PayPal revenue jumps 19% as it adds users, processes more payments

(Reuters) — PayPal’s quarterly revenue rose 19 percent as the company added customers and processed more digital payments on its network.

Shares of the payment processor, which was spun off from eBay last year, rose 4 percent to $41.65 in extended trading on Wednesday.

PayPal has driven growth through a number of digital payments deals, with its partners including popular Internet platforms such as Alibaba Wholesale and Facebook Messenger.

The company’s active accounts rose 11.5 percent to 184 million in the first quarter, topping the average analyst estimate of 182.8 million, according to research firm FactSet StreetAccount.

PayPal processed 1.41 billion transactions in the quarter, slightly higher than the average estimate of 1.39 billion.

Total payment volumes surged 28.6 percent to $81.06 billion.

PayPal’s total revenue increased to $2.54 billion in the quarter ended March 31, while net income jumped 43 percent to $365 million, or 30 cents per share.

Excluding items, the company earned 37 cents per share.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 35 cents per share and revenue of $2.50 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

(Reporting by Narottam Medhora in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey)