PayPal revenues miss but growth is strong from new acquisitions

NelsonG · January 30, 2019

PayPal revenues missed, but strong growth from its recent iZettle and Hyperwallet acquisitions and booming business at Venmo point to a strong outlook for the payments giant.

In all, PayPal saw revenues for the quarter of $4.23 billion against analysts’ estimates of $4.24 billion, according to data from Yahoo Finance. Earnings per share at the company were up to 69 cents versus analysts’ expectations of 62 cents on a non-GAAP basis.

For the full year, PayPal saw revenue hit $15.45 billion versus analysts’ estimates of $15.46 billion.

The addition of 2.9 million net new active accounts resulting from the acquisitions of Hyperwallet and iZettle show how those two deals are already adding value, as PayPal moves to expand internationally and away from its core market in the U.S.

Payment transactions totaled 2.9 billion for the quarter, up 28 percent, and the $164 billion in total payment volume was a 23 percent increase from the year ago period.

“In 2018 we set new benchmarks for the company for revenue, net new active accounts and engagement across our platform. We launched new products, strengthened existing relationships and entered into new strategic partnerships with some of the biggest and most influential global brands in technology, retail and finance,” said Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal. “We greatly expanded our global reach, serving 267 million customer accounts, including 21 million merchant accounts. We believe 2019 will be another strong year for us, and we intend to build on our strengths to extend our leadership as the leading open digital payments platform.”

Other than the additions from the new acquisitions, the other bright spot for PayPal was the volume coming in from its Venmo business. In all, volume of Venmo transactions hit $19 billion, growing by 80 percent, in the fourth quarter. For the year, nearly $62 billion changed hands on the Venmo platform.

Mobile payments were also up for the company. Roughly $67 billion was transacted through mobile devices for the quarter, a 40 percent boost on year-ago numbers.

Despite the generally positive outcomes, PayPal’s stock was down 4.4 percent to $88.11 in after-hours trading on the Nasdaq.