Payment processor PayPal Holdings Inc reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue on Wednesday, helped by an increase in payment processing volumes and customer additions. The company, which also raised its full-year profit forecast to $1.28-$1.33 per share from $1.26-$1.31, said its board authorised a $5 billion share buyback program.
PayPal's shares jumped nearly 7 percent to $47.45 in after-hours trading. The San Jose, California-based company has been expanding partnerships and acquiring new services to gain advantage over rivals in a highly competitive digital payments market. PayPal struck a deal with Alphabet Inc's Google last week in a move to bring its payment wallet to brick-and-mortar stores.
Consumers will be able to use their PayPal accounts with Google's mobile payments platform Android Pay at retailers such as WalGreens Boots and Dunkin' Donuts. PayPal, which spun off from e-commerce firm eBay Inc in 2015, also agreed to buy Canadian bill payment processor TIO Networks Corp for about $233 million in February. The company's net income rose to $384 million, or 32 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $365 million, or 30 cents per share, a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, PayPal earned 44 cents per share, above the average analyst estimate of 41 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue rose to $2.98 billion from $2.54 billion, beating analysts' average estimate of $2.94 billion. PayPal's total payments volume jumped 22.5 percent to $99.33 billion, beating research firm FactSet StreetAccount's estimate of $99.20 billion. Active customer accounts rose 10.3 percent to 203 million.
PayPal's mobile payments volume rose 51 percent to about $32 billion in the quarter. Payment volumes at Venmo, a mobile peer-to-peer payment platform popular with younger customers, more than doubled to $6.8 billion in the first quarter. Up to Wednesday's close, the company's stock had risen 12.5 percent since the start of the year.
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