transition removes a layer of uncertainty around management. He also thinks new interim CFO Gabrielle Rabinovitch is "well equipped to manage the transition," added Faucette, who has an Overweight rating and $190 price target on PayPal shares.

Meanwhile, Mizuho analyst Dan Dolev said the departure of PayPal's CFO is not surprising "following a period of overpromising and under-delivering," and given the shares 65% decline from the peak. The "most glaring mishap" was perhaps guiding to 750M accounts by 2025, only to walk it back several months later, Dolev told investors in a research note. The analyst believes the "more worrisome development" is that the announcement was not complemented by a guidance update. He reminds investors that both Wex (WEX) and Marqeta (MQ) underwent CFO changes shortly before results, with both providing a simultaneous update on results. Dolev kept a Buy rating on PayPal with a $175 price target.

OUTLOOK: During the company's last earnings call, PayPal said it saw full year 2022 adjusted earnings per share of $4.60-$4.75 and revenue surpassing $29B, with consensus at $4.63 and $29.28B, respectively. PayPal expects revenue to grow 15%-17% on a spot and FXN basis; excluding eBay (EBAY), revenue expected to grow 19%-21%. Additionally, the company said it saw full year 2022 TPVs reaching $1.5T. For the first quarter, PayPal said it saw adjusted earnings per share of 87c, with consensus at 88c, and revenue up about 6% on a spot and FXN basis. Revenue excluding eBay expected to grow about 14%.