PayPal released its latest earnings report after closing bell tonight, posting adjusted earnings of 44 cents per share on $2.98 billion in revenue. Analysts had been expecting $2.93 billion in revenue and 41 cents per share in earnings. In last year’s first quarter, the digital payments processor reported non-GAAP earnings of 37 cents per share on $2.5 billion in revenue.
PayPal’s GAAP earnings grew 6% year over year to 32 cents per share. Operating cash flow amounted to $751 million, while free cash flow was $603 million.
PayPal continues to grow
The company added 6 million active customer accounts to end the first quarter with 203 million active customer accounts. Of those active accounts, 16 million were merchant accounts. PayPal processed 1.7 billion payments, a 23% increase from the same quarter a year ago. The company said on average, there were 32 transactions per active account on a trailing 12-month basis, representing a 12% increase. Total payment volume grew 23% on a reported basis or 25% on a currency-neutral basis, reaching $99 billion.
“With another quarter of strong financial results, we continue to deliver on our vision to democratize financial services for our consumers and drive the global transition from cash to digital payments,” said PayPal President and Chief Executive Dan Schulman said in a statement. “We are deepening our merchant offerings and relationships, and expanding our network of strategic partnerships to make PayPal more available in new contexts and new markets.”
The company also repurchased $517 million worth of shares during the first quarter. Its board also authorized a new repurchase program allowing it to buy back up to $5 billion in outstanding common shares. The new program will go into effect after the January 2016 buyback program is completed. As of March 31, PayPal had about $488 million available for repurchases under that program.
PayPal boosts full-year guidance
For the full year, the company now expects revenue to grow by 15% to 17% at current spot rates or 17% to 19% on a currency-neutral basis, resulting in a range of $12.52 billion to $12.72 billion. It expects GAAP earnings for the full year to be between $1.28 and $1.33 per share and non-GAAP earnings to be between $1.74 and $1.79 per share.
For the second quarter, PayPal projects revenue of $3.05 billion to $3.1 billion, GAAP earnings of 30 cents to 32 cents per share, and non-GAAP earnings of 41 cents to 43 cents per share.
Shares of PayPal surged in after-hours trades, climbing by as much as 6.82% to $47.35.
