The Payment Rails

Two payments Narratives and a watchlist this week, plus a bonus Narrative from the memory market.

• MercadoLibre - From Emerging Author John_Eric. Reads it as both a marketplace and a lender, argues the cash the lending arm burns returns as interest, and models the re-rating.
• PayPal - From New Author rcb9. Sees the Stripe offer holding the price up, looks into the actual business and finds it weakening, but argues buybacks alone can lift it.
• The Contested Payment Rails · Watchlist - From PowerLaw, 20 companies globally that own the payment rails and hold pricing power.
• Micron · Bonus - From Emerging Author HedgeY. Digs into the memory debate and the outlook from here, and argues the cycle is real but the AI one may be far bigger.