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Paypal shares gained momentum in off-hours trading on Wednesday after the payment company posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results, surpassing an already strong year.
Actions of
PayPal
advanced more than 3% in out-of-hours trading after rising 1.1% in Wednesday’s regular session. This adds to the 115% increase in Paypal (marker: PYPL) in 2020.
Paypal added 16 million new accounts in the fourth quarter, adding its total customer base to 377 million accounts and continuing its momentum since the beginning of the year. A 39% jump in total payment volume helped Paypal earn adjusted $ 1.08 per share with $ 6.122 billion in revenue, exceeding analysts ’expectations of $ 1.00 earnings per share in sales of $ 6.09 million.
“PayPal achieved record performance in 2020 as companies of all sizes have been digitized in the wake of the pandemic,” Paypal CEO Dan Schulman said in a statement. “In this historic year, we have launched more products than ever before and dramatically expanded our acceptance around the world, giving our 377 million consumer and merchant accounts even more reasons to use our platform.”
Last year was the strongest in Paypal’s history and the company hopes to take advantage of that momentum. Households and businesses that were eager to make online transactions were forced to do just that when large parts of the economy closed, and many thought they liked it. Paypal has also launched several new products over the past year, including the “buy now, pay later” option and the ability to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, in order to keep customers using the site.
After a strong 2020, Paypal felt confident enough to issue guidelines for 2021. The company expects the total volume of payments to grow in the high range of 20% next year, as it plans to add approximately 50 millions of new accounts. Revenue is expected to grow by approximately 19% and full-year adjusted earnings are expected to reach $ 4.54 per share compared to $ 3.88 per share in 2021 according to company estimates. 17% year-on-year growth.
Paypal will arrange a call with analysts at 5pm ET.
Write to Carleton English at [email protected]