PayPal Lifts Fiscal Year Outlook Following 1Q Earnings, Revenue Growth

By Sabela Ojea

PayPal said profit rose in the latest quarter, boosted by higher revenue and payment volumes, and raised its outlook for the year.

The digital-payments company on Tuesday posted a first-quarter net income of $888 million, or 83 cents a share, compared with $795 million, or 70 cents a share, for the same period a year earlier. Analysts polled by FactSet had forecast earnings of 78 cents per share.

Stripping out one-time items, PayPal's earnings per share came in at $1.08, as the company now includes the effect of stock-based compensation and employer-payroll-related taxes in this financial metric.

Revenue rose 9.3%, to $7.7 billion, beating analysts expectations of $7.51 billion, according to FactSet. The company had most recently guided for growth in the range of 6.5% to 7%.

PayPal logged total payment volume of $403.86 billion, up 14% from the year-ago period, and down from $409.83 billion in the fourth quarter. Payment transactions increased 11%, to 6.5 billion, but fell from 6.8 billion in the prior quarter.

Total active accounts decreased 1%, to $427 million, and increased by 0.4% on a sequential basis.

"2024 remains a transition year and we are focused on execution--driving our key strategic initiatives, realizing cost savings, and reinvesting appropriately to position the company for consistent, high-quality profitable growth in the future," Chief Executive Alex Chriss said.

For 2024 as a whole, PayPal now expects earnings per share of $3.65, ahead of the $3.60 previously guided and representing a decline from reported earnings per share of $3.84 in 2023.

Write to Sabela Ojea at sabela.ojea@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 30, 2024 07:46 ET (11:46 GMT)

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