Latest news with #FastLane
Extra.ie
17-05-2025
- Sport
- Extra.ie
Fastlane Half Marathon: Start time, route, and all to know about Dublin race
Running enthusiasts are set for another big outing in Dublin this weekend as Fastlane bring three racing events to Clondalkin in the west of the capital. The Fastlane 3/4 Marathon, Half Marathon and 10k takes on a flat course with long straight lines, and those who complete the race will receive a bespoke medal. It is sure to be an enjoyable afternoon for competitors as well as families and friends in glorious sunshine – here is everything to know ahead of the race getting underway: Plenty of running events are popping up yearly. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile The Fastlane 3/4 Marathon, Half Marathon and 10k takes place on Sunday, May 18. Running has seen a huge growth in popularity in Ireland. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile The race will get underway at 9.30am on Sunday morning. The race will get underway parallel to Lock View Road in Clondalkin before taking a route along the Grand Canal and looping back as its start point becomes its finish line. The course – flat at a total elevation gain of 27m – will take in the sights of the Grand Canal and the newly surfaced perimeter of Grange Castle business park. While an exact figure isn't known, there were a total of 1556 race finishers in FastLane's 2024 event, which excluded the newly-added 3/4 marathon category. A total of roughly 2,000 entrants should be expected on account of the extra race category – as well as the growth of running year on year in Ireland and globally.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
1 Magnificent Stock You'll Regret Not Buying in the Nasdaq Correction
Although market downturns can be anxiety-inducing, they are perfectly normal and, in fact, always create opportunities for astute investors to scoop up shares of great companies from the discount bin. The recent dip that especially affected the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is no different. Though the index has rebounded somewhat, there remain attractive beaten-down stocks to buy, including PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL). The payments processor is down about 20% this year, a poor performance that traces to a disappointing quarterly update. None of that should scare investors away, though; quite the contrary. Read on to find out more. The past five years have been a roller coaster for PayPal and its shareholders. The company turned in some of the best quarters in its history in the early days of the pandemic as retail activity shifted in ways that helped its business. PayPal's performance then slowed considerably once government-imposed lockdown orders expired. In late 2023, PayPal hired a new chief executive officer, Alex Chriss, who wasted no time making changes. For instance, PayPal has been ramping up its new advertising platform. The move makes sense: Millions of customers and businesses trust PayPal. An ad platform could increase the value of its ecosystem for both sides of the commerce equation. Companies will increase sales and conversion, while consumers will see more personalized recommendations for products and services they enjoy -- everyone wins, including PayPal. The fintech leader's other changes include initiatives such as FastLane, which aims to reduce the time spent at checkout (a one-click checkout option). There is more where that came from. PayPal plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) to make more changes. As Chriss said during the company's fourth-quarter earnings conference call: "This year, we are prioritizing the use of AI to improve the customer experience and drive efficiency and effectiveness within PayPal." Further, PayPal is betting on profitable growth. In the fourth quarter, the company's Braintree unit (a payment processing platform) delivered disappointing growth, leading to a dip in its share price. However, as management noted, it intentionally abandoned unprofitable volume within this segment. That means lower revenue growth but higher margins in the long run. PayPal's changes and direction during the past year-and-a-half since Chriss took charge of the company look rather promising. PayPal's financial results don't look as impressive as they once did. In the fourth quarter, the company's revenue increased by 4% year over year to $8.4 billion. PYPL Operating Revenue (Quarterly YoY Growth) data by YCharts PayPal's top-line growth has declined significantly over the years. But that's normal as a company matures. Meanwhile, there are excellent reasons to be bullish on the company's future. Let's consider three of them. First, PayPal is a pioneer in the fintech industry. The company boasts a powerful brand name that inspires confidence among consumers and businesses. PayPal's peer-to-peer payment app, Venmo, has practically become a verb (especially among younger generations) used in everyday language. PayPal's reputation grants it a strong competitive advantage. It isn't the only source of the company's moat, which brings us to our second point. PayPal benefits from the network effect: The more consumers use its platform, the more attractive it becomes to merchants -- and the more merchants in the network, the more consumers want to use PayPal. PayPal's network effect should work in tandem with its name and reputation to help it to remain a fintech leader for a long time. Third, PayPal has huge opportunities as fintech grows, thanks to tailwinds such as the increased shift to online commerce. Greater adoption of digital payments, even for offline payments, represents another avenue for growth. PayPal estimates a total addressable market of $125 billion in online payment revenue, $200 billion in offline payments, and $800 billion in ads and credit revenue. It has barely scratched the surface here. PayPal won't capture these entire markets by itself. However, making solid headway in these segments should allow it to deliver consistently strong results, especially in light of its recent and continuing business changes and solid moat. That's why the company's recent dip represents an opportunity. Although the stock might not rebound this year, it could reward patient investors in the future. Before you buy stock in PayPal, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and PayPal wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $721,394!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 839% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 164% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of March 18, 2025 Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in PayPal. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends PayPal. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2027 $42.50 calls on PayPal and short March 2025 $85 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 1 Magnificent Stock You'll Regret Not Buying in the Nasdaq Correction was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
