A delivery firm taking on Visa and Mastercard sounds crazy.
One analyst just argued that's exactly where DoorDash is headed.
On Tuesday, Citizens kept its $250 price target on DoorDash. The firm said payments could be the company's biggest growth lever no one is talking about.
What The Analyst Actually Said
Citizens kept its Market Outperform rating on DoorDash. The $250 price target was left unchanged.
The note called payments a big nearby chance where DoorDash has an edge. In Citizens' view, that gives the firm room to keep growing for years.
The price target works out to about 24 times Citizens' 2027 EBITDA guess of $4.6 billion. EBITDA is short for profit before interest, taxes, and a few other costs - a rough proxy for the cash a firm throws off.
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Why Payments Firms Are On Edge
DoorDash isn't the first firm to eye payments. It's the one analysts are starting to take seriously as a threat to the old players.
In February, a Citrini Research essay called "The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis" tanked payments stocks. The piece warned that AI agents and delivery firms - naming DoorDash and Uber - could route around the fee networks Visa and Mastercard rely on.
Markets reacted. Visa and Mastercard fell roughly 18% to 19% from their prior peaks. American Express dropped about 23%.
Visa and Mastercard make most of their cash on swipe fees of about 2% to 3% per sale. Any firm big enough to route around those fees is a problem.
What DoorDash Is Actually Building
DoorDash has been quietly growing its payments tools. The firm recently rolled out EBT and SNAP payments with Kroger.
That opens up online ordering to lower-income households that have faced more friction in digital commerce.
DoorDash is also a launch partner for OpenAI and Stripe's new Agentic Commerce Protocol. That's the set of rails AI agents are supposed to use to actually buy things.
Sitting on those rails matters. DoorDash has pushed back on the fear of being turned into a "mere API."
The firm argues its catalog of the real world is a moat that outside agents can't copy.
The Other Side Of The Trade
Not every analyst is bullish. Truist Securities cut its DoorDash price target to $330 from $340 after Q1 2026 earnings, while keeping a Buy rating.
The cautious takes focus on rising costs. They also flag the heavy spending DoorDash plans for 2026.
Citizens is arguing the payments push is big enough to offset that spending over time.
DoorDash beat on profit in Q1 2026 but missed on top-line revenue. That mix of beats and misses is fueling the split between bulls and bears.
The stock is also down sharply from its highs. Some bulls see that as a chance to buy, while bears see it as a sign the easy growth is over.
The next test for the trade comes when DoorDash reports Q2 earnings later this year.
Worth Noting
DoorDash last closed at $157.33, well below Citizens' $250 target. The bull case isn't priced in yet.
Whether DoorDash actually pulls off the payments push is the bet investors are now being asked to make.
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