By Sabela Ojea


PayPal said revenue climbed in the latest quarter amid higher payment volumes across its platform and Venmo, and guided for further growth in the first quarter.

The digital payments company on Wednesday posted a fourth-quarter profit of $1.4 billion, or $1.29 a share, compared with $921 million, or 81 cents a share, for the same period a year earlier.

Stripping out one-time items, earnings per share came in at $1.48. The company had most recently guided for $1.36 a share, in line with analysts expectations, according to FactSet.

Revenue climbed 8.7% to $8.03 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast lower revenue of $7.88 billion.

PayPal logged total payment volume of $409.8 billion, representing growth of 15% amid higher payment transactions, with Venmo's total payment volume rising 9% to $68.89 billion in the period.

Total active accounts did, however, decrease to 426 million from 428 million in the prior quarter and 435 million in the year-ago period.

As the company goes through a restructuring plan with recently appointed Chief Executive Alex Chriss and Finance Chief Jamie Miller at the helm, PayPal said it expects first-quarter earnings and adjusted earnings per share to increase in the mid-single digits. Revenue for the quarter is forecast to rise 6.5% to 7%.

For 2024 as a whole, PayPal guided for a decline in earnings per share to$3.60, from $3.84 in the prior year, and adjusted earnings per share of $5.10, in line with 2023.

Last week, PayPal said it planned to trim 9% of its total workforce, following a prior round of layoffs of 7% in 2023, to drive more efficiency and deploy automation across the company.


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


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-07-24 1629ET